One of the best-kept secrets of successful small entrepreneurs is the use of niche-marketing techniques. An understanding of these techniques is a definite must for serious entrepreneurs who have very limited financial resources.
WHAT IS NICHE MARKETING?
Niche marketing simply means narrowing your focus towards carefully pinpointed market segments to maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
For instance, if you have a new product intended for busy, working, middle-class, married women with young children, selling to them face to face would probably work better than through television ads. This means that you as a small business entrepreneur have as much chance of success as your giant competitors in reaching this segment. Indeed, you could even potentially outsell the giant firms if you could give a warm and personable service, which is the usual weakness of big businesses.
Entrepreneurs who do not go for niche markets risk not just wasting money. They also risk wasting years of trial and error trying to find out the best product and the best approach to sell it. Many even postpone starting a business thinking that they need a very big capital. Others even get discouraged altogether believing they can never win in the face of dominant competitors.
5 KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER
In building your business around a niche market, here is a checklist of five points to consider before committing your resources:
1.Your target customers share similar needs unique to them.
2.Your product or service meets these needs better than those of your competitors.
3.You can sell to this segment economically.
4.The segment is large enough to provide you with enough revenue to remain profitable. 5.Competition for the segment does not exist. (Or, if it does, you can target the segment better than your competitors).
THE STORY OF NELY
Nely, a newbie entrepreneur, was first at a loss on how to expand her new business. She opened a street-corner bakeshop in a reputable neighborhood. Despite the superb quality of her products sales never picked up. She then tried to rethink her business strategy. Instead of catering to everyday needs for bread and pastries in her village, Nely decided to close down shop and instead target a very specific niche: fine dining restaurants. Within a few months after closing her bakeshop, she resumed daily baking operations inside her kitchen. This time, she provides the needs of a nearby specialty restaurant for an exclusive set of freshly baked goodies. Her daily business operation is now a bit less tedious but so much more profitable. Thanks, in part, to niche marketing.
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