What is your target market? When I ask business owners that
question I usually hear something like...
Small Business Owners
Opportunity Seekers
Doctors
Homeowners
Do you define the targeted market for your business similar
to one of these? If you do, you're working harder and
spending more money than necessary to promote your business.
And you're enjoying only a fraction of the sales you should
be getting.
Most business owners recognize the value of targeting a
market. But when you target a broad audience like those
listed above, you're only targeting prospects who CAN use
your product or service. You have to narrow your focus if
you want to target prospects who are LIKELY to use your
product or service. One of the best ways to do this is to
find a niche market.
WHAT IS A NICHE MARKET?
A niche market is a narrowly defined group that includes all
of the following:
1. Individuals in the group have the same specialized
interests and needs.
2. They have a strong desire for what you offer.
3. You have (or you can create) a compelling reason for
prospects in the group to do business with you instead of
with someone else.
4. You can easily reach individual prospects within the
group.
5. The group is large enough to produce the volume of
business you need.
6. The group is small enough that your competition is likely
to overlook it.
WHY YOU MUST NARROW YOUR FOCUS
A niche market enables you to target your sales messages
with great precision. The more narrowly you define your
niche market the easier it is to cater to the specifically
defined interests of people in that market.
For example, some businesses describe their target market as
"opportunity seekers". But this is a broad audience. You
cannot cater to specifically defined personal interests of
individuals in this group because it may include all of the
following:
Executives who want to get out of the corporate
environment and start their own business
New mothers who want to start a home based business
Students who want to generate some extra income
Any promotional message to this group would have to be very
general. But people don't respond to general talk. They
respond only when they feel you are talking directly to them
about their individual needs.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGE: A highly defined, small niche market can
insulate you from competition. Other small businesses are
likely to overlook it. Large businesses will find the market
segment too small to bother with.
HOW TO FIND YOUR OWN NICHE MARKET
One way to find a good niche market is to evaluate your
existing customers. Can you uncover a segment of customers
with similar characteristics?
For example, I recently talked with an MLM distributor for a
health products company. About a year ago she noticed that
many distributors in her downline were health or physical
education teachers. She now has a lot of success targeting a
niche market of female physical education teachers who are
married, have children and are members of the same
professional association.
Another way to find a niche market is to work backward from
the benefits you offer. Start by listing all the benefits
provided by your product or service. Then list some of the
characteristics of prospects whose current situation can be
dramatically improved by those benefits. You should begin to
see a narrowly defined group emerge as a niche market.
IT'S YOUR BOTTOM LINE
How specific is your target market? Can you develop sales
messages so sharply focused your prospects believe you're
talking specifically to them? If not, use the information in
this article to help you find a niche market of your own.
Then tailor your sales messages to the specific interests
and needs of that niche market. You'll see an immediate
increase in your sales and profits.
About the Author
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales
personnel and developing sales leads. For more information...
mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com. Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time)
Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133