It is difficult to find space in a market where competition doesn’t exist. Whether you are a brick-and-mortar business or online, there are others who probably have a similar product or service. Differentiating yourself in the busy, noisy world of competition is imperative in having a successful business. That is where niching down your market comes in.
What is a Niche Market?
A niche market is a segment of a market that is focused down on a specific product or service. For example, if the market is books, the niche market may be books about travel; or in the market of cakes, a niche market would be sports themed birthday cakes.
It is impossible to be everything to everyone, so identifying a niche in your market allows you to focus on a specific need or a specific audience.
Why to Niche Down Your Market
It may sound counter-intuitive, but narrowing down your market can helpful in building your business.
Here are some of the key ways niching down can help:
- By niching down to a very specific audience, your messaging and marketing can be targeted to a very specific audience.
- When serving a niche market, instead of being regarding as doing everything, you move into being regarded as an expert or specialist in a specific area. It is easier for you to get known for what you do.
- When you serve a targeted market there is less competition.
- Easier to draw the right type of customers to you. When you are known for a specific product or service, customers with that specific need will be drawn to you.
- Assuming you deliver well in your market, you will get repeat customers and referrals because of your specialized focus.
How to Niche Down Your Market
There are a number of things to consider when looking to niche down your market:
- What is your passion? As an entrepreneur if it doesn’t fit into your passion, it is going to feel like work, versus excite you.
- Clarify what the market wants. Using the internet you can identify what people are searching for in your area of business. What problem are they trying to solve, what are they looking to create or attain? A tool that is available to help you in identifying the key words your target audience is using in their searches is Google Ad Words Keyword Planner.
- Research the Competition. It is important to know what your competition is offering, how they present it, what they charge, and more. As you look into what they are offering, determine how you can make yourself stand out.
- Map to Clients. As you begin to identify what your possible niche may be, think about how it maps to a client. Who would your perfect be? Dive deep into discovered who you would be target in your market.
- It is always a good idea to test your market. Once you have identified you niche market, begin targeting it and evaluate how it is going. Give it some time, but if you eventually see that it needs to be tweaked a bit, go ahead and adjust where necessary.
It is often tempting to believe we can be everything to everyone. Niching down your market will help target your messaging and marketing, and can get you noticed. Standing out from your competition, you can be recognized as the expert drawing clients to your business.