Niche Marketing

Niche Marketing can refer to both marketing and business choice. In and of itself, niche marketing refers to finding a segment of the general market for a service or product line. One then develops a solution for the needs of that segment and then markets to it to get the word out. Let’s take a look at an example using one of the biggest companies in the world.

Toyota is a huge multinational company. At first glance, it appears that Toyota focuses on the auto business as a whole both from a marketing and production standpoint. This view is correct. Notwithstanding this fact, Toyota is excellent when it comes to niche marketing.

Toyota will search for niches for which it can supply a product in need. Toyota was one of the first companies to realize there was a group of car buyers who would be very interested in environmentally friendly cars. To answer this need, it came up with the legendary Prius. The Prius is the first mass production hybrid car. Where other car manufacturers saw Toyota taking a huge risk, Toyota saw it as an opportunity to identify a new niche and establish its brand in that niche. In marketing, it is often the first brand on the scene that takes the day.

Once Toyota took the plunge, it pursued an effective niche marketing plan. It didn’t promote the Prius in just any media. It focused on media outlets that were watched, read or listened to by people concerned about the environment. For example, it heavily promoted the car through environmental groups and their publications. As the only game in town at that time, Toyota not only dominated the niche – it was the niche.

Niche marketing translates just as well to the Internet. In fact, your first sites should be focused on identifying niches and providing products or services to accommodate the need of those prospects. One of the biggest mistakes made by new businesses on the web is biting off more than they can chew. You are not going to compete against Amazon for general book sales. On the other hand, you might be able to pound Amazon into the ground in the rare book market or in a specific niche such as home improvement periodicals. The point is to try to focus both your site and marketing on a segment of the market that is not already dominated.

What is niche marketing? The best way to make a lot of money on or off the web.

Niche Marketing – Pro and Con

Niche marketing is all about definitions. The goal is to define and untapped group of consumers. Once defined, the goal is come up with a solution to their needs. Finally, you need to define the best marketing vehicles to reach the prospects with your solution to their needs. Get these steps in order and you should see excellent results.

There is, however, a con to niche marketing. The limitation lies in the very nature of niche marketing, to wit, you are focusing on a subsection of the overall market. Even if you become the biggest fish in the pond, you are still in a pond. Making matters worse, your loyal customers may balk if you try to expand the pool by adding on products or services outside of the niche. If you reach the maximum perceived success in a market, it is better to open an additional web site versus messing up your current success.

There are so many pros to niche marketing that it is hard to know where to begin. The biggest positive is the fact you are competing against a limited number of competitors. This makes it far easier to both catch up to and surpass them.

An additional positive of niche marketing is the nature of your prospects. Because they are in a niche, there is a very good chance that nobody has offered them solutions to their needs. If your competitors have done so, an opportunity often exists to provide far better products or services. This opportunity arises from the fact your competitors get lazy once the initial rush of dominating a market passes. They don’t update or improve their offerings. This gives you a crack through which you can wipe them out before they know what has hit them.

The pro and con of niche marketing are pretty clear. While you are limiting yourself to a relatively small market, it is much easier to become dominant in it at nominal expense. That is how you make money on or off the web.