I think selling and marketing today often feels a bit like talking to a brick wall and that in interesting metaphor to help grasp the importance of niche marketing especially when it comes to small business marketing. Imagine for a moment that you are attacking that brick wall with a hammer, randomly hitting it everywhere. What would be the effect? Practically no effect at all. You might knock off a few chips but come back a day or so later, there will be no evidence you were even there.
And that’s the effect of any broad marketing and advertising campaign. You may make the odd sale, but overall nothing will happen and a day or so later people will not even remember your name. But back to that wall again, imagine you took a different strategy. Instead of hitting all over the wall, you concentrated on just one brick, or you searched the wall to find a brick that was already weak. Now you are going to have a much better result.
And that’s really the secret to small business marketing. Without the resources to reach millions of people, you have to concentrate your efforts on a small tightly defined market or research the market carefully and identify a small group with a similar urgent problem you can solve. Lets face it few small businesses are going to become global household names and even if they did, most simply don’t have the capacity or the desire to support a huge market. Amazon.com may have been built in a garage but it was backed by a $300,000 investment and plans to build an international distribution business.
I have friends in the speaking business who deal only with dentists, yet their business turns over millions of dollars a year. In their market they have a huge presence and high reputation. They know everyone and everyone knows them.
The strategy is simple - Define a clear niche for yourself and set out to OWN it.
- A niche you have a passion for, that you love being part of
- A market of people you want to do business with
- Only do business with people you like
- Find businesses or people who have common problem’s you can solve
- Look for people who are likely to know each other
- Seek networks of people who regularly meet each other
A niche doesn’t have to be local to you. It can be global as long as it meets most of the criteria above. Once you have selected your niche its much easier to identity the magazines people read, the trade shows they visit, the conferences and networking meetings they attend, the places they meet, directories they are listed in, the online forums they are members of etc., and become a part of that community yourself.By working in a niche market you will quickly become an expert in solving their unique problems. You will understand their jargon. You will be talked about and recommended by people when they get together. You can establish relationships with editors and webmasters in the market and built a guru status.
More importantly you will be much more able to customise your products and services to the specific needs of your niche market and demonstrate not only that you understand them, but that you care. All business marketing is ultimately about relationship building but that is so much easier for a niched small business because you can be much closer to the issues and you are able to adapt to changes more easily.
About the Author:
Founder and First President of the Professional Speakers Association (PSA), Rikki Arundel is a truly unique International Keynote Speaker, Trainer and Writer. She is openly and proudly transgender and an expert in sales and marketing communications with an impressive track record, and being transgender has provided her with a unique understanding of the differences in the way men and women communicate in business. http://www.RikkiArundel.com
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