Internet Marketing

What are the Advantages of Niche Marketing?

Perhaps you’ve heard of niche marketing and may even understand what it is. But, you’re not quite sure of the advantages of niche marketing and how it can work for you. I’m going to explain a little about what niche marketing is for those who don’t quite understand it. Through the explanation I’ll be able to better show you the advantages of niche marketing.

Niche marketing is the opposite of mass marketing. Most of us know that mass marketing is marketing to the largest amount of people in all situations and lifestyles and from all backgrounds. Niche marketing is the opposite of that because your focus is on a much smaller group of people who are interested, need and who actually want your product.

Now, you’re probably asking, “Why would I want to focus on a smaller group of people when I’ve learned that the more people who see my product the better my chances of making a sale?” I understand your thinking, so in the next couple of paragraphs I’m going to help you understand why this marketing tactic works and the advantages of niche marketing over mass marketing.

Want Not Waste Not
Niche marketing works because you’re focusing all your effort reaching those people who have the money to buy your product or service, who are interested in what you have to sell and who need your products or services.
Why waste time, money and efforts on people who are not interested and most likely never will be in what you have to say and offer? Remember, it’s about working the least amount of time and making the most amount of money.

Saves Time
When you advertise to people who have no interest in what you have to offer, you’re throwing money down the drain. Not only are you wasting money, but your precious time. Remember, time is money in business. So even if you spend nothing on advertising you do spend time getting the word out. You’ll spend less time and money in your marketing efforts when you niche down.

Make More Moola

Finally, there’s the added benefit of making more sales to people who actually want what you have to offer. So, not only will you be saving money on marketing campaigns, your chances of making a sell increases dramatically.
Soon, you’ll be selling so many of your products, you’ll have to consider increasing your staff and may even want to narrow your niche down further so that you can enjoy living life instead of working so hard all the time.

Niche Definition – Helping You Understand Niche Marketing

When it comes to the Internet there are a lot of terms frequently used and many times you may find yourself having no idea what those terms mean or how they apply to marketing online. One such word is “niche.” Some of us may know what a niche is in terms of biology or even the corporate world. You might say “She found her niche in nursing.” While this is a correct definition of niche in everyday use, it’s not quite accurate regarding the world of Internet marketing.
In the world of Internet marketing the definition of niche takes on a whole new meaning. Having a clear meaning will help you focus and market to those people who are interested in and wanting to purchase your product or service, which will increase the success of your online business.
Here is how Wikipedia defines niche as it pertains to the online world. “A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing on.”
While that may seem a bit unclear to some still, basically it tells you a niche is a smaller portion of a larger piece. In this case a market.
So, just how do you go about defining your niche so that you can focus and reach your target market? Begin with a large market and narrow it down into all possible smaller niche markets.
Take for instance work at home moms (WAHM). There is a whole huge world of moms out there that work from home, either online, in direct sales or running some other type of business. While that is a niche, that is a very large niche and you’re not going to be able to target individual work at home moms very well.
However, by breaking down the niche even further, you will begin to see the different sub-niches possible in the work at home mom arena. Some examples are:
• WAHMs with newborns
• WAHMs who are also homeschoolers
• Virtual Assistants WAHMs
• Direct Sales WAHMs
• WAHMs who help other WAHMs be successful

The list can go on and on. There are probably thousands of different sub-niches under the work at home mom umbrella. The point is that you can increase your chances of success by focusing in on a specific area of your niche. You may have heard this called “niching down” by some marketers. In other words, you choose a broad market and niche down to find your perfect customer who is more likely to respond to your offers.
As you can see, finding the right niche for you will be determined by how well you are able to define your niche to reach the target market of people you wish to promote your products or services to. The more detailed and specific your niche, the more success you will have.

Viral Marketing with Mom Bloggers

One of the strongest marketing strategies is viral marketing. If you are not convinced, visit a popular mom blogging site and put it to the test. If you want to get the word out about your product or service, consider using a mommy blog.

Another name for viral marketing is “word-of-mouth.” Think of all the advice you have taken from your mom or grandmother over the years. Multiply that exponentially and you will get the mom blogging network. Millions of moms meet in cyberspace on blogs and forums, exchanging knowledge and advice on products.

A Few Things You Need to Know

One thing that mom bloggers discuss is how disappointed they are with the advertising of some brand manufacturers. According to research done by Maria Bailey, founder of BSM Media, 55 percent of those surveyed said that advertisers are missing their mark. They are either sending the wrong message or offending their intended audience. The numbers are low when it comes to how well advertising in print and on television (20 and 25 percent respectively) are impressing moms.

Seventy-one percent of those who took part in the survey have used the Internet to research product purchases. Ninety-four percent of moms have bought products online. Who do you think that those women are looking to for product opinions online? You’re right – they are consulting mom bloggers.

Mothers are holding the purse strings in the household even when both parents work. Their collective buying power is over 3.7 trillion dollars. They are also managing another trillion dollars for businesses where they are in charge of purchasing. How they feel about a certain product is sure to get noticed when they post it on their blog.

Getting Moms in Your Corner

If you want a mom blogger to notice your product and give you the thumbs up, what do you have to do? For one, become familiar with moms – all types of moms. There is not a universal “mom” image to market to. Moms come from different walks of life and deal with a different series of dynamics in each home. What bring them together are their roles as provider and caregiver for their families.

Find out the most popular mom bloggers and see what they are saying. They are the moms who will influence other bloggers and the mom audience at large. Once they get a hold of your product and if they like it, they will virally promote it. When hundreds of thousands of readers visit those blogs, they will also tell their mom friends. The visibility of that product would hit the top level in a week’s time.

Mom bloggers can change the sales of a product with a few well-placed words on the more popular blogs. Owing to the moms they influence, the brand can rise or fall significantly through the word-of-mouth of their readership.

Increase Visibility

You may have a strong business idea and a great product, but are you doing everything you can to be seen by the right people? Increasing your visibility can change the way that potential customers see your business.

Visibility is the glue that holds all other strategies together when it comes to achieving expert status as a business owner. Each strategy gets your name out among other business owners, movers and shakers and potential clients. Being seen goes a long way with the word-of-mouth crowd.

Here are a few ways that you can increase your visibility:

• Social Media presence
• Press Releases
• Blogging for Business
• Newsletter Distribution
Trying new things to elevate yourself within your business is a part of the process. And, it can be fun to learn just how good you are.

When you are on Facebook and a fellow business owner is looking for speakers for his online conference or a local event in your area, throw your hat in the ring.

Every opportunity places another feather in your cap. It is a point that you can add to your bio and also your press releases for new products or events.

Distributing newsletters is a great tool for your customers. Sending a monthly or quarterly newsletter about your business gives you the chance to add information about accomplishments that have occurred since the last newsletter. Each solidifies your expert status in the eyes of current and potential customers. Newsletters can be printed and passed around to others.

Once you put all of this in place, keep a monthly check on your ventures to be sure that they are still bringing about the desired effect. Some of it won’t require much tweaking just checking in with the movers and shakers to be sure they still know your name.

Achieving expert status inspires confidence on the part of customers and fellow business owners. Increasing your visibility is the first step and we can help you do just that.