I am delighted to have a post from Guest Blogger, Pierre Parnell, of ProGro Business Consultancy.

In my 10 years experience of working with clients, it has become apparent there are some business owners who have defined their niche market and have a clear picture of whom it is they are marketing to, and then there are those which haven’t.

Business owners tend to be somewhat reluctant in wanting to create and target a niche market as they view niche marketing as narrowing their sales which could cut into their profit margins. Naturally these business owners fear the idea of ‘niche marketing’.

However, many more business owners are realising that niche marketing need not restrict their business but instead it can be an effective tool that gives power to their business. The reason businesses now view niche marketing as a forward thinking based approach to marketing is because, when you know who you are marketing to, it should be, in theory, easier to determine where your marketing focus and energy will be directed. Therefore your overall marketing strategy will be made more efficient and more cost effective.

As online guerrilla marketeer Alis Rowe owner of Lioness Marketing put “Your target market can’t be everybody!”

Let’s take for example a car dealership. Can a car dealership market to everyone? As others may believe they can, in reality they cannot.

Firstly there are constrictions based on location. Would it be worthwhile marketing a car for sale in London to potential customers in Brazil? Although there will be hundred of thousands of prospective car purchasers in Brazil the question is would they have the means and ability to purchase an overseas car; especially when there will be car dealership in Brazil who may well be able to offer the same car at a similar price, but without all the hassle of transporting the car around the globe. This example exemplifies the reason why although marketing to everybody may seem attractive, practically it is not viable.

Instead of the car dealership attempting to market to everybody they would produce a much better marketing strategy which is specific to a target niche market. For instance, ‘to market to everybody….but only in a 50 mile radius’. By specifying their niche market they now are only targeting prospective purchasers who are more likely to buy from them, saving them time and cost which would have otherwise been wasted.

The importance of defining your niche market when creating a marketing strategy is vital because:

1. You have the ability to maximise your marketing budget by targeting your defined niche market. In this, the business owner would know exactly where to advertise, when to advertise and how long to advertise for.
2. When creating a website, the website can be built for search engine optimisation (SEO) making it easier for your niche market to locate your business online.
3. A defined niche market would make it easier for business owners to develop ideas for new products and services that inherently appeal to your specific niche. This gives your business that upper-hand in establishing itself as a leader in your industry who ‘understands’ their customers.

Business owners who wish to embark on a target niche marketing strategy should consider:

• What do their current customers have in common?
• How do they set themselves apart from their competition?
• What is different about the services or products they offer?
• What are the ‘extras’ their business brings to the industry?

An important thing all business owners must remember to do is to clearly identity their niche market. It is easy to say that you are embarking on a niche marketing strategy but if the niche is not clearly defined then the strategy would just be ‘marketing to everybody’.

Ultimately niche marketing is finely tuned with a business owner’s branding strategy. Branding is an integral part of any business. Gladly contact us to discuss any branding needs.

Until then, happy marketing!