Business Networking – What In The World Is A Niche! (and how do you pronounce it)
So you’re a networker.
You network here. You network there. You network everywhere.
Everywhere? Gee, who is your target market? I’ve heard people say, “Everyone.” I’ve heard realtors say, “I’m looking for anyone who wants to buy a home.”
How realistic is this? Why do some folks assume that everyone breathing is a prospect? For example, let’s say your company sells those diapers for seniors. Would you market to teenagers? Posting ads on VH1 or MTV wouldn’t get you much, would it? Working moms? Blue collar workers? Bankers? Restaurant owners? See where I’m going with this?
“So what is a niche market,” you ask? A niche market is a narrow demographic of people who could and would buy your product or service. Let’s say you make golf products. You likely would not market at a rodeo. Those guys don’t normally ride golf carts – too tame for them, don’t you see. What if you made baby products? Chances are you would not market these to professional football players. Why would you market that stuff that takes the gray out of your beard to stay-at-home moms?
What you want to do is first identify your target market. The narrower the market, the more likely you will be to sell your product or service. Ideally, you want to find a niche market that few others are marketing to, and that has a unique problem that you can address or solve. You would do much better to sell 10,000 products in a small niche of 100,000 prospects than to waste marketing dollars on a niche of say, 5 million and only sell 3,000 or 4,000 products because there was a) competition or b) no need for your product.
Niche markets can be divided into several categories: demographic, regional, and psychographic.
Demographic – your market is Chinese women between the ages of 20 and 30. I can’t come up with an example here. I’m a caucasion male over 60.
Regional – your market is in a specific location. Can’t sell waterfront property to someone in Nevada, unless their I.Q. matches their age.
Psychographic – customers here will buy anything related to their intrest because they have the percieved notion that it will somehow help them, even if it won’t. An example is a golfer who has a perfectly good set of clubs but will pay $3,000 for a new set because he thinks it will take 2 strokes off his game. This is silly because everyone knows that it’s the right kind of beer you drink that will improve your game! But it takes all kinds!
So what have we learned here? We’ve learned that in spite of what P.T. Barnum once said, you have to identify your target market and market directly to THEM for the best results. Perhaps you’ll get some sales from the other demographics and that would be a bonus or a gimme, as we say, but don’t waste your time and marketing dollars in this direction because the effort and meager results are not worth it.
N.I.C.H.E = Narrow Interested Community Having Enthusiasm
To your business networking success!
Please visit businessnetworkingmistakes.com to get a free report about how networking mistakes can cripple your business.
Hey Steve – Great post! Target market is key. You need to market your products to someone who is actually interested, otherwise you will be just another pushy salesperson. Thanks for sharing this info.
my God, i believed you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the conclusion there, not depart it
Hey, Craig, most people in business don’t know even the basics. Sometimes you have to lead folks by the hand and teach them the obvious (well, what’s obvious to some of us, that is). Sorry if I disappointed you, but the only insight here is that people need to be educated. May I ask, what would you like to see in my posts? Perhaps I can gear some of my stuff towards what you would find helpful? I’d like to give you some value for your time and interest!