Niche marketing is a term which you will come across time and time again in the world of internet marketing, and perhaps you have a vague idea of what it means even if you aren’t able to give a precise definition.
The word 'niche' usually means a special, usually very limited and strictly defined subject or topic, usually a product or a service, while marketing' is the act of promoting what you have to sell. Therefore, niche marketing means the promotion of a product or service in a very specialized area. Being in a niche market means that although your market is limited, the people who are in the buying area of that market are much more likely to buy, as they have found exactly what they are looking for.
You may have heard the term “long tail” keywords, which is a method of targeting your niche. For instance, if your site is about hair care, if someone types that phrase into a search engine, it is not very likely that your site would come up, as there is way too much competition for that keyword. However, if you use a long tail keyword like “How do I stop my hair from drying out”, the number of people typing in that particular phrase will be much smaller, but on the other hand if that’s the problem they have, and that’s the phrase they type in, it is much more likely that your site will come up ahead of others.
One other advantage of targeting the not so common keywords is that the cost of buying your keyword, say for an Adwords campaign, will be that much lower.
Of course if your site is actually about hair care in general, your long tail keyword will reach its targeted audience, but unless there is specific reference to that long tail keyword on your landing page, and a solution to that particular problem of dry hair, your targeting of that niche market will be wasted.
So, niche marketing is the art of selling a product or service
to people who are looking for that exact niche. They are not interested in shampoos or conditioners; they are only interested in products that are specifically designed to deal with the problem of dry hair.
Finding a niche for your product should be fairly easy. Imagine yourself as the prospective customer – what are the words you would type into a search engine to find your product?
Make sure you have done your research well, before you target your niche market. There needs to be a definite demand for that product, and above all, there needs to be a profit in it. Too many people follow some guru’s advice to concentrate on things you know, when in fact the things in which you are interested may not have a market.
You may be passionate about a particular style of knitting, but I doubt that there would be a ready market for it.
The aim is to try to find a market that’s still small enough that it hasn’t yet attracted too much competition, but yet is still large enough to provide enough potential customers. This may be easier said than done, but it is still possible.
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