Tips on doing niche marketing

Getting exposure to as many people as possible may be a good thing. But it can take so much time, effort and resources on your part. Meanwhile, if you target a specific market, it will take less but may produce the same or better results.

Niche marketing is a strategy where you direct your initiatives towards a target market and customise your messages and design to their preference. It is different from mass marketing, wherein you convey you communicate to a bigger audience. On the other hand, niche marketing focuses on the segment which has the most need and most interest in your product or service.

To make sure that your niche marketing strategies are effective and successful, here are a few tips that may help your business.

Get the demographics of your market and segmentize them

Surveys, feedback forms or interviews are just a few methods of getting information about your customers. It’s always helpful to gather data, observe first-hand and analyse the numbers to set the foundation of your strategies. Know the age, location, occupation and other information on the demographics of your clientele. From the statistics generated, divide your market into segments so you can decide the best group to target for your niche marketing.

Research on the behaviours and psyche of your target market

Delve deeper into your target segment and know their behaviours, hobbies and preferences. These will help outline your strategies on how to approach and communicate with your market. Understanding their needs and pain points and seeing the connection as to how your products or services address such will enable you to tailor-fit your marketing campaign towards them.

Maintain a database of your customers from that niche

Put together a database of your clients belonging to your target segment and communicate with them regularly. Better yet, provide an avenue for them to form into a community. It will enable you to strengthen your relationship with your target market and encourage loyalty to your brand.

Choose the right communication platform or channel

Once you have determined your target market’s mindset and behaviour, select the right platform or channel where you will communicate to them. Although bags are the same, targeting a high-end and matured market is unlike communicating to a young group. The idea with niche marketing is that you don’t have to be all over the place. Instead, you can focus more on where you can be most visible to your intended audience.

Craft your messages and design for the target segment

When you have fully known and understood that market segment you want to aim, craft your messaging and design your marketing materials as to how they will appeal to them the most. Doing so is like communicating to them directly. Adjust your messaging and design according to the platform you are using. Ads in written format should not be the same with broadcast media. Similarly, direct emails are drafted differently from press releases and social media posts.

Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up

Sustain your initiatives by scheduling properly your activities. If you did an exclusive event for your target market, sent out an email or launched an online campaign, make sure that you do a follow-up. With so many things going on in a single day, people may tend to forget about your brand. Make your presence felt in a way that your product or service becomes more relevant to them.

If you even know better the market you want to target, you can be even more specific on your action points. Don’t forget to evaluate how effective your niche marketing is and if it’s something that you should consider doing for your brand for the long-term.

The need for concept testing

Good ideas can raise your business to greater heights. Whether it’s a brand name, logo, packaging, new product or service, promotional design or marketing campaign, concepts help your venture grow and thrive. But how do you know if your brainchild is indeed a good one? Some may seem brilliant but they don’t necessarily translate to sales or profit.

Concept testing allows you to calculate the probability for success or profitability of your idea. You may conduct a survey, focused group discussion, interviews, product sampling, test runs or soft launch to gauge how your target market will receive your idea. Some companies acquire the services of an agency to do market research while others do it in-house. Whatever method you think is best for your idea to be tested, know first why it is important that you do it before you fully launch your idea.

To avoid wasting time and resources

Trying to perfect your idea on the drawing board will often cost you time instead of going out and testing it to your market. You launch your idea to the market without knowing how they’ll respond to it may sometimes lead to failure. Remember that the process of turning abstract into something concrete involve investment, effort and time, which may go to waste if the project does not succeed. Testing your idea on your target market will give you a piece of the bigger picture that you may not be able to view if you only stay within the confines of your workspace.

To know the pulse of your market

You come up with new concepts, may it be a product or a marketing strategy, to satisfy your customers. While you may be contented with what you have come up with, people may have a different view of it, and it will show with how they will receive the fruit of your idea. You cannot know what’s in their mind unless you test it on them and see their reception to the novel thing that you want to introduce. It will also give you insights that you may find useful in your other initiatives or endeavours.

To estimate the potential of the idea

You, your team and closest friends may find your new idea remarkable, but you can only estimate its potential, especially the profit or benefits it may generate unless you go out and ask your existing or prospective buyers if it’s something that they deem favourable to them. You can then gauge the extent of effort and resources you can invest in such a project once you can approximate the degree of returns it can give you.

To improve it further

There are times when time is crucial and one does not have the luxury to perfect an idea. Concept testing acts like a filter that highlights areas you can still work on while providing you with answers that you will not be able to generate if you spend so much time on the drawing board. As you gather feedback from your target market, testing your concept can even give birth to tons of new ideas and help you improve your initial concept to become a better one.

To bring you closer to your goal

The goal could be increasing sales, expanding your business or leaving a legacy to your clientele. Whatever it is, concept testing will help you determine if your idea will lead you in the right direction. It will help you plan the next steps that will bring you closer to your goal.

So, next time you have a brainstorming session in your business, don’t miss out testing your concept on your market in the whole process. Choose the best method or methods to do it that will help you evaluate better your concept.

Why you need market research for your business

Starting a business entails a lot of risks involved. You put into it your financial resources as well as your time, ideas and energy. The costs are high, and the risks are great. There is a huge probability of failure if you do not carefully plan how to build your venture, while your success rate may be substantial if you do the necessary preparations.

Decision-making is crucial in every stage of the entrepreneurial journey, which is why you have to get as much information as you can to make informed decisions. Market research is a tool that can guide you on the right path as you go about establishing and expanding your business. You may conduct primary research and scale it to a secondary one, come up with quantitative data-gathering or have in-depth discussions with prospective customers.

Whatever method you use, whether you do the research yourself or hire a third-party consultant, it is important to analyse the information thoroughly. Market research brings in several benefits to your business and experience. Here are a few reasons why.

Environment scanning gives you a bigger picture

Knowing the trends, identifying opportunities and threats and taking in pertinent lessons can help you comprehend the industry and the landscape that you will be dealing with when you build your venture. They give you significant knowledge of the various players in the field, such as competitors, clients, suppliers, influencers, etc. When you scan the external factors that may affect your business, you can effectively come up with plans and strategies that can help you move forward.

Understanding the market allows you to see through the cracks

You often have initial ideas and concepts that may deem promising at first glance. Market research can help you better understand the consumer and its needs. You will know the demographics of your target market, their mindset and their buying habits. In the process, you will sometimes find that your ideas do not match what they are looking for in a product or service. You will then see some of the cracks in your internal environment, as well as to your external environment, which you can take action to correct those within your control.

Testing the waters helps you make important decisions

Apart from interviewing prospective customers, it is also good to give them a taste of your product or service. There is no better way of projecting the results than to have an actual sample where you can see their reaction and gather feedback. You can then do some modification and fine-tune your offering.

Making the right fit for your customers leads to good results

When you create the right fit between your brand and your customers, it can generate positive results. Market research will provide you with the tools to create a blueprint for a sturdy business if you use them right. Others fail because they do not apply the learnings to their strategies and business decisions. Put your consumers first and things will fall into place.

In the end, market research will lead to higher customer engagement, bigger sales and faster growth for your business. It may not be easy, as you have to invest some time and resources in doing the research, but it will be worth your while.