A niche is a specific, concentrated field at which you excel. The whole purpose of a niche is to target your messaging (especially your content and message) so that the right people can come to you. A niche is a subset of a united market segment, usually with a common interest, lifestyle, or demographic. For instance, if you’re running in kid’s clothing, there might be a niche within that group that only includes clothing for kids, certain styles, brands, or specific themes. The more specific you are in your niche’s demographics, preferences, and shopping behaviors, the more effectively you can tailor your offerings, services, and branding message to them. You must keep in mind the size of your audience when defining your market niche. Shalom Lamm, CEO of Operation Benjamin, thinks it is vital for businesses to discover what their niche market is to reach their target group successfully.
The study of niches has been around for decades, but it’s only now with the advent of cyberspace that marketers have become so engaged with these small micro-niches. Niches come in various sizes, from individual buyers to companies and institutions. There are billions of potential niches. For your marketing efforts to be effective, you must identify the real-life organizations and enterprises that consumers visit regularly. The key is to find organizations and enterprises that are not considered “traditional”, but that are positioned in either a growing, mature market segment or an uncharted niche. By targeting these organizations, you can realize niche strategies that will generate results, even in markets that are oversaturated with similar products and services.
Marketing specialists call these different types of niche businesses vertical niche businesses. An ideal customer is someone who has a different type of lifestyle, who buys products or services differently than other customers, or who buys products or services that belong in a different category. For example, someone who buys custom-made suits is considered an ideal customer. Someone who buys a particular brand of bottled water is an ideal customer for a particular business. If you understand what makes an ideal customer, you can target the right customers and create a niche business tailored to their needs.
Niche marketing has always been vital for the success of any online business. But it has become even more so with the advent of the Internet and the ability to reach millions of people at the same time. By choosing a niche, a business ensures its success by focusing on a small portion of the population. This is because the market is very small, and there are literally billions of people browsing the Internet. For any business to be successful, its customers must be extremely targeted and they must enjoy the products or services that the business provides.
Shalom Lamm believes the smaller target group is much easier to find and attract. If the business caters to the needs of its customers, it can be assured that they will return customers and bring in more business because of how much they value the product or service offered.