UK Venture Capital - Niche Marketing Research
Niche Markets or the whole market?
Would you like to have 60 million new customers? That was
the title of a brochure from some "take the money and
run" company selling Web sites to unsuspecting business
people. The truth is that only the very highest volume mega-sites
are receiving in excess of a million visitors a day. The good
news is that you probably don't necessarily want sheer quantity
of visitors. If you're the average business to business Web
site, you'll probably have more like a few hundred visitors
a month at the beginning. The key is to get the right kind
of visitors. Wouldn't you much prefer qualified visitors who
are ready, willing and able to purchase your products and
services?
Let's start be examining the high level steps:
-
Brainstorm a Specialty Skill Set : Find out what you
are good at, or what you like doing. Notice the needs
of your own that you are serving by being good at those
skills. Other people will have SIMILAR NEEDS! Note that
this exercise is focused on your abilities and activities;
don't worry yet about trying to 'fit' your skills into
a particular job.
-
Research and Identify One or More Niche Market Sector(s):
Carefully research and identify every possible demographic
group that might be interested in your Specialty Skills.
Packaging your Skills in different ways often will lead
to new Niches in which to market successfully. This exercise
is focused on the different customer groups that might
be interested in some facet of your Specialty Skills.
Think of NEEDS that people have, and how your skills can
help meet those needs.
-
Identify, Test Market, and Develop Products & Services:
For every identifiable need that you can think of, identify
a product or service (or better yet, more than one, across
a range of price) that will meet that need. Test market
them ONLINE to save wasted production costs, then fully
develop the ones with solid response potential.
-
Identify Relevant Marketing Fronts: Both Online and
Off line marketing fronts exist, and require different
strategies for successful and productive marketing.
-
Develop and Implement a Marketing Action Plan on Each
Front: A MAP is a plan of action for creating exposure
for your Specialty Skills, your products, and your services.
The greatest Specialty Skills in the world will go unrewarded
without savvy marketing to draw customers.
-
Measure, Adjust, Expand: Business today is a daily challenge
to survive and prosper. You must continually measure your
progress, adjust your strategies, and expand the scope
of your business to stay ahead of your competitors. And
if you are successful, you will have competitors! This
is a sure sign that you are doing it right!
Niche Marketing is not a new concept. Companies and individuals
have been successfully using this strategy for decades. What
is new and exciting about the time and place in which we live
is the emergence of the Internet as a global commercial vehicle.
Like no other time in history, opportunity exists for entrepreneurs,
business people, and just plain regular folks, to conceive
of, develop, and launch a global business from any place where
there is a phone line and a computer. The sheer number of
people that are migrating to online environments makes it
possible to successfully Niche Market to an ever increasing
universe of possible industries.
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