<Venture Capital, Market and Niche 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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