Within every market there usually exists many varied, smaller "niche" markets.

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "niche" as: a cavity, hollow, or recess within a larger mass. The term "Niche Marketing" therefore applies to business marketing by identifying a certain audience within a larger audience with special needs/wants/desires that will be an active and receptive purchaser of goods or services.

Identification of a niche market and identification of the marketing techniques that will successfully reach that niche is absolutely crucial to the success of any business, offline or online.

It is not enough to simply decide upon a product/service, however, and find a niche market that "seems" to need this product/service. Some guidelines for success do exist and following these guidelines will prevent a lot of heartache and wasted time and money:

1. A target niche should have a reasonable size. Although the term itself, "niche" insinuates a very small market, if the niche market chosen is too small, not enough sales will occur to keep the business alive and well revenue-wise. Conversely, too large a niche market will lead to severe competition against larger businesses, and may very well be too untargeted for advertising to be effective.

2. A target niche should be relatively easy to reach with the proper marketing. Although this will take some trial and error to find the "perfect marketing mix", once this mix is found, the target niche will view the advertising easily and respond consistently.

3. The USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of the company should reflect the needs and desires of the targeted niche market. A USP is the concept the company carries to the consumer, and it is what makes a product/service "stand out from the crowd". The USP, if it matches the needs of the targeted market, would ultimately furnish the "perfect solution" to their problems, and the target market, of course, would then be actively searching for this perfect solution, and hungrily buying once they find it!

4. A target niche should match the knowledge and skills of the company. It is incredibly difficult to effectively sell something that you know little or nothing about, or that you have little to no actual interest in. The old marketing proverb, "You have to like a product/service in order to sell it", comes to mind immediately here.

5. Proper research and due diligence should be done into any possible niche markets before deciding on the selection of a niche market. This is an extremely important step, as the product/service offered to a chosen market must meet some of the needs of the market explicitly. This research should include:

A. Research into the demographics of a market: which products the market needs and why, as well as their problems/needs/wants/desires. This would also include research into their buying behaviors.

B. Research into the viability of the product and service. If there are no apparent competitors within the market, this can raise "red flags" as this can occur when there is no need for a particular product/service within certain markets.


C. Research into existing competition. If a market is already glutted with other competitors, the establishment of a business and its products and services will be indeed, more difficult.

As you can see, simply following some very easy guidelines can increase the chances of identifying a target niche market, as well as increase the effective promotion to this chosen niche market. Identifying your own particular niche, and speaking "to this" niche will return a hungry market each and every time!

Jeffery Greer is the author of "Ever Enterprise Marketing Tips", an online marketing newsletter. You will receive Down-to-earth practical marketing tips and advice you can duplicate to propel your business into the spotlight and snowball your online profits, delivered to your inbox weekly! http://www.everenterprise.com/adtrackz/go.php?c=pwniche

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