What is a Market Niche and how can you take advantage of it?
STARTUPSMARKETING & SALES
Entering a niche market can be a successful strategy for a new business, allowing it to focus its efforts on a limited market and then expand into larger segments.
What is a market niche and how can you take advantage of it?
For any entrepreneur who wants to boost their business, it is necessary to be very clear about the potential niche in which their brand could operate.
While niche markets are much smaller than broad markets, successfully exploiting them can be incredibly lucrative in the long run.
What is a niche market?
Simply put, a niche market is a smaller segment of a much larger market.
For example, the broadest market could be sports shoes and the niche market could be running shoes. The audience for this type of sports shoes is much smaller, but also much more specific.
Catering to this particular group of consumers means adapting to their specific needs and preferences, which for this example could be sports shoes with less weight and greater ventilation.
When identifying a market niche, it is important to consider the following factors:
What is the size of the market
Niche markets will always be much smaller than broader markets. It is important to define the size to determine whether or not the effort to attack it is worth it.
A niche that is too small may not justify the effort and resources required to serve it.
What is the target audience
It is very important to be able to identify a well-defined group of clients with shared interests, characteristics and needs in that market niche.
That way we can concentrate efforts on satisfying those specific needs and interests, maximizing our resources.
Does this audience show signs of brand loyalty?
Customers in attractive markets tend to be incredibly loyal to brands that meet their specific needs.
Identifying the signs that may indicate that this is the case is essential to guide an effective strategy.
Why are market niches so important for New Businesses?
Although it may seem counterintuitive to penetrate a smaller market, the truth is that if you adopt a generalist approach with your target audience, you will have a hard time satisfying all of their needs, which will make it difficult for them to change their current purchasing habits.
Your New Business must compete with established brands, trying to convince their customers to give you the opportunity to show them the advantages of your product.
If you don't meet their specific needs, they would have no reason to change their spending behavior.
Instead, by focusing on fully meeting the needs of a few, you'll have a much better chance of converting them into loyal, repeat customers, which can lay the foundation for your business to grow to a broader market in the future.
How to penetrate a market niche
Start segmenting from broader categories
The best way to find a niche is to start from a broader category and begin segmenting from there.
Let's say you are interested in creating a new clothing brand. You can start with men's and women's clothing and segment from there.
For example, you could focus on men's and women's sportswear, and from there, segment into specific clothing for specific sports.
Once you've identified your niche, it's time to reach your target audience.
You should look for terms related to the segment you have chosen and that attract that audience to your brand and write content that fits their needs.
You must optimize that content for internet search engines.
Another advantage of focusing on a market niche is that the difficulty of positioning is considerably simplified.
As a New Business, Google needs to verify your legitimacy before giving you what is known as a high "Domain Rating".
Without a high domain score, no matter how good your content is, Google will not rank it at the top of the results.
You can greatly reduce this problem by using keywords with low competition.
As more customers access your website from these sources, buy, and leave reviews, your domain score will increase and you'll be able to address broader, broader terms.
Identify potential groups on social networks
Another way to reach your niche is through social media, either by creating content they are interested in seeing or even sending them direct messages.
. It's a tactic that many business founders have used with great success to generate expectations before launching a brand.
Interact with your target audience in a friendly way and avoid being too pushy or too commercial in your messages.
This can put off potential customers as they are often bombarded by brands trying to catch their attention.
Monitor competitor's performance
An excellent way to identify and contact your niche market is to monitor the performance and behavior of the competition.
Identify the brands in your niche, find their profiles on social networks and take note of their followers.
It is clear that these followers are already interested in the product or service you offer, so contacting them will probably be easier and have a much greater chance of success.
Some conclusions
For brands with little reputation or recognition, narrowing the niche can be a great way to gain a foothold in the desired market, creating a base of brand-loyal customers.
Niche markets can be found by analyzing competitor behavior, as well as selecting broader categories as a starting point and then beginning to narrow them down.
Niche markets may seem like a step backwards, since they imply a smaller potential market, but attracting loyal followers is vital for any emerging brand to gain traction in a broader market.