What
Business Are You REALLY In?
The Art of Niche Marketing and Why It's Important to Your Bottom
Line Success
By Susan Carter
When asked "what business are you in" many business
owners often identify an industry. You might answer, "I'm a
computer consultant" or "I have a pet grooming shop" or
"I write an online newsletter." But claiming to be part of an
industry is not what attracts customers. Customers come to
you because you offer a specialty. For instance, you are the
computer consultant who specializes in dental office
computer networking. Customers come to you because you
specialize in grooming award-winning poodles. People read
Pool Business and Marketing Strategy because it specializes in
providing small business advice that helps solve problems!
Niche marketing--choosing a specific target audience and
speaking directly to it--brings you three things:
-
More customers
-
Qualified buyers
-
Repeat business
Why? Because you're filling an IMMEDIATE need.
Some of my clients hesitate to market as a niche business.
"We can do it all," they argue. "Why should we market just
one aspect of our business?" So, I ask them this one question:
When YOU are the customer, how do YOU buy products or
services?
For instance, let's say you need a lawyer to help you with a
few
legal matters as you set up your new catering business. What
do you do first? You might ask a few friends and associates
for referrals. You ask things like, "Does he/she deal with a lot
of small businesses?" "Can he/she help me draw up client,
employee and independent contractor agreements?" "Can
he/she help with securing the business to pass on to my
children?" These questions define very specific criteria-a
niche. You are looking for a company that provides very
specific services to fill an immediate need.
In addition to asking for direct referrals, you might also
look
in the yellow pages. Which ad are you mostly likely to
respond to:
Ad #1: "1998 recipients of the
prestigious 'We've Got You
Covered'
service quality award."
Ad #2: "Big or small-we do it all"
Ad #3: "We specialize in family-owned businesses"
Ad #4: "Your business partners for contract law and
succession
planning"
I would bet big money that most of you would call the
companies who placed Ads #3 and #4. Why?
Because Ad #1 talks about a two-year old award that
doesn't mean much to the potential customer. A service
quality award is nice but it doesn't say anything about how
that helps the customer.
Ad #2 is too general. Do you really want a firm that tries to
be all things to all people? Or do you want a firm that
understands YOUR specific business needs?
Ads #3 and #4 tell you exactly what they do best. Don't you
deserve an expert working on behalf of your business?
So do YOUR customers!
Niche marketers win over their competition because:
-
They know who their primary customers are,
-
They know what those primary
customers want.
-
They give those customers what they
promise.
You will get more qualified customers coming to your
business if you consciously develop a specific niche market.
This doesn't mean you can't "do it all". The point is to lead
with what you do best. Once you attract customers to your
business because of your specialty, you can introduce them
to the other products or services you offer.
Here's one of my favorite examples of terrific niche
marketing. A local surplus store here in Minneapolis/St. Paul
has been running commercials that perfectly hit its niche
market of customers. It's one of the best ad campaigns I
have seen in a long time. Here's the winning slogan that
gets the attention of its target market:
"For people with nothing to do, and all day to do
it."
Does it work? Well, this little run-of-the-mill, 'one-man's-
trash-is-another-man's-treasure' surplus store has grown to
four locations in the metro area. Can you say the same?
So I ask you again, "What business are you REALLY
in?"
Once you know the answer, you're well on your way to
attracting more customers-and bigger profits.
Pool, Spring 2000
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