Target a Niche, Reap the Rewards

What would you think if you walked into a bookstore that ignored categorization and structure? All of the books just stacked up on the shelves any which way and in no particular order? You might find a mystery novel next to a gardening guide next to a mathematics textbook. Though you might find that type of store curious enough to spend a few minutes looking around, you probably wouldn’t stay long and you certainly wouldn’t go back when searching for a specific book.

Target a niche

If you aim to make any money at your business, you can’t be all things to all people. You can’t write the very best copy or the very best technical documentation for every possible type of technology or product. If nothing else, you will just naturally be more interested in one subject area than in another and your interest will determine the quality of your output.

Who are your client’s customers?

You can’t design websites that are effective for every type of company. For one thing, you can’t possibly learn enough about every type of company to really get to the heart of the key differentiators for each company in each industry. That’s why you need to pick a niche and learn as much as you can about that niche as possible.

Who are the customers for that niche? What are those niche customers looking for? How do your clients provide unique service and products to those customers?

The acupuncturist example

If you’re an acupuncturist who believes that your form of therapy is highly beneficial to relieve exercise-related pain and stress, would you create a marketing message for a general audience and just add a bullet point about the benefits for athletes?

No.

Well, actually, that’s exactly what most people would do. But that’s not what you would do.

Target to get breakthrough results

Instead, to get breakthrough results, you need to target athletes, not a general audience. The general audience tends to be made up of late adopters to any product or service innovation. To ensure your success, you would target your marketing communications to every:

• running club
• cycling club
• triathlon club
• gym
• surf shop
• golf course
• fencing club

And any other club or organization you could think of that caters to athletes and exercise buffs in your local area.

Create free advice

You’d write up a list of useful tips, some of which you could print onto the backs of your business cards and post on your website, about how to improve athletic performance using your particular services.

Offer free services

You’d offer free services at 10k runs, marathons, and triathlons. You’d run inexpensive ads in exercise-related magazines, newsletters, and websites. In traditional marketing, this is known as sampling. Proctor & Gamble sends out millions of free samples of soap or shampoo because sampling gets results. You will too.

Luring the general audience

Guess what? When you are booked up with athletes, the general public will hear about how great your services are and by the law of attraction, they’ll demand appointments with you too! So, target a small, focused niche and eventually, the big crowd will find you.

That’s how it works.