Having a niche can make or break your online business.  Yes it really is that important!

Discovering your profitable niche and one that you are genuinely passionate about is the key to success and business growth for eCommerce and online business. As they say there are riches in niches...

So why is this the case?  Surely if I narrow my offering right down to such a small segment, it means I will loose out on sales?

Not so my friend, not so... in fact quite the opposite.

The secret power of niches

You see having a niche allows you to get specific about what you do as a business, and who your target audience is. 

It allows you to tailor absolutely everything you say as if you are talking to one very specific person...and that will make them fall in love with you even more! They will be shouting "finally! someone gets me!"...

You can and should analyse profitable niches before you start your business and if you are looking to grow your business and diversify it's the perfect way to help you select the best market to play in.  So, if you are not already serving a specific niche and reaping the benefits, how can you get to know your niche? Read on to discover more...

What is a Niche? 

Pronounced either nitch or neesh (depending on how fancy you want to sound) -  A niche is basically a small and specialised market.  It is a way for you to focus on and serve a very, very narrow band of loyal customers successfully for example Fitness For Ladies over 50 or Dog Training for Spaniels. 

When you are niche marketing, you are dividing the market into highly specialised areas and then focusing all your efforts on engaging with and appealing to that very specific audience.

Essentially, your aim is to deliver a product or service that is made perfectly to suit that particular individual or audience. You win by appealing to them so directly and in tune with their needs that you genuinely show just how clearly you understand them... and they love it!

Why Niches really work online?

It's all about Competition ...

Online niches really work as it allows you as an entrepreneur to focus in on a very narrow audience and compete fully, to your very best ability with a unique product or service.  

There are a lot of product-based businesses out there today with ecommerce stores online and we all know our resources can't possibly stretch to beat off all the competition that's out there and cover every customer on the planet. 

We have to get smart about it.  

Far better to invest your precious time and resources on winning in a specific niche and doing that so well that you start gaining momentum and traction.  You start standing out...

Remember you can always expand later on into other niches as part of your business growth strategy and build up your business into more broader areas later - once you are a bigger online fish.

...and volumes...

If you were a physical store in a local town, it is unlikely you would attract enough of that highly specific customer type to keep the business going - but online... as a product-based business well - suddenly you have the whole world to play with.. and surely there must be someone else out there in the world that only ever wants to buy pink! (thepinkstore.com)

You can narrow down to the extreme only because the volumes work - your can target directly to your audience and know that you can sell over and over again, without having to spread yourself too thinly across a broad market.

Become the go-to expert

By concentrating on a single area of expertise, you are able to focus on speaking only to your very specific audience - it takes all the guesswork out of choosing content topics to write about and which products or services to sell. 

It allows you to go deep with your customer and learn everything there is to know about your niche. So that you become the expert.  You can really get to know what your niche customers like and what they are interested in buying.

By using the right marketing strategies, your business also becomes easier to search and find. You will become the go-to business for that specific area - because you specialise people will see you as an expert.

With targeted marketing and being seen as experts in that field, you will build growth and reputation, leading to influencers wanting to connect as well as fuelling potential collaborations with other businesses.

How to define your Niche market

The key to defining your niche market is to drill down to a narrow topic, but ensure that there is still enough audience to get traction and results.

Top niches this year include;

• Natural Skincare for women
• Handmade dog treats
• ....and anything +Pets!
• Weightloss products
• Print on demand clothing
• Smartphone accessories
• Drones 
• Shapewear 
• Detox products

When you have your single niche, you should be able to brainstorm and identify your perfect audience.

How do you choose a niche you are passionate about and one that still has enough of an audience to sell to? 

As part of our Strategy workshops, if you don't already have a niche clearly defined we can spend some time reviewing this with you.  Here's my 4 easy steps for you to DIY: 

Step 1. Brainstorm

Start by brainstorming your interests, hobbies or things you are passionate about. Perhaps you have specialties or skills that are already part of your business today that you could use for a new service or refine and make it your whole niche?

Step 2. Google it

Once you have roughly 5-10 ideas, get Googling!  You need to research your new business niche. Are there others out there selling the same product or niche?

This isn’t a bad thing, as it shows there is a consumer and customer base for the idea. Check books and magazines. Have a look on social media, and all of the specialist niche Facebook groups and pages you can now get.

Look for scale and potential for business growth.   We want enough room to grow over your 3 year business plan period. 

Step 3. Amazon it

Continue your research on Amazon.  Are there plenty of products which are selling in this niche that have reviews?   Read the reviews, why are people buying that product, what is it that they really want? What makes this niche special and ripe for business growth?

Step 4. Identify pain points

Try to identify your customers’ pain points and needs. Perhaps there is a hole in the market that you could satisfy. You just need to make sure that your audience has a genuine demand for your niche product or service. Look on forums to see how people describe their problems in your niche. What would be their dream solution?  Can you sell that?

How to market to your Niche

When you have researched your niche market and you know it well, you will naturally use the language they use. This is when marketing gets exciting!  This is when we start to rocket-fuel your business growth.

You will be able to speak to your customers about their pain points in a way in which they understand.  Using their exact words!  You will know what social media platform they are hanging out on, or know where offline you will be able to reach them.

The key to marketing to your niche is to research it well. When you have a small niche audience, you will be able to identify with them more in-depth than just superficial things their age, location and profession. You will really know their habits, and understand them like a friend.

In your marketing, you need to show that you know and understand these pain points, secret desires and hopes.... and then demonstrate exactly how you help. 

Make it clear what you do for your niche market with your product or service and how this is going to benefit them. 

Using social media to accelerate your niche

Social media is a great way to send targeted messages to your niche market, just ensure that you are using the right platform that your very specific niche audience uses. Be willing to expand and change with the latest trends, too. 

Make It Happen In Your Business

By allowing your business to have a clear and concise business strategy, identifying the niche you want to serve, you will develop targeted content, and be able to sell products or services which both you and your niche market will love.

If you are not clear on your exact niche or if you are currently talking to a very broad audience in your marketing, now is the time to make the change and niche down baby! niche down. 

Next Steps:

• Take the time to identify exactly which niche market you are in and who you serve within that market. If you need help with this strategic thinking, schedule a Strategy workshop with myself and my team and get the help you need to grow your product based business. 
• Challenge yourself to see if you can niche down a level further - for example if you sell nutritional products for women, could you narrow this down further to be nutritional products for pregnant women or ladies with a specific combination of health worries? 
• Revisit your existing marketing materials and website, to see if you can tighten up the messaging to be much more relevant to your new niche audience.  Use their language, share their concerns and how you will solve their problems. 
• Discover where your specific niche hangs out online and speak with them, find out what they like and genuinely engage with them to encourage sales.
• Measure - like all good things measure your success comparing sales before and after your niching efforts!  I think you will like the results and clarity it brings you...