The lack of defined mass media channels translates into thousands of opportunities for niche marketing. In 2008 a survey of more than a 1,000 packaged goods across 23,000 stores bought by 54 million households found that only 2.5% of the people surveyed ended up accounting for 80% of the packaged good’s revenue.
In other words, a very small percentage of loyal customers make up the bulk of sales.
(Catalina Marketing’s Pointer Media Network and the CMO Council, Discovering the Pivotal Point Consumer, 10.2008)
Online it is possible to define, target and reach exactly the right customers. The Internet should look like the multifaceted media it is- but too often it doesn’t. This presents a huge opportunity for creative designers to make a name for themselves and to make money for their clients.
Current State of Online Websites
Now it is true, of course, that there are brilliant website designs out there. Innovative, fun sites that really push the envelope of design and they have their place.
The question is: Do they sell? Are the cutting edge designs also moneymakers?
Niche marketing isn’t about design for design’s sake. Beautiful must also be functional. It’s a tall order. Here’s a quick look at why website designs – especially in certain industries – are fairly generic.
1. Design must meet the needs of search engines. The constant war between SEO and design is certainly a problem. However, niche marketing lends itself to long tail keywords and these are excellent for SEO, giving you more room to breathe on the design side.
2. Large website designers have carved out territories in entire industries mass-producing the same website again and again with only minor adjustments. After a while all these sites begin to look alike.
3. Sites like Blogspot and others promote template designs.
4. Corporate types like to play it safe. Especially on website design. Executives want data and research to back up a decision before they change anything. The problem is that the Internet is a new medium that is constantly changing. There isn’t an enormous amount of qualified data to draw upon that justifies doing something differently. It’s also not in their corporate DNA.
5. For many smaller businesses just getting a website up is an accomplishment. Once up, maintenance in about all they can handle. Today small businesses are trying to think about social media marketing, PPC marketing, platforms, video etc. It’s overwhelming. It’s expensive. “What we have is good enough.” The thing is, it isn’t.
There are SO many opportunities out there.
Examples of online niche marketing businesses that has gone gangbusters:
- Apple Computer the Revival – Silver boxes vs. Black boxes. Target market: Initially designers and anti-Microsoft computer geeks. Advantage: Steve Jobs.
- Groupon – Cool Fun Online Coupons vs. the old boring paper ones. Target market: Local businesses. Advantage: Fun creative writing style.
- Etsy – Bring crafters and craft buyers together vs. Farmers markets and summer markets that offered only sporadic income for starving crafters. Target market: Crafters and craft buyers. Advantage: Well focused niche that serves a purpose.
Here are some industries whose websites are too much alike and some ideas for niche placement.
- Accounting websites: How about hip mobile cloud accounting website targeted at college kids using video games to teach complex financial principals?
- Legal websites: How about a defense attorney that targets young high risk males online talking about the things that really concern their lives and relate to them.
- Travel websites: How about a travel website that purposely does away with local browser presets and gives viewers local market and international pricing for everything from airfares to rental cars?
- Website that sells cell phones and electronics: How about a site for female customers that packages and rates durability on cell phones, computers and other electronic items and then matches sizing with chic top of the line baby bags, purses and travel luggage?
12 Key Components that make Online Niche Marketing Work
1. Find a need and fill it.
2. Very specifically identify your users. Know them inside and out.
3. Clearly frame your niche vs. the competition
4. Establish a tone for your website/business and carry that tone throughout the entire business.
5. Don’t worry about specializing too narrowly. Did you know there are people that collect ice cream scoops and they are very serious about it. The keyword ice cream is a tough one but a long tail ice cream scoop keyword? Bet you could nail that down for a lot less hassle and money. Sure bet is: Ice cream scoop collectors love ice cream.
6. Identify with your users. The brother of an ex-gang member turned lawyer is going to have a better chance of targeting gang members in trouble with the law. In addition, he can use his persona to further his branding.
7. Spend time and thought on branding. Finding a niche is only the beginning. Develop your niche and make it unique and your own. This will also make it difficult to replicate.
8. Use repetition across media to get your niche message out to a larger audience. This works particularly well if you belong to a “cool” industry that can attract not only professionals but also all those people that want to get into it. Think: lynda.com
9. Establish yourself as an authority in your niche. If your niche is narrow enough you can really drill down on it and you will see all the sub-niches that need your help.
10. Use niche marketing across a larger platform. A great example of this is Gawker. All roads lead back to home.
11. Use reciprocal thinking to instill trust and clout online. Give “things” away and you will have people much more likely to sign up and pay for your other services. The model for this is Google.
12. Be creative. Designers are creative by nature. Let that nature breathe whenever possible to keep you fresh and excited about web site design and online marketing.
About Jen
Jen Thames is a brand manager for GoPromotional.com, leading supplier of promotional gifts.
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Great post! Thorough research of the subject matter. We must all remember that all successful internet companies have started with a good niche. Think companies like Facebook or Amazon. For example, Facebook was a top university social network at first, which upon rapid take over of its core niche, have started to expand into other social networking niches while leveraging its initial brand and position.