Niche market: narrowing a target audience into a niche. What’s the difference?

Getting your company to stand out from your competitors isn’t always easy. First, let’s get straight what a niche market is and how one comes to be. A niche market is not a smaller audience. Instead, it is narrowing your marketing to target a specific subsection of your target audience. Niche marketing hones in on one particular attribute of your product. It looks to satisfy a need that a smaller clientele inside your target audience has. A niche market develops when you meet a need or desire not fulfilled by others in your industry or if you do it in a new and better way.

Okay, let’s take a look at a niche market example. First, you’ll design your target audience. Companies designate a target audience, so they don’t reach out blindly to a mass market. Mass marketing wastes advertising money on people who have no need for what product or service you provide. For example, let’s say that you sell pallets. Because you sell pallets for shipping, you’re going to stay in a local demographic.

Furthermore, you’re going to stay within industries that would require pallets and have shipping responsibilities. Additional research will likely provide you with an age demographic. Now you have established your select target audience.

Now that step one is complete, let’s look at what you do that makes your company unique. Your pallet company also has the distinction and unique ability to ship under strict medical clean shipping guidelines. Clean shipping guidelines have a lot of rules that shippers must follow. Therefore, most local pallet companies cannot provide this subdivision service that your company offers. This sub-service gives you a niche market, an untapped subsection in your already established target group. You fulfill a particular need that many others do not or that you can do better.

Consequently, you now have all of the above demographics and include your new niche audience. In this case, industries such as medical, dental, veterinary, drugstores, pharmacies, etc. By taking on clean shipping pallets to transport medicine, you’re dealing in palettes for shipping and explicitly catering to the niche audience. Congratulations, you found a niche market.

That means your marketing strategy will now target a smaller number of individuals who are far more likely to purchase your product or service, the niche audience. Although you are reaching fewer people, these potential customers have a need you fulfill which means they more easily convert to sales. Niche markets are beneficial because you offer something that others do not. You might provide it better than the competition, or you may present something hard to come by. Either way, you nail down a niche marketing strategy by focusing on what features you have that your industry competitors do not.

First and foremost, it is about identifying what your customers want. Niche marketing is about research into your audience’s behaviors, feelings, needs, and desires. A niche market is about getting up close and personal with your target audience. Social media is a great place to find out what’s important to your ideal customer base. Internet gurus designed social media platforms for personal communication. So, when the owner of Gaber Marketing teaches social media at local business centers he advises the students to take full advantage of this tool. Begin conversations one-on-one with actual members of your target audience. Ask questions that will help you gain insight into their needs. Most of all, pay close attention to feedback.

Consequently, you’ll also find that your brand story becomes defined by the research you’ve done to discover your niche market. A good marketer develops these bonds and builds a relationship with your audience through your brand story. Shaping your brand story and brand promise further increases brand loyalty and initiates sales. Your brand is what connects your customers to you as a company and keeps them returning as long as you provide them with what you’ve promised. To learn more about brand story, try this article; Brand Personality: The art of storytelling.

The niche market is a highly specialized market segmentation. As a business owner, consider if your company is struggling in an industry saturated with overwhelming competition or against numerous super companies. In this case, a niche market may be your survival. A profitable niche can not only help; it may save your business. A niche market is never about changing your company. It’s about knowing where to focus your marketing strategy and understanding your brand.

The main goal of creating a niche market opportunity is to increase sales by directly targeting potential customers most likely to buy your product or service. It is another tactic used by marketers to help increase sales by getting the correct audience to begin down the sales funnel. Considering that you start out with a select group of people more likely to purchase what you’re selling. Then, it’s inevitable you’ll end up with more physical sales.

An additional benefit of niche marketing is that identifying with your customers intimately increases your customer loyalty. Marketers know that customer loyalty is essential for return sales, and a niche market often improves this aspect. Also, being in a niche market usually means that the customer doesn’t mind paying slightly higher since the product or service is limited in some way. To be clear, this does not mean you can price hike to an unreasonable level. Still, you may experience a slightly higher profit margin.

As a business owner, you do not need to focus your entire company around a selected niche market. Although, there are successful companies that do just that. Most often, your marketer focuses on a specific product or a specific campaign to run around the niche market.

For example, let’s review the video streaming services Hulu or Netflix. These companies are known for their streaming video. Yet, come the beginning of autumn, their marketing campaign becomes saturated with horror and Halloween movies. These services market to the specific subset of viewers inside their target audience who enjoy streaming horror movies. Additionally, their campaign strategy is timed for when the viewers are most likely to increase watching these movies. Simultaneously, they still provide all the regular streaming services that their patrons have come to expect from them.

On the other hand, the streaming service Shudder, known for providing scary streaming videos to thrillers, suspense, and horror fans, is a niche business. They take on the full spectrum of this subcategory and make their business strictly catered to a niche product. In this case, the horror movie streaming service. They do not provide other streaming services or categories. Therefore, to compete with the powerhouses already in their target market, they found a niche market to survive.

With your marketing expert and extensive research, you’ll decide which method works best for your company and your brand. So, remember, we’re not talking about taking away business from your door. We’re talking about targeting the right people to make them come in the door. The goal of a niche market is a higher conversion rate. When done correctly, it yields excellent results.

All industries can benefit from finding the correct niche. Whether you’re focusing your entire company on a particular niche or setting up a specific marketing campaign, it’s all about your ideal customer, not your industry. So, our best advice is to jump into the research. Find out details behind what your buyers are seeking within your industry. Open your social media to feedback and listen to what your current and potential customers like and dislike about your company and the market in general.

In conclusion, what’s the difference between a niche market and mass marketing? Niche marketing is a market segment technique that gets your message out to a smaller but uniquely specific audience that already has a particular need you fill. In contrast, mass marketing is reaching out to a broader market and the general population with your message.