Not every business is made for everyone. What we mean by that, is that the products or services that your business offers, is going to appeal to those who need or want your products or services and obviously the 7.5 billion people in the world are not all seeking the same things. Basically, what we are trying to say is that when marketing your business, you should be focusing on your particular niche market.
A niche market is a specific and narrowed down section of the population, targeted by certain needs. In order to set yourself apart from the mainstream competition, you can essentially create your own niche market by offering something that is completely unique to your business, that your competition isn’t.
When you establish a niche market in your industry, it is easier to narrow down your marketing efforts and cater them to meet the needs of your specific target audience. When you focus on offering unique services, you can then become known as an expert or specialist in that particular area. It is also important to realize how much more expensive and time consuming it can be trying to appeal to the masses, versus a smaller, exclusive group.
Once you establish your niche market in your industry, the next step is implementing your niche marketing strategy.
Here are 7 ways to advertise for your niche market!
1. Use Research and Data to Segment Your Audience
Whether you are in the food industry, the orthodontics industry or the non-profit industry, you need to know exactly who your target audience is before you can market to them. This is not a guessing game, or something to attempt blindly. Before beginning any advertising strategy, it is important to begin by performing research to learn who your audience is and how to segment them.
There are plenty of free resources out there that can help you to do some research on who your audience is. Many free social networking sites Facebook and Instagram and even Google, offer free insights once you set up an account. You can see real time data about the demographics of the people who are visiting your website or page. You can then use this data to create buyer personas to segment your audience further and creating unique marketing strategies for each group.
2. Word-of-Mouth-Advertising
Word-of-mouth will always be one of the most effective methods to market your business and so it should not be ignored. Networking with others in your niche can open doors to numerous opportunities, connecting you with new customers. Make sure that you treat each and every customer interaction with the highest quality care so that they naturally spread the word about their experience. To take it a step further, you can offer incentive programs to your customers to give them an extra push to recommend your products or services.
3. Invest in PPC Advertising
Pay per click advertising is a great way to attract people to your business because you are finding them at an optimal time. When you set out a wide net with your advertising, displaying your business everywhere and anywhere, yes you will get eyes in front of more people. But with a method like PPC advertising, you are able to be seen by your potential customers when they need you the most.
PPC advertising campaigns can be set up with any popular search outlet like Google or Bing. Basically how it works is you can have your ads shown to people while they are searching for your services, meaning they need them now. The reason PPC works so well is because of buyer intent and because you are finding them during the perfect part of their buyer’s journey.
What is also great about PPC, is that you are only paying per click, so you only have to pay when someone actually clicks on your ad.
4. Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
Running out of ideas or ways to stand out? Keep a close eye on your competition and see what marketing tactics they are using. We are not suggesting you copy everything that they do, but if you see that a certain campaign they are running is working, you can use that as inspiration to create your own campaign that reflects your brand.
The key to staying on stop is being better than your competition. You may have better products or provide a much better service, but the truth is perception is reality. It is up to you to make sure your marketing efforts portray your business as the best.
5. Listen To Your Customers
No one knows better than your customers. Remember that. Your customers are the ones who use your product and they are using your product because they want it/need it, a.k.a. Are in your target demographic. If they are not happy, you will not be successful long term.
Make it a priority to gather feedback from your past and current consumers, always. Really listen to everything that they have to say and if you see any patterns, implement those necessarily changes to your product or services. In order to remain successful, you must always keep improving. Never stay stagnant or you will not last no matter what industry you are in.
You may think that you know best since you are the expert in your field and niche, but your customers are the ones who will be paying for your services.
The key to thriving in your particular niche, is answering the prayers of the people in your market. If you think about it, every business is built around people’s problems. Your business needs to offer a solution to a common problem in order to be in demand.
Whether you have already established your business or are playing with a couple ideas, invest some resources into research. You should never enter into anything blindly, and research will allow you to see exactly what people’s problems are and how you can solve them. The research shouldn’t stop even if you already have a decent business profit though, you should be making sure that you are solving all of your current customer’s problems as well to keep them coming.
6. Be Open to New Opportunities
Change can be scary but it can sometimes be necessary and very fruitful. Even if you are a specialist in your particular niche, you should keep an open mind. When an opportunity presents itself to expand, be open to the idea and if it seems valuable, go for it. If you have the right resources, your business can really thrive once you expand to additional target markets. Opportunity = growth.
7. Hire a Creative Marketing Agency
One way to really see a return on your investment without doing all of the legwork is to hire a marketing agency. Many businesses have considered this but are hesitant due to the thought of advertising agency costs. You may be surprised at how affordable some creative agency rates can be.
Hiring an agency is not cheap, but it can be well worth the investment and beyond when you choose the right digital marketing agency. With the right agency, your business will grow and your revenues will increase enough to pay your costs several times over!
You really just have to weigh the pros and cons and determine the most efficient ways to reach your business goals. A marketing dfy approach can really take much of the stress off of you as it typically covers everything from project management to social media marketing to top search results and all your inbound marketing needs.
You could always hire your own internal team but the cost of hiring for each of the necessary positions is far more expensive than hiring an experienced agency. If you are considering hiring an agency for your internet marketing needs, you will want to make sure that they specialize in your niche market if you want to see the best results.
At eNox Media, we specialize in digital marketing for businesses in the restaurant, non-profit and orthodontist markets.
We know what it takes to get your brand in front of prospective patients and dining connoisseurs alike.
Let’s talk about your free assessment!
