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Targeting a Niche Market: Finding Specialized Buyers for Your Belleek China

If you own a collection of Belleek china and are looking to sell it, you may be wondering where to find specialized buyers who appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of this unique porcelain. Belleek china is highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts worldwide, making it important to target the right market in order to maximize your selling potential. In this article, we will explore some key strategies for finding specialized buyers for your Belleek china.

Online Marketplaces for Collectibles

The internet has revolutionized the way we buy and sell items, and collectibles are no exception. There are several online marketplaces that cater specifically to collectors of fine china, including Belleek. These platforms provide a convenient way to connect with potential buyers from around the world who have a specific interest in acquiring Belleek pieces.

One popular online marketplace for collectibles is eBay. With its vast user base and advanced search filters, eBay allows you to reach a wide audience of collectors who actively search for rare and valuable items like Belleek china. Additionally, there are dedicated websites and forums that focus on antique china sales, where you can list your items or connect with potential buyers directly.

Antique Shops and Consignment Stores

Another avenue to explore when selling your Belleek china is antique shops and consignment stores. These establishments often have a dedicated clientele of collectors who visit regularly in search of unique pieces like yours. By consigning your Belleek china with these stores, you can tap into their existing customer base while benefiting from their expertise in pricing and marketing antique items.

When approaching antique shops or consignment stores, it’s essential to do your research beforehand. Look for establishments that specialize in fine china or have a history of successfully selling collectible items similar to yours. Contact them directly or visit their premises to discuss consignment terms and any fees involved.

Auction Houses and Estate Sales

Auctions and estate sales are popular venues for selling high-end collectibles like Belleek china. These events attract serious collectors who are willing to pay top dollar for rare and valuable items. Participating in an auction or estate sale can be an excellent way to generate competitive bidding and potentially achieve a higher selling price for your Belleek pieces.

To find auction houses or estate sales that specialize in fine china, search online or consult local directories. It’s crucial to choose reputable venues with a proven track record of successful sales. When consigning your Belleek china to an auction house, inquire about their marketing efforts, catalog inclusion, and any associated fees.

Social Media and Online Communities

In recent years, social media platforms have become powerful tools for connecting buyers and sellers of niche products. Utilize platforms like Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags, and online forums dedicated to antique china collecting to showcase your Belleek collection to enthusiasts who actively engage with such content.

Joining these communities allows you to build relationships with potential buyers directly while gaining insights into market trends and pricing expectations. Engage in discussions, share photos of your collection, and be responsive to inquiries from interested individuals.

In conclusion, targeting a niche market when selling your Belleek china is crucial for finding specialized buyers who appreciate its beauty and value. Explore online marketplaces for collectibles, consider consigning with antique shops or consignment stores, participate in auctions or estate sales, and leverage social media platforms and online communities dedicated to antique china collecting. By using these strategies effectively, you can connect with the right audience and maximize the value of your Belleek collection.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

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What is a Niche Market? Examples, Benefits & How to Find One

Published: January 02, 2023

There are two paths for entrepreneurs . You can either serve the mass market or a niche market. Entrepreneurs who serve a mass market usually create many products or serve multiple industries. However, they struggle to become the market leader for each of their offerings.

This is different for entrepreneurs in a niche market. These entrepreneurs create specific products or serve specific audiences. Besides allowing you to narrow your scope, serving a niche market helps you gain more credibility and become the go-to brand for your audience.

In this post, you’ll learn about the benefits of niche markets, how to find your niche, and what to do after you identify an unmet need.

What is a niche market?

Benefits of a niche market, how to find a niche market, niche market examples, find your lane in a niche market.

A niche market is a focused set of people or businesses who want to purchase a specific offering. Think of niche marketing as the act of specializing in what you provide.

When your company offers specific products and services instead of a wide variety of offerings, you benefit by saving money and becoming more productive. You’ll also build a comparative advantage over competitors who are generalists.

For example, in the pet industry, there are animals like dogs and cats. Creating a business that sells dog collars is a niche market. The same applies to cat sweaters and pet GPS trackers.

When companies decide to sell to a niche market , they attract more customers to their product or service. Let’s look at some benefits of operating in a niche market.

Whether you’re starting or scaling a business, niche marketing is an effective way to establish your brand positioning . Here are some other benefits that niche market entrepreneurs enjoy.

Effective Use of Marketing Resources

By focusing on a small audience, you can use your resources to find customers who align with your product. These people need your product the most and are most likely to convert.

Niche marketing also helps you save on your marketing and advertising budget. That’s because a highly targeted audience means you’ll have fewer buyer personas . You can spend efficiently, targeting specific types of prospects.

More Social Proof

Aligning your products or services with a small group of customers is an excellent way to encourage word-of-mouth marketing and positive reviews. This form of social proof is powerful. Recommendations can carry your business into a larger, potentially more profitable market.

Mass markets often evolve from niche markets. So while you’re starting small today, consider the big picture, and start building the foundation that’ll help you succeed on a grand scale.

Less Competition

Operating in a niche market means you’ll deal with less or no competition. Many companies or individuals like to serve many customers. By going narrow, you’ll offer a specific product that’ll eliminate many companies from your customers’ radar.

That said, there may also be fewer customers looking for your product or service. So you’ll need to enter a niche market that has an adequate audience.

Increased Brand Loyalty

Niche marketing allows individuals and businesses to improve brand loyalty. Engaging with fewer people means you’ll find it easier to nurture prospects and build quality relationships. Your audience will know that you understand their vibe. They’ll see you as a true partner, rather than a vendor who’s only interested in their money.

• Reflect on your passions and interests.
• Identify the problems and needs of your customers.
• Research the competition.
• Define your niche and its profitability.
• Test your product or service.

1. Reflect on your passions and interests.

Is there a hobby or skill you're passionate about or good at? Take some time to reflect on those areas of interest as potential niche market ideas.

Below are a few questions to help you brainstorm:

• What skills come naturally to me?
• How do I approach problem-solving?
• What topics do I enjoy learning about?
• How do I enjoy spending my free time?
• Do friends, family, and colleagues request my advice on a specific topic?

Writing your answers to these questions will help you identify your core strengths. This allows you to build on a niche market idea you already love.

2. Identify the problems and needs of your customers.

Now that you have some niche market ideas, think of the problems faced by your target market. Can your passion or interest meet your customer needs ? Do you know their motive to buy?

Conducting market research will help you determine the buying behaviors and challenges of customers.

There are a variety of tools (including free ones) for exploring your customer persona . Using them gives you a better idea of how your business can provide value to your niche market.

3. Research the competition.

Before devoting your time and energy to developing a brand-new business, research your potential competitors . You might have a viable product idea, but how many other businesses will you be competing with?

This is where research tools come in handy. Let’s explore some of them.

Exploding Topics

Exploding Topics is an excellent tool that allows entrepreneurs to find emerging trends before they take off. Here’s how it works.

Let’s say you’re interested in the beauty niche. To find emerging trends, you’ll visit explodingtopics.com and use the “All categories” filter. Once you click “Beauty,” you’ll get a result like this.

From there, you can see your competitors in that market and find your own way to shine.

Google Trends

Let’s say “Bakuchiol” from the beauty trends interests you. A competitive research tool like Google Trends helps you know how frequently people search for this term.

As you can see below, the interest in the term has been growing steadily since 2017 in the U.S.

Image Source

With this data, you can get an idea of market size and demand.

Answer the Public

To find a market around your search term, use a tool like Answer The Public to find a niche for different product categories.

For instance, if we enter “Bakuchiol for” in Answer The Public, we’ll see 331 results like bakuchiol for acne, body, blackheads, breastfeeding, skincare, and face.

Each result provides a niche opportunity for you to explore.

Ubersuggest

But before going all-in on any keyword, use a free keyword research tool like Ubersuggest to get a detailed overview of each term.

For instance, when we plug in “bakuchiol for acne,” we see it has a high-paid difficulty and moderate cost per click.

Other tools to use for competitor research are:

• Google Keyword Planner

Use these tools to explore the best-selling products consumers are researching and see if your new business can meet their needs.

4. Define your niche and its profitability.

If you’re dedicating your resources and time to a new business, it should have the ability to become profitable. Here are a few factors to consider when finalizing the niche you’ll cater to:

• Product quality. Is your product handmade, eco-friendly, or premium?
• Price. Do you want to sell luxury items or will you price them moderately?
• Customer location. Where is your target audience? Are they in a certain country or region?
• Customer values and interests. Are you targeting vegans, environmental enthusiasts, travelers, or sports lovers?
• Customer demographics. Are you selling to straight folks or those in the LGTBQ+ community? What’s their age range, education, and income level?

Your idea could be profitable if you research the market and discover similar products, but few companies sell them.

Look at the price points of competitor products so you can price yours competitively.

Resources like Amazon (for products), G2 (for software), agency directories (for services), and PRICEFY.IO (for price monitoring) are helpful in evaluating competitor pricing and determining prices for your products and services.

5. Test your product or service.

Create a simple website or landing page for your business so customers can find you. Offer a trial period of the product or give out free samples to your target customers. This initial test period should not cost a large amount of money. However, you can certainly use paid ads to drive traffic to your website.

See if people want to put money towards your product with crowdfunding sites . Not only can you gain funding, but you’ll also get your product in front of potential customers.

If the test is not as successful as you hoped, don’t scrap your idea entirely. Go back to the drawing board and find key areas where you can improve your product or marketing.

If you’re wondering what a niche business looks like, below are seven examples of businesses that cater to niche markets.

• Georgetown Cupcake
• The Container Store
• Kirrin Finch

1. Georgetown Cupcake : A bakery that only bakes cupcakes.

After leaving their corporate jobs, sisters Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne pursued their passion for baking and opened up Georgetown Cupcake. Unlike other bakeries that create cakes and other sweets, their sole product is cupcakes, and they were able to perfect their recipes by focusing on one product type.

2. The Container Store: A store that only sells containers.

Instead of offering a variety of home products such as furniture, textiles, and artwork, The Container Store focuses on selling compartments — large and small enclosed storage containers where consumers put their stuff.

Sure, customers could go to a convenience store to buy storage, but there’s a good chance they won’t find the exact container that fits the space and aesthetic of their cupboard.

The Container Store fills that void (literally) and the business has turned a healthy profit within this market.

3. Drybar: A hair salon that offers blowouts, no cuts or color.

The market size of the Hair Salon industry in the US was a whopping $48.3 billion in 2022. There’s certainly enough for entrepreneurs who want to provide specific services in this industry. That’s why Drybar only offers blow-drying and styling services. To give customers some variety, the salon offers a few hair-styling options . What sets Drybar apart is its unique concept of focusing on one thing and being the best at it: Blowouts.

4. SoulCycle: A workout studio that only offers indoor cycling classes.

SoulCycle is a 45-minute indoor cycling class that sets itself apart from competitors by only offering one specialized spin class. Other fitness studios don’t compare to the community of dedicated cyclers who spend hours working out at SoulCycle.

5. Ties.com: A clothing store that sells men's accessories.

Global revenue in the men’s apparel market was $499.80 billion in 2022 . The US alone had $100.5 billion. This amount proves the gigantic potential of the menswear market, allowing Ties.com to create a niche market that sells specific products.

In the broader market of menswear, Ties.com stands out by only selling accessories like ties, socks, pocket squares, and wallets. Since their products make up a small portion of the menswear industry, they stand out from the competition because they can focus on creating unique, high-quality accessories.

6. Dorm Mom: Laundry service for college students.

According to Grand View Research , the global dry-cleaning and laundry services market size could reach $79.91 billion by 2027. People can easily carve a niche in this industry by providing laundry services for kids, men, women, LGBTQ communities, students, and the list goes on.

Dorm Moms adopted this approach by focusing on a specific audience. Rather than cater to a large population of people in need of laundry service, Dorm Mom serves only college students.

7. Kirrin Finch: A LGBTQ+ clothing brand.

The spending power of the LGBTQ community is about $1 trillion in the U.S. alone. This is an excellent market for brands that stand with this community. The connection is even stronger when LGBTQ founders lead the brand. This is the case for Kirrin Finch, an LGBTQ clothing line.

Led by Kelly and Laura Moffat, Kirrin Finch provides individuals in the LGBTQ community with bespoke suits and button-up shirts for weddings, workwear, or just to look your best any time.

By specializing your products and services in a narrow market, you’ll better use your resources, produce products faster, and develop a loyal customer base. Selling to a niche market can be a short- or long-term strategy — the key is finding your audience and tailoring everything you do just for them.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, niche marketing revisited: concept, applications and some european cases.

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN : 0309-0566

Article publication date: 1 April 1994

The mass markets of previous decades have splintered into smaller market segments or niches, in which companies could be safer from cut‐throat competition and explore new market opportunities. Although part of a positioning strategy, niche marketing may be used as a deliberate marketing strategy to create “safe havens” and business opportunities for many companies. Aims to analyse the concept, basic issues and different methods of applying this marketing strategy.

• Marketing strategy
• Niche marketing
• Market segmentation

Dalgic, T. and Leeuw, M. (1994), "Niche Marketing Revisited: Concept, Applications and Some European Cases", European Journal of Marketing , Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 39-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090569410061178

Copyright © 1994, MCB UP Limited

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What Is a Niche Market? And How To Reach One

Learn what a niche market is, the benefits of marketing and selling to one, and how to reach your niche market.

Niche markets are highly-specific segments of consumers who share certain characteristics and qualities with one another. In contrast to mass markets, which encompass all possible consumers, niche markets consist of much more narrow consumers who are smaller in number than mass markets but who may be much more likely to purchase a specific product or service.

In this article, you'll learn more about what niche markets are, explore examples of them in the real world, and find a step-by-step guide to help you define and reach your own target niche markets.

Niche market definition

A niche market is a very specific segment of consumers who share characteristics and, because of those characteristics, are likely to buy a particular product or service. As a result, niche markets comprise small, highly specific groups within a broader target market you may be trying to reach.

Identifying a niche market and learning everything you can about it enables you to do several things:

Develop products and services that meet your niche’s unique needs and desires

Show empathy for your niche through your marketing messaging  

Build trust with your niche and turn them into loyal customers 

Compete with larger brands

Become a credible “go-to” brand for the specific solution you provide and ultimately attract more customers

Consumer characteristics defined

When identifying a niche market, you'll examine three main categories of consumer characteristics: demographic, psychographic, and firmographic.

Demographics are specific socio-economic factors such as age, ethnicity, or income level.

Psychographics are behaviors, attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological factors.

Firmographics are factors used to characterize the operations of businesses and organizations, and can include the industry type, organization size, and revenue.

3 Niche market examples

This section explores three niche market examples in different industries, along with products and services that consumers in these niches might purchase. Draw inspiration from these examples as you identify and serve your niche markets.

Aspiring novelists

Think of aspiring novelists as a smaller segment of writers in general. As a result, while aspiring novelists might share some characteristics with other types of writers, such as journalists, copywriters, or playwrights, they also likely have their own set of goals, interests, and challenges that set them apart from other writers.

For example, aspiring novelists might be specifically interested in courses on how to build page-turning plots and unforgettable characters or even apps to help them navigate a book-length document. Depending on the demographic and psychographic information you discovered, messaging could appeal to this niche market’s “dream to tell stories” or desire to “bring ideas to life.”

Long-distance runners

Think of long-distance runners as a smaller segment of athletes in general. Long-distance runners might share some characteristics with other athletes, such as bodybuilders or dancers, but they also likely have their own unique set of concerns and interests that set them apart.

In researching the unique characteristics of long-distance runners, you might discover that this niche group places emphasis on building endurance, perfecting their stride, and staying hydrated during long runs. This niche market might be interested in group training events, hand-held water bottles, or even subscriptions to inspirational content. Messaging could appeal to this niche market’s drive to “cross the finish line” or “break personal records.”

Telemedicine physicians  

Think of telehealth nurses as a smaller segment of health care workers. While telehealth nurses may share characteristics with health care workers in general, in terms of their commitment to patient care, they also likely share characteristics with remote workers regarding their comfort with technology and need for flexible schedules.  

In researching the unique characteristics of telehealth nurses, you might discover that this niche market is interested in furniture or decor to make their home offices conducive for telemedicine, or even resources on how to exhibit “bedside manner” across a screen. Messaging could appeal to telehealth nurses’ compassion and mission to heal others. 

How to reach a niche market

In this section, learn seven strategies for reaching your niche market. While you may already have ideas about the product or service you want to offer, you’ll want to prioritize getting to know your niche: how they behave, what they want, and the challenges they face. That way you can develop offers in response to potential customers’ unique characteristics and eventually market these offers with greater success.

1. Start niching down from broader categories.

If you know the broad market categories of customers you’d like to serve, the next thing to do is “niche down” to discover subsets of consumer groups according to their unique qualities. For example, you could start narrowing down a broad market, such as “university students” to “biology majors at major universities,” “international graduate students,” or “students who need on-campus childcare.” 

Ask yourself these questions to explore potential niche markets:

What might you (and potentially other consumers) need that currently isn’t available for purchase?  

What specific problems do you want to solve?

What could you offer to consumers, based on your strengths?

What kinds of consumers would share your values, passions, and experiences?

What basic demographic and psychographic details do you imagine these kinds of consumers share? 

2. Identify niche market keywords.

Another way to define a niche market is to learn what consumers type into Google or other search engines when they want to find solutions to problems or answers to their questions. Start typing a few Google inquiries and note the keywords and phrases that Google automatically suggests, based on what’s trending. 

For example, if you want to learn more about green consumers, type “non-toxic” into a Google search, and you may find that Google suggests, “non-toxic cookware” or “non-toxic cleaning supplies.” Typing these keywords into SEO research sites like Semrush and Ahrefs can reveal important metrics such as the search volume for a particular keyword and the difficulty of ranking high in a search result. These can offer clues as to what’s important to your niche market. 

3. Research interest groups on social media.

You can discover quite a bit about niche markets by searching interest groups on social media or community platforms, where people engage with and post content related to their passions, interests, professions, age groups, and other demographic and psychographic information. 

For example, if you’re targeting developers, research them on GitHub, a platform that millions of developers and organizations use to create software and collaborate. Click around to discover the kinds of projects developers are working on, the skills developers are learning, and the connections GitHub users are making with each other.

If you’re targeting avid readers, research them on Goodreads, a platform where millions of readers post about and discover more books, join reading challenges, and track their reading activity. Click around to find out which genres, topics, new releases, and classes are trending, as well as how readers connect with each other through a shared love of books. 

To learn more about different social media platforms as sources of niche market insights, watch this lecture from the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate . 

4. Examine competitors. 

As you gather insights from keyword research and social media, you’ll want to find out who your competitors are and what they are offering consumers in your niche. For example, if you want to serve long-distance runners, what are the top brands runners currently follow on social media or buy from? What gaps do you notice?

With this information, you can devise a plan to compete effectively. This might include niching down even further, differentiating your products and services to fill gaps, and refining the messaging you use to promote them. 

5. Explore fast-growing occupations. 

As industries grow, you may find untapped niche markets among business owners, employees, and consumers within an industry you’re interested in. Explore fast-growing occupations through the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and other statistical sites to gain insights.  

For example, BLS’s most recent employment projections for the US show that between 2021 and 2031, nurse practitioner jobs will grow by 40 percent, while information security analyst jobs will grow by 35 percent [ 1 ]. 

As you gather information of this kind, ask yourself these questions:

What products and services could enhance the experiences of people in these growing career fields? 

What’s the best way to learn more about people in these career fields?

What niche markets can you identify, based on companies hiring for these positions? 

What kinds of marketing strategies would reach these niches most effectively?

6. Gather statistical data.

Statistical data about or relevant to your niche market can help you estimate its size, income level, and other purchase metrics. From there, you could use this information to determine your next niche marketing step. 

Here are two industry-specific examples: 

A search for “telemedicine physician” on Indeed yields 58,157 job listings in the US, as of January 2023, with salary estimates ranging from $100,000 to $255,000, suggesting that these professionals are in demand and will be high earners [ 2 ].

In September 2022, Industry Statistics found that the publishing industry generated $29.8 billion in revenue in 2022, an increase from $25.71 billion in 2020, suggesting that readers’ demand for print material rose, even through COVID-19 [ 3 ].

Niche marketing tip

Bear in mind that becoming a known brand within a niche can eventually attract competitors who want to share your success. You may be able to mitigate this by niching down even further, refining your products and services, and adjusting your messaging.

Reach your niche market with Coursera

Taking a course can be a great way to learn effective business practices, including how to find your niche market and attract niche customers to your products and services. 

Learn how to target new audiences via digital marketing strategies with the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate or on social media specifically with the Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate . Learn how to use marketing data, cultivate a brand voice that gets your audience’s attention, and optimize paid ad campaigns for your niche.  

Article sources

US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “ Employment Projections , https://www.bls.gov/emp/.” Accessed January 12, 2023. 

Indeed. “ Telemedicine Physicians , https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=telemedicine%20physician&l&vjk=202dec12d5902f2f.” Accessed January 12, 2023. 

Industry Statistics. “ Book Publishing in the US - Market Size 2003–2028 , https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/book-publishing-united-states/.” Accessed January 12, 2023. 

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The Power of Niche Marketing

• August 2023

How Small Businesses Can Thrive in a Crowded Market

T he modern business world is more challenging than ever before. With the rise of e-commerce, globalization and digital marketing, it’s more difficult for small businesses to find their place in the market.

However, niche marketing represents a powerful way for small businesses to separate themselves from the competition and thrive in an otherwise crowded space.

Niche marketing refers to the strategy of targeting a specific segment of customers with unique needs or preferences. By focusing on these customers, businesses can develop products and marketing messages that resonate with their specific interests and priorities. This approach often requires a deep understanding of the targeted customer base and may require businesses to tailor their products, services and marketing practices to meet their needs.

For small businesses, niche marketing represents a powerful way to stand out from the competition. Rather than trying to compete on price or quality alone, small businesses can target a specific group of customers who are willing to pay a premium for a tailored product or service. This allows them to differentiate themselves from other businesses and build a dedicated customer base that is loyal to their brand.

One of the key benefits of niche marketing is that it allows small businesses to develop a unique value proposition. By catering to a specific set of customers, businesses can create a compelling story around their products and services that resonates with this audience. For example, a business that specializes in eco-friendly cleaning products can leverage this to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers who are willing to pay more for green products.

Another significant benefit of niche marketing is that it allows small businesses to better understand their customers. By focusing on a specific segment of the market, businesses can gather data and insights about their customer’s preferences, habits, and pain points. This data can then be used to refine products, services and marketing efforts, ultimately leading to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

While niche marketing offers numerous benefits for small businesses, it’s essential to approach this strategy with caution. Business owners must conduct thorough market research and identify a niche that is both profitable and sustainable. Additionally, businesses must be willing to tailor their products, services and marketing efforts to meet the needs of this niche, which can require significant investments in time, money and other resources.

In conclusion, small businesses that are willing to take on the challenges of niche marketing can establish themselves as leaders in their niche and create enduring, profitable businesses that stand the test of time.

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6 Simple Steps to Niche Marketing Research

In business, one of the most important pieces of advice you’ll receive is to know your market. If you want to guide your business to success, you’ll need to research your niche first. 

But, researching your niche is about more than knowing who your audience is. To profit off your passion, you have to know where there’s potential for success. 

You’ll also need to know where you can fail before you reach that point. 

This includes knowing aspects of your business such as:

• How much it costs to get started
• Where you need to focus your marketing efforts
• What ROI counts as “profitable” in your niche

That’s where our Niche Marketing Research Guide comes in handy. We’ll point you in the right direction, so you can be prepared for success when you launch your new business . 

What is Niche Marketing?

A niche market is a small segment that a product or brand caters to. For instance, the wedding planning market is enormous. If you wanted to stand out in the crowd, you could focus on nontraditional ceremonies, for example. 

In the digital world, we usually refer to a niche market as just a market segment or a segment in a sector. For example, eCommerce is a market sector, selling bowties online is a niche.

Niche marketing is the process of defining, honing, and marketing to your niche. The key is to define your market with precision and intent. If you want to turn your audience into raving fans, it’s important to target the right people with the right products. 

To that end, let’s jump straight into the first tip of our Niche Marketing Research Guide. 

Step #1: Identify Interests and Problems

If you’ve been considering your business for a while, you’ve likely completed this step already. But, if you haven’t, it’s important to know what you’re passionate about. 

While not every passion is profitable, it’s still important to work in an area that interests you. Otherwise, chances are that you’ll quit when the going gets too tough. 

Once you know what segment of the market you want to work in, it’s time to seek out problems you can solve. 

To get an idea of where the problems in your target niche lie, it’s important to dive into the industry. 

Let’s check a couple of tips where you can identify ideas:

Your own experience

The basic source of inspiration is your own experience. Maybe you thought of a service that might be very handy but nobody is operating it. Or you were looking for a piece of information that is nowhere to be found. 

• Bezos started Amazon because he wanted an “everything store”.
• Brin and Page founded Google because they wanted a better way to search the internet. 

These of course are the top examples, but there are many more that are under the radar. 

Internet Audience

Inspiration is found in the most unexpected places. For example, Reddit has a section called ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney . While it is of course not advised to jump on the first post and start investing time into it – it can give you some interesting ideas on where to do more research. 

If you repeatedly see an ad, it probably works. Facebook is a good source of such ideas:

4k likes and 392 comments? This ad is running for quite some time. Meaning it is working well and the product is selling.

See if you can identify new trends and draw inspiration from them. For example, Check Google Trends or Pinterest Trends , write some ideas down for later research. It does not have to be the final market or product idea, just some overall themes that you may develop. 

Also Read: Content Marketing: How to Succeed

Step #2: Identify Your Market

Once you have a couple of overall ideas about what could be a good niche to have a more detailed look at it is time to estimate the market size. 

Google Trends

Here we can have a look at google trends again:

While this does not give you the exact number of searches. It provides you with an overall idea of how big the potential audience may be. You can also check seasonalities:  

Sure, “Christmas” may mean any kind of search intent, but with upcoming holidays it might be an indicator that your market idea should have a particular angle. 

Advanced Research

If you want to take it one level higher, you might want to check some of the SEO tools that are available . Ahrefs is one of the most popular ones so we will illustrate it on it:

Here we can see more details, from this we know the overall search volume and assumed difficulty to rank high in Google search results. There are also many additional keywords that are suggested for further research, which is one of the services that Spiralytics provides to its customers . Let’s compare it to rc models:

With similar difficulty, we see that the search volume is much lower, BUT the term “motion rc” has over 20k searches, that is because they are one of the most established stores in this niche.

It might happen that you find a niche that seems to be easy to get into, so immediately start asking a question why is that so? For example, some niches may be easy to rank for because there are no ways to properly monetize it. 

That gets us to step number 3. 

Step #3: Determine Your Profitability 

Once you have an idea of your industry and audience, it’s important to know what your prospects look like. 

You can get started by looking up top products or services in your niche. Then, analyze what it costs to serve your chosen need. 

Say that you want to make handknit goodies. You’ll need to know what you can get out of your goods, plus the cost of materials. 

Knowing how much time it takes to produce a single item is essential, too. After all, time is money when you own a business. 

If you can’t find much about your preferred niche, that’s a red flag. While there may be a market out there, a lack of information indicates a small customer base. 

Your ideal situation, then, is finding a small niche with good profit margins. An unsaturated market and limited competition give you the best edge in turning a profit . 

Let’s have a look at some ways that you can monetize your niche

Affiliate Marketing

When doing your research this is the term that you frequently see. Affiliate marketing is a process where you drive traffic to the offer and if the visitor takes an action (buys, downloads, registers, etc.) you receive a commission. Such programs are organized by affiliate networks. 

There is a wide choice of affiliate programs for every niche imaginable. If you check around and there are no affiliate programs for that particular niche you have to consider if it is at all monetizable or looks for other methods of making a profit from it. 

Ad Networks

If you found a great niche, with fantastic traffic potential from the US, but no affiliate programs that would be a good fit – ad networks are the answer. These networks place advertisements on your website and pay you for each user session. 

The most known ad network is Google Adsense, it is widely used as it has no barrier of entry. When you reach 10 000 sessions per month you will want to join a more premium ad network as Ezoic . Over 50 000 there is Mediavine and over 100 000 AdThrive . This can be combined with other methods of monetization. 

Online Store

Possibly you found a niche that requires an online store, that means that you are in ecommerce niche . No problem platforms like Shopify or Sellfy got you covered. You will have your online store ready in a few hours (including all the settings). Then it is just a matter of driving traffic and sending the products. 

Dropshipping

But what if you do not want to buy inventory or make your own products? Again, the world wide web thought of everything. With dropshipping you just transfer the order from the client to the manufacturer and get the profit margin. This is a great stepping stone into ecommerce as you can test products very quickly without any big financial commitments. 

Print On Demand

Online store or dropshipping seems like too much hassle? Check some of the print-on-demand services (like Teespring ) chose an item that you would like to sell, add your logo or a full design, and start driving traffic to your print-on-demand store. 

Online Courses

Maybe you are a skilled Octobass player (yeah…google it). The term has 9.4k searches globally with very low difficulty. But how to monetize it? You won’t find any affiliate programs, you won’t craft an octobass, reselling from amazon will bring you next to nothing.

Create lessons! A recent study from StuDocu found that 77% of businesses used e-learning in some capacity and 42% of companies that use e-learning generate more income. With online course platforms , you can record your lessons once, and sell it for eternity. This is a great option to scale monetization of skill, rather than a service or a product. 

Let’s take a difficulty up a notch. Are you an analyst in a particular market niche, that just finished research that is nowhere to be found? Great, choose any webinar software , and make a paid life event or a pre-recorded webinar for the niche you are in.

As you can see you can monetize anything online. Just keep in mind one thing – if you like something as a hobby, it does not mean that it will be hugely profitable. So “do what you love and you will no work a day in your life” is not completely true. 

Step #4: Decide Where You Want to Start

Given the various options that are listed above, you will need to decide where to start. 

In fact, plenty of entrepreneurs start by partnering with marketers and creators. These commission-based arrangements provide a source of income for newcomers.

Plus, working with competitors and related businesses lets you learn about the industry. In doing so, you have a chance to decide if this is where you want to be.

You’ll also be able to see where your competitors have flaws through this process. In learning from their mistakes early, you can capitalize on the market in a more effective manner when you’re ready to start selling. 

Additionally, a soft working entry gives you an idea of where the market is going. This makes up a “sub-tip” in our niche marketing research guide: you should have an idea of where the industry is headed. 

After all, technology and society are evolving faster than ever. Jumping ahead of the curve may be your best shot at thriving in these unprecedented times. 

So apart from the market size and potential profit, you must also decide what type of traffic are you going to go after.

Organic Traffic

The holy grail of traffic sources. It is traffic that you receive organically from search engines based on the visitors’ search queries. Most lucrative and most competitive – dominated by Google. 

Every platform with an audience has a paid ads platform . It is a great way to get immediate clicks and see how your offer works. While organic traffic takes a very long time before you can see any results at all, paid ads are instant and you can target the exact audience that you need. 

Social Media

While all the social media platforms are running paid ads, there are many options on how to create a following from which you can profit. It takes a bit more time to build the audience but it is quite loyal to your brand when you do.

There are ways to get immediate results from social media. You can work directly with various influencers , go right after your audience and test ideas very quickly. This is one of the tactics frequently used in combination with dropshipping. 

Contests and Giveaways

This would be more in the category of “guerilla marketing” tactics. You can run a referral contest to build your audience more quickly. Gaining visitors, followers, and even email subscribers in the process.

The idea is very simple, you offer a price (service, consultation call, 6month trial) in exchange for your audience signing up with their email, or following your social media account. 

Email Marketing

Last, but definitely not least. Email marketing is a powerful tool that you should build from the start. It is listed in the last position as you do not have immediate access to a huge email list. Choose any of the email marketing services, put them on your site, and build your subscriber count. Soon it might become one of your most profitable traffic channels and also a way to expand to new projects. 

The traffic source is one of the defining cornerstones of your niche. It is easier to find traffic and monetize it than to take a product and think about the traffic after.

Step #5: Find the Right Keywords

Now that you have an idea of what you’re getting into, it’s time to research your keywords . 

This is an opportunity to play around with your business and content ideas. 

When it comes to keyword research, start by doing a basic Google search. See what results come up and if there’s a particular way your competitors phrase their headlines. 

These are their keywords. 

Once you have a good-sized list of keywords, you can plug them into a keyword tool. Options such as Google’s External Keyword Tool and Yoast Keyword Expander are free. These invaluable sites can help guide newbie niche keyword researchers to the right keywords. 

When using these sites, it’s important to home in on key information, such as:

• How difficult it will be to rank for that keyword
• The number of people who look up and click on that keyword
• If there are any variations of your keyword that perform better

Ideally, you want a keyword you can rank for with little effort. You also want keywords that get at least 1,000 searches per month. 

Knowing if any of your keywords tend to be paid for is a good idea, as well. CPC, or cost per click, is a measure of how much your competitors pay to rank for a keyword. 

While it’s not impossible to rank for CPC keywords, they’re usually harder to rank for. 

But a high number of CPC keywords in your niche also shows there is money to be made. 

When looking at keywords as a measure of niche profitability, you’ll want to example metrics such as:

• High CPC for your chosen keywords
• Targeted ads that focus on the main keywords
• Ads in the top 3 positions of your search engine results

Step #6: Research the Competition

It’s rare for a business to have no competition. Even in a tiny niche, there will likely be at least one other company with an overlap in products and customers. 

In fact, having a little competition shows that there’s money in your chosen market. While too many competitors can drown you out before you’ve begun, a few decent-sized competitors can keep the audience coming back. In turn, you can capitalize on the existing market. 

But, if you want to compete in the market, you’ll need to know what your competitors are up to . This involves knowing what needs they’re servicing, as well as any areas they may be overlooking. (Which may give you an easy inroad into the niche). 

First, start by creating a spreadsheet of your known competitors. You may also want to include information such as their products and services. 

Then, see if there’s an area of the market your competitors aren’t servicing. Can you rank for your keywords? What else or more could you do?

Look for indications of weak competitors, such as:

• Poor content . Regardless of your niche, content generation, such as a blog or any website is essential to building credibility. If your competitors don’t have high-quality content, you may be able to find your angle there. 
• No paid competition. If you have a list of keywords with low competition and high search volume, capitalize on it as soon as possible. 
• A corporatized environment. People want authenticity – so much that they’re willing to pay for it. If you want to enter an environment with a strong corporate presence, try doing the opposite. 

Test Your Ideas

Now that you’ve done as much research as possible for your niche, it’s time to guide your attention to the testing phase. All this work would be worthless without putting it all into action. 

Pick a landing page builder and get your website going, record the webinar, start an eshop, write down your online course, it is time to act. Once your landing page is up, you can start driving traffic as per our Step 4.

While there are a lot of science-like approaches to online business and digital marketing, still there is some “alchemy” to it. So even though after a week of research and two weeks of testing you are not getting any results – do not give in. 

The thing is that it is difficult to know when you need to pivot and when to keep pushing forward. To solve this, when launching a new project, set time, and financial limits.

Look for an indication that you are moving in the right direction. Do not look at the ultimate numbers but first, look at percentages in clicks and conversion . If those numbers work you can think about volume.

There is one step that is the most important one “Do it”. No, it is not the slogan of Nike, it is a part of speech by Art Williams: “Do it, and do it, and do it, and do it …until the job gets done.”

There are nearly 3mil. new posts each day just on WordPress. Let that sink in for a minute. The easy way in, creates a lot of competition. If you are starting to be anxious about starting your online endeavor – don’t be. You can try as many times as you want without any notable financial consequences. 

With each project that you launch you learn a bit. Maybe your first project will be a success, maybe it will be your 5th. Nobody knows. It takes only that one project for everything to click perfectly together, to pay off for all the struggles both financially and emotionally.

So get to it.

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Niche marketing

Niche marketing is a highly targeted form of advertisement.

With niche marketing, businesses promote their products and services to a small, specific and well-defined audience. Many organizations adopt this strategy to support an underserved population and reap the rewards of brand loyalty.

To engage in niche marketing, companies must first understand their niche. Markets with the “niche” definition are subsets of larger markets with their own unique preferences and needs. For instance, the “makeup” sector is broad, but within that market, there’s also makeup for problem skin, makeup for professional artists and so on.

Defining a niche market

Consumers in a niche market have specific preferences or needs that differ from the broader sector. Brands divide almost every market into subsections according to things like:

• Geographic location
• Psychographic data (interests, attitudes, and values)
• Demographic base (age, income level, gender, education level)
• Quality level (premium, moderate, high, low)
• Price (high, discount, wholesale)

Niche marketing is often easier than promoting to a wide audience. Niche audiences have very specific needs and wants. For instance, a company that simply sold handbags would need to appeal to a broad range of tastes and expectations. However, a business selling handbags for new moms that also work as diaper bags have far more focus. Niche marketing has also become easier with tools like Facebook ad targeting and social media monitoring.

The benefits of niche marketing

Niche marketing allows companies to understand the specific needs of their audience and speak to them directly. Since niche marketing is all about making the right connections, many social media channels have improved their targeting options specifically for niche markets. With niche marketing and a social strategy, companies:

• Develop greater brand loyalty: Fewer people in a niche audience mean more chances to develop intimate, valuable relationships with clients. Many niche customers will become repeat buyers.
• Compete against fewer brands: The more specialized your business is, the fewer competitors there will be doing the same thing as you. A niche is part of your USP and a way to differentiate yourself in the marketplace.
• Better marketing spend: With tools for social media management and refined targeting options, you’ll learn about your audience quickly. This means it’s easier to ensure you’re using your budget in the right places.

How to market to a niche

Niche marketing allows companies to carve an essential space for themselves in a broader market. Some businesses even create new niches by discovering and fulfilling customer needs that haven’t been addressed. To engage in niche marketing, organizations need:

• Thorough research: Marketing to a hyper-focused audience means conducting enough research to determine whether your business is feasible. Narrow markets must be broad enough to generate profit.
• Industry knowledge: Organizations marketing to niche consumers need to understand both the characteristics of their niche and the industry as a whole. Attending events helps with this, as does advanced social media management and marketing techniques.
• Versatility: Brands with a niche marketing strategy must find the best method of promotion to suit their customers. Some customers may respond better to email marketing, while others engage most with a combination of Instagram marketing and video .

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