Copywriting
Digital Marketing
Market Research
What we will cover
From passion to product
The very first task for a prospective business owner is choosing a business that reflects their passion. Ideally, as stated by Forbes, you will find something at ‘the intersection of what you enjoy and what you’re good at.’
Let’s start by grabbing a pen and paper (or a whiteboard marker) and exploring your passions. Ask yourself questions like:
- How do you spend your free time?
- If you could retire tomorrow, how would you spend your time?
- If you could start a business with unlimited time and money, what would you do?
Sometimes, finding a niche market involves combining two or more interests. Do you enjoy golf on the weekend and have a passion for the environment? Perhaps you could investigate creating a business that recycles golf cart batteries. Maybe you could launch a line of 100% biodegradable golf jumpers with emotive green messages on the front.
Next, let’s look at your abilities:
- What did you ace at school or college?
- What do people tend to ask your advice on?
- What skills come naturally to you? Baking? Gardening? Coding?
One advantage of building a business around your interests is that you will be keenly aware of many of the pain points in your field. Providing the solutions to your audience’s problems will be critical to your new business.
Know your audience
Getting to know your niche audience is the next step of the journey. There are many ways to collect the information you need. Survey tools such as surveymonkey enable you to directly ask questions to potential buyers. Indirect methods include looking at relevant forums and sites like Quora or Reddit to tap into trending conversations in your niche.
One of the biggest challenges of serving a niche market is ensuring the market is large enough to earn you a profit. Target too small a niche may simply not bring you the customer volume you need. Fortunately, the internet has made it easier than ever for people with niche interests to find each other – and for businesses to find them.
Tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends will help you to gauge the traffic you are likely to get for certain niche keywords (non-Google alternatives exist!) Keyword tools also provide guidance on how competitive your niche is, especially if you intend to run a pay-per-click ads campaign.
Competitor research should also form a major part of finding a niche market. Check out the ads that appear on a Google search page but also look at ClickBank and Amazon for products that already serve your niche.
Before launching your business it is wise to do a pilot test using minimal resources. Set up a simple website, release a minimum viable product (MVP) and collect feedback from your early customers.
Why finding a niche market makes sense
There are lots of benefits to finding a niche market. For a start, the more specific your audience, the easier it will be to understand and meet their needs. By building a comparative advantage, you will insulate yourself to some extent from any aggressive attempts to undercut you on price.
In terms of production, your supply chain will probably be fairly simple. You can strike close relationships with key suppliers and get to know the fine details of your trade. This will also stand you in good stead in tough times.
Marketing is another area where you can steal an advantage. It is much easier to become an authority voice in a niche industry. If you work with a good marketing agency, they will be able to source guest post opportunities to get valuable backlinks to your website. You might also be able to land some decent PR opportunities or guest speaking slots.
Need some help finding a niche market? Our marketing mavericks can walk you through the process. Take a look at our Digital Marketing Training and contact us if you’re interested in booking a place.
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