What is niche marketing?

If you were to look up the term “niche marketing”  you might come across a definition worded like this – the business of selling a limited and clearly defined range of products to a specific group of customers. Now, to me, that definition doesn’t really help us understand what niche marketing is.

How about we look at each word?
Niche: A special area of demand for a product or service
Marketing: The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer.
Still feeling unsure, right?

So, what is Niche Marketing?

I would define niche marketing as providing a solution to a specific problem that people are willing to pay money for.  A niche is not something you pick or choose. You don’t pick a niche, create a product then go and find a market for your niche. Niches aren’t created or designed, but discovered, uncovered and “solved.”. Eben Pagen, a well respected Internet Marketer, defines it as “A need many people have that your product fills”.

So instead of products and services we are really talking about problems and needs people want solved or met. How about a strong desire or result? People will pay for their desires to be  filled or to get a result.

Take a look at these definitions and examples:

• A problem that people will pay to have solved.  Example: My problem is that I want to lose weight, but I am lazy so I will pay for the services of a personal trainer to motivate me and help me train hard.
• A need people will pay to have met. Example: I am becoming short-sighted. I will buy an ebook on how to improve and maintain good eyesight.
• A strong desire people will pay to have filled. Example: I want to have the confidence to ask women out. I will buy an online course on how to date and speak to women with confidence.
• A result people will pay to get. Example: I want my website to rank number one for the keyword “learn Japanese” so I will pay an SEO specialist to get me to number on Google.

Now, we have clarity on what a niche is. What about marketing ?

The marketing side of it all involves basically reminding people of their problem (and all the pain it causes) and convincing them that you have the solution. You can educate,sell and manipulate your target market with ethical bribes and social proof to convince them that your solution works. Thanks to the Internet marketing is very affordable and can be done with with text, audio and video. Marketing is mainly about selling the benefits of your product or service.

Getting someone’s attention and convincing them to buy is the challenge. It is never really about the product. The sale comes from the marketing message. Also, the message is usually the same regardless of niche. You have a problem  - I can fix it. This is what people new to IM struggle with – spending too much time on product creation, web design etc and not enough time on marketing

I believe the best way to market a niche is to solve part of your market’s problem. Offer some information for free that will add value to a person’s life. Help them solve part of the problem  and then sell your solution. Goodwill can still go a long way. And as people become more Internet savvy  sound marketing will become more important.