How to Find and own Your Business Niche

Profiling your niche market is an important first step if your strategic marketing plan is to be successful. Sadly, it is one that many businesses skip.

The opportunity to save time or money proves too much and the short term benefits of getting on with the marketing plan is just too much of a temptation.

The result is that companies skip the strategic planning of their online marketing and spend more money creating less effective marketing campaigns than they would if they were to take the more strategic approach to marketing their business.

How to find your niche target market

So how exactly can you profile your target market? You need to understand your target market, not just to be able to say who they are but to really get to know them.

1. Build a strong understanding of your target niche’s demographic base.

Information such as – ‘Targeting young, single mothers with an annual income of £25,000 a year living in central London’ is a good starting point.

You can then build on this information from a selection of sources.

2. Look at the customers you already have.

What information can you draw from them? What do they have in common? How have they found you? How did they approach your business.

3. Facebook insights

Facebook’s user insights tool can help you glean loads of basic demographic data about who is seeing your posts and liking your page. Whilst remembering that this is very different to those that are buying from you, a brief comparison between this and the demographic data you gathered from the above step will tell you whether these are people that are buying from you or not.

Once you know exactly who you are talking to you need to do some brainstorming.

By thinking about what they do and what problems they face you can work out how you can add value to their lives. Whether it be through innovative product development, services that go the extra mile or online content that keeps them coming back.

By taking the time to understand the lives of your niche target client you can find ways to build their brand loyalty and cash in on the more cost-effective way of getting new business; by keeping existing customers.

Once you have taken the time to do this you should have a solid idea of the best way that your product or service can meet the needs of your target niche.

You can then take a more strategic approach to your online marketing by looking carefully at how you communicate. Should it be through direct mail, online-only, magazine advertising or something else.

The benefits of profiling your target market

1. If you know your exact target market you will be will to work out what products or services they would find useful.

2. If you know where your niche target market can be found you will know where they will shop and therefore where your products need to be.

3. By knowing what your niche target market reads you know where you need to be seen.

4. By understanding how your niche target market speaks you will have a greater awareness of the language you need to use to engage them.