Some businesses are incredibly niche. Examples include hypoallergenic dog food suppliers, piano tuners and thatch roofing services. Such businesses have a very limited audience, however they can still be incredibly profitable if you know how to market them. Below are a few tips on exactly how to make a very niche business thrive.
Don’t just stay local
Unless your niche is something specific to your local area, it’s worth looking a little further afield to find customers. If you’re a piano tuner, there may only be so many pianos to tune in your local town or county – being prepared to travel could help you to bring in more business.
You could even consider selling your product or service globally. The internet has made it much easier to connect with customers all around the world without having to travel. It’s possible to accept payments in multiple currencies and create multiple websites in different languages to help cater to customers in different countries. Bear in mind that there could be extra costs such as shipping costs or currency transfer fees to take into account.
Connect with niche influencers
Targeting a niche involves finding a specific community interested in that niche. The internet has made it much easier to find these communities – there are many social media accounts and YouTube channels dedicated to niches like pets, music and home decor/DIY. Some of these social media accounts and YouTube channels may sponsor products and services. By connecting with these influencers, it may be possible to give your product a boost of promotion while targeting people who you know are interested in your niche.
Of course, connecting with influencers isn’t always easy. Some are very picky about the products they promote, while others charge a lot of money to promote a product on their channel. There are influencer marketplaces where you can apply to be sponsored.
Become an industry influencer yourself
Another way to infiltrate these online communities is to become an influencer yourself. More businesses are using content as a way of building recognition and credibility. This could include video content, blog content or social media content. By making this content engaging and showing off your knowledge, you can establish yourself as an industry expert and influencer in your field.
An example could include a thatched roofing company making before-and-after videos or instructional videos on how to thatch a roof. Those interested in this topic will be drawn to these videos and you’ll be able to build up a name for yourself, which will help when generating customers.
Becoming an influencer also means that you can earn money by sponsoring other companies’ content. It’s a way to build recognition and earn some extra money.
Pay close attention to your competitors
An advantage of being a niche business is that you won’t have too much competition. There are still likely to be some competitors (unless you’ve come up with a revolutionary new product/service), but the market shouldn’t be too saturated. This allows you to easily monitor your competitors so that you can find ways to set yourself apart and one-up your competitors. It’s important that you do this so that you don’t lose customers to your competition.
What are some great ways to monitor your competitors? Keeping track of their online activity is a great way to see what they are doing. You can also do analytic research to find out what keywords they’re targeting and how many visitors they’re getting – there are specialist tools that you can use for this. If your competitors have physical outlets, you could also consider hiring a mystery shopper to check out what their service is like.
Know when expansion is necessary
It is possible to go too niche. If sales are few and far between and your product is not a big-ticket item, you’ll quickly start to see a loss. Heavy marketing may be able to help you track down customers, but if you’re pouring hours into marketing and still not getting enough customers, you’ll need to be prepared to make changes.
Expanding your products and services could help you to find new revenue streams. This could include providing piano lessons or selling pianos if you are a piano tuner, or providing dog nutrition consultancy and selling other dog products to supplement a hypoallergenic dog food brand.
