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As a woman this seems to be one of the hardest things to resolve.
I say this because we as women are so used to multi-tasking that
I believe we have a difficult time honing in on just one area.
We try to have our hands in many pots all at the same time. Feed
the children, while reading a book, while answering the phone,
while— well you get the picture. It just comes naturally. This
habit tends to overflow into our work and business lives.
Sure multitasking is important. However, when deciding on your
target market we would benefit greatly from a little less
diversity.
I am not saying you can't or shouldn't have more than one
business. What I am expressing to you is that if you ultimately
choose to have more than one—make sure they compliment each
other. For example, if you market promotional products you
might expand by including greeting cards, but you might find
it quite distracting to launch a new business offering an
event planning service.
Just what is a niche and how do you set about deciding on one?
Niche is described in Merriam-Webster as: "A place, employment,
status, or activity for which a person or thing is best
fitted." The take away here is that you must narrow down your
potential customer base. Decide who would benefit most from
your product or service. Then take into consideration what
would effectively stimulate them to take the necessary action
to effectively move from prospect to customer.
The first thing you should decide is what is your overall
target market's general makeup? Are you anticipating
attracting a mostly male dominated corporate clientele, women
owned, or mom & pop startup enterprises? Once this decision
is made move on to the next deeper level. If your answer is
that what you have to offer is most appealing to a decidedly
female audience don't stop there. Consider their age, marital
status, and are they mothers or not? Anything that could
profoundly affect how you successfully market your business
should be taken into account. Keep digging until you come
to the bottom. That is your niche.
Once you clearly determine who your target market is, it
is time to begin figuring out what compels them. More than
likely this will not only help you determine how to
successfully market to them but additionally what inventory
you'll need to have on hand. If you are in the service
arena what services to offer would be quickly discovered.
One powerful research tool that I have found extremely helpful
in this area is a simple survey. These can be created online
or off. I have recently discovered that surveys that enable
you to not only see the overall results but the individual
response can be much more beneficial than a simple graph
resultant survey. Allow your responders to leave comments
after the question when applicable. If you don't already have
a survey application contact me and I will be happy to share
the one I use with you. They offer a free and a paid
subscription depending on your needs.
When compiling your survey be sure to keep it simple for
your survey takers. Use questions that not only list the
question but choices too. Be sure to include the option
of other if you wish to really know how they feel about
an issue. Dont use just true and false questions. These
will suffice for certain areas but the multiple choice
questions can offer a better understanding of your
respondents and therefore a deeper understanding of
their needs. Also allowing them to select all that apply
instead of just one will further clarify their needs.
Once you get started I am sure you will uncover additional
means to assist you in recognizing your niche. Remember the
more specific you are when determining who your potential
customer is the easier it will be to decipher out what it
will take to turn them into customers.
© Copyright 2006 Ginger Marks
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