A common marketing mistake among small business owners is that they go after a market that is too broad. They want to cast their net as wide as possible in the belief that it\u2019s a numbers game . . . that the bigger the market, the more potential customers there are, and with more potential customers, the odds of snagging a few of those customers improves. While that may be a reasonable line of thinking, it\u2019s wrong. The truth is, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. You\u2019re really better off identifying a niche you can serve . . . preferably one that\u2019s \u201can inch wide and a mile deep.\u201d Your niche may be defined by an under-served geographic marketplace, or it may be defined by a particular area of expertise. Either way, in a highly targeted niche, you have a chance to stand out and to have your message heard. Not so if you try to attack an entire category where prospective customers won\u2019t know who you are, what you\u2019re trying to do, or who you\u2019re trying to serve. So why do small business owners resist pursuing a niche strategy? To learn the answer, and to get some tips on how to identify and carve out your niche, please continue reading below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nriches are in the niches.\u201d <\/strong>~\nUnknown<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Somebody\nmay know who coined that phrase, but we don\u2019t. \nThere are so many marketing articles and books written using that\nphrase, it\u2019s difficult to pick out who started it. It could be brand strategist Philip VanDusen,\nbut we couldn\u2019t find any confirmation of that. \nSo for now, it\u2019s origin will remain one of life\u2019s little mysteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway,\nas to the question posed above, small business owners who resist a niche\nstrategy do so simply because they believe that by casting themselves in a\nnarrow niche, they will miss some opportunities. While that\u2019s an honestly-held fear, it\u2019s an\nunfounded one. In fact, if you\u2019re a big\nfish in a little pond, you\u2019ll be more likely to find those opportunities, or have\nthose opportunities find you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For\nmany business people, deciding what niche to carve out is a significant problem. We tell ourselves that we\u2019re good at what we\ndo, but we have to admit, our competitors are good too. Our quality is top notch, but so is theirs. We have great customer service, but they\u2019re\nno slouches either. Our pricing is very\ncompetitive, but they\u2019re right there with us. So how do we make ourselves stand\nout? What will cause our customers to\nselect us rather than one of our competitors? \nIt\u2019s a tough question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\nbrand strategist we know tells us that most companies don\u2019t know why their\ncustomers have chosen them over their competitors. They think they know, but they\u2019re really just\nguessing, and in the vast majority of cases, they\u2019re guessing wrong. So there\u2019s a disconnect between what the\ncompany thinks it\u2019s selling and what the customer thinks it\u2019s buying. In some cases, the disconnect is significant,\nin others it\u2019s subtle, but it\u2019s almost always there, and it\u2019s in that\ndisconnect that your niche lies. There\u2019s\nsomething you\u2019re doing (or not doing) that your customers value. Find out what that is, and you will have\ndefined your niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An\noutdoor lighting company lights up the homes of the rich and famous. Usually, the lighting company isn\u2019t hired\ndirectly by the homeowner, but instead, works as a subcontractor to the\nhomeowner\u2019s landscaping company. With\nannoying regularity, just before 5:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, the lighting\ncompany gets a panicked phone call from one of its landscapers who begs, \u201cYou\ngotta help me. Mrs. Smith is having a\nbig party and she wants her lighting up by Sunday.\u201d The lighting company\u2019s owner accepts the\nchallenge, much to the dismay of his employees whose weekend plans are now in\ntatters. They complain to him, \u201cWhy do\nwe work for these clowns who can\u2019t ever get their act together . . . it\u2019s\nalways a last-minute scramble to bail them out of trouble.\u201d The company owner answers, \u201cYou don\u2019t\nunderstand. These clowns who can\u2019t get\ntheir act together are<\/em> our customers. The landscapers who are all buttoned up and well-organized\ncan get anybody to do their lighting work. \nThey don\u2019t need us. But when a\nlandscaper gets things screwed up and needs someone who can perform at the\nlast-minute, we\u2019re the only game in town.\u201d \nSo his niche is disorganized landscapers who regularly get themselves in\na jam and need someone who can come in on short notice to save the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If\nyou\u2019re still struggling to find your niche and if your \u201cunique selling proposition\u201d\nis elusive, try asking your customers. That\u2019s\nright, ask your customers! Offer to buy\nthem a cup of coffee and ask this question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do\nbusiness with us. There are others you\ncould have chosen to do business with, but you didn\u2019t. You chose us. \nWhy?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\nwill probably be surprised by what you hear. \nYou may even find out that you\u2019re not in the business you thought you\nwere in. Maybe you\u2019re not in the outdoor\nlighting business at all. Maybe your\nreal calling is to save the butts of disorganized landscapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter\nSchutz, lecturer, writer, and former CEO of Porsche once said, \u201cIf you listen\ncarefully, your customers will explain your business to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s\nright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A common marketing mistake among small business owners is that they go after a market that is too broad. They want to cast their net as wide as possible in the belief that it\u2019s a numbers game . . . that the bigger the market, the more potential customers there are, and with more potential customers,<\/p>\n