niche marketing

Why niche marketing is scary

By Christian

Niche marketing is scary because it means turning away business, and that is something most small business owners just don’t have the stomach for. It’s unfortunate, but it’s WAY scarier to operate on the premise that your target market is “everyone”.

Why is that scarier? Because it’s literally impossible to sell to “everyone”. Talk about setting yourself up for failure. There is simply no chance that you’re going to sell to everyone. Not even Coca-Cola sells to everyone. Importantly…nor do they try. Coca-Cola markets to a niche. Compare their marketing to Pepsi, and you will see distinct differences. As reader of this post, there’s a good chance you’re either a Coke or Pepsi person. You’re probably not both. You like one or the other, and the same is true in every business. Some customers will really connect with you, others will not. You need to get in touch with the true value you can offer your customers and market yourself accordingly.

Your goal needs to be to connect with the people who really “get” you…who really see value in what you offer.

Attempting to sell to everyone is a losing proposition, because you’re trying to be everything to everyone, and you can’t be. With most people, you’re going to fall short, and when you work in that type of situation you’re forcing yourself to offer a low amount of value. Conversely, there IS a niche where you can really connect. You absolutely CAN connect with a small niche in a big way, and in doing so you will be offering them a very high amount of value.

Niche marketing enables you to offer significantly higher value while earning significantly more from a SMALLER base of people. When you really nail your niche, you become indispensable. Lack of niche marketing is why most small businesses struggle with competitors, and it’s why everyone seems to compete on price. Everyone wants to be the cheapest. We know in our gut this is not the way business is supposed to be. We’re supposed to offer our customers high value, not just sell them a bunch of junk at the lowest possible price.

When you find your niche, you not only become indispensable to your customers, you also become a strong supporter of the people you used to consider your competition. When a customer offers something you don’t do, you send them down the street to your “competition”. It builds good will, it’s great for the economy, and it connects customers with what they really need. Niche marketing is really not nearly as scary as you think. Avoiding it is what’s scary 🙂

Are You Using These 3 Deceptively Easy Ways to be Exceptional in Your Business Niche?

By Christian

There are easy ways to be exceptional in your business niche. You don't have to be act like a dork or have some stupid gimmick.

It’s easy to be exceptional. We just over-complicate it. Can we agree that it’s very important to be exceptional in your niche? Building a website isn’t enough, is it? Just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. You need to be exceptional. If we’re not exceptional, why should anyone buy from us?

This article is about how to be exceptional in your niche, even if it’s highly competitive. And the answer is way, way simpler than you may realize.

Don’t be a Red Hat Realtor

There is a small real estate team in my town, and they all wear red hats. That’s their marketing angle. Red hats. Genius, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, surely people will stand up and take notice of them now, right?

Would you notice a Realtor because they wear a red hat? It’s possible, I suppose. But would you be more inclined to do BUSINESS with that Realtor due to the fact that they wear a red hat? In most cases, I’d wager (and hope!) the answer is no. The red hat is bad schtick. It represents nothing substantive. Schtick can be done well, but this is not the case with the Red Hat Realtors. It’s horrible marketing, and it’s a great illustration of where many of us go wrong more often than we’d like to admit.

Many of us seem to be convinced that we need a gimmick in order to get business. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Being exceptional is much simpler than that.

Let me know if you disagree, but I see a massively huge difference between merely getting attention and actually building influence with your customers. Given the choice, which would you prefer?

Getting lots of attention
Building real, significant influence in your niche

Let’s focus on the latter, shall we?

The Attention Myth

You may be inclined to ask about the value of getting people’s attention. Don’t we need to get people’s attention first in order to influence them? Perhaps the Red Hat Realtors are onto something after all.

It’s true that attention is more scarce than ever. But what is the solution? Bigger and bigger ads? Louder and louder ads? More and more funny looking hats? Look at Times Square in NYC. You can walk straight through some of the biggest, most expensive advertisements on the planet and in five minutes not be able to recall any of the marketing you just witnessed. I’ve done it. It is fun to walk amongst all the lights and energy, but it doesn’t make you want to actually buy anything. So why do businesses continue to spend bazillions on horrible ads that don’t work? Because they don’t know how to be exceptional.

Advertisements have gotten so loud and overbearing that everything has become a din. This isn’t a recent change. It’s old news. Yet most marketers have still failed to adapt. Here’s what we need to realize:

Just because something is scarce (i.e. attention) doesn’t mean it’s valuable.
Quiet is the new loud.
Authenticity is the new schtick (and the only schtick).
Influence is the new attention.
You don’t have to be loud to be exceptional.

You don’t need to get people’s attention at all. What you need is clout. And you get clout by being exceptional. When you’re exceptional, attention comes to you automatically. You cannot “get” people’s attention. Their attention is theirs. It’s not yours to take.

The Exceptional Mistake

Many of us at our core, don’t believe we’re exceptional. This is a costly mistake…and it’s the reason we think we need to do something gimmicky in order to stand out. You are exceptional, actually. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be in business for very long if you don’t believe in yourself. You can get away with it for a while if you have a huge advertising budget, but even then you have to pick up the slack with actual awesomeness, or it’s all doomed.

If you don’t believe you have anything of exceptional value to offer your customers, you need to go back to the drawing board. Don’t be out there making offers you don’t believe in. I’m in earnest. If you’re not awesome, the best thing you can do is stop trying to sell anything at all and do some soul searching. Do more research. Focus on your education for a while. Meditate. Find yourself. It’s worth the time it will take, because when you find your inner-awesomeness, there will be no stopping you. This may sound pretty simplistic, but it’s really true. There are so few awesome marketers out there, you will rise to the top automatically when you truly believe in yourself.

3 Deceptively Easy Ways to be Exceptional

The most awesome ways of being exceptional are also deceptively simple. Remember, are we trying to merely garner more attention? Or is our goal to get serious clout and influence with our target audience? If your focus is the latter, then the following list is an awesome place to start. It’s not about marketing tricks. Being exceptional is simple. Soak these in and let me know what you think…

Mind Your Biznas

Properly managed businesses tend to last. Do you know how to read a balance sheet? Are you familiar with how write up a profit and loss? Fortunes are lost on genius and great ideas all the time, due to poor management. Pizazz makes millions; it also fritters them away. If you want pizazz, run a big expensive ad. See where that gets you. If you want influence, you have to build it brick by brick. Rise to the top by simply outlasting everyone else. It probably won’t take nearly as long as you think. Stay in business. If you stay in the black, you’re already better than 95% of your competition. Be present.

Now that’s pretty boring isn’t it? But give it a whirl. Work hard in your business and stick around for five years, and then come tell me you’re not one of the top contenders in your niche. I dare you. Most blogs only last a few months. We’re so impatient, so focused on finding some ninja tactic or trick to becoming an overnight sensation in our business, that we overlook the fact that we’re ALREADY in the process of completing the most crucial first step to success. The first prerequisite to success is simply remaining in business. This uber-effective, highly classified ninja tactic is underestimated by almost everyone. I encourage you to give it a second look.

Work More

If you regularly clock out along with the 9-5’ers, there are only two explanations. One, you don’t like what you’re doing, in which case you need to change gears. Two, you actually BELIEVE Frank Kern when he tells you that a successful business can be purchased in a box for $1997. I love Frank and employ Kernsian marketing tactics in my business, but you see where I’m going with this. Hard work cannot be divorced from entrepreneurship. If Frank has to work his tail off to make his millions, so do you and I.

Be Yourself

This is a tough one, isn’t it? We often think that standing out means being loud or in some ways being something we’re not. In business there is a difference between standing out and having clout. Don’t be a Red Hat Realtor. Successful marketers will tell you that clout is not intrinsically coupled with acting like a clown. The last thing you want is a lot of attention and no substance. What a horrible place to be, because not only will tons of people not be buying from you, but they’ll also be TALKING about why they’re not buying from you.

Substance and value draw a different kind of attention. They draw the kind of attention you actually want. Top marketers will also tell you that a lot of serious money is being made quietly by marketers you’ve never heard of, probably because they’re just not in your niche. And that’s fine. Don’t get cornered into thinking you need to be loud or have millions of people in your database to be successful. Being yourself is not only sufficient, it’s exceptional. When you’re authentic, you realize there is no competition after all. What a beautiful place to be.

Is This Really Enough?

Can business really be this simple? Just be yourself, work hard and manage the heck out of your business? I know I’d be crazy to tell you there are no other options, so instead I encourage you to go find me some. Find a way to forcefully grab people’s attention that will result in meaningful, sustainable profitability. I’ll wait right here.

But I won’t be holding my breath 🙂

Authenticity is the mother of all real value, and real value is not only sustainable and profitable, it’s also…well, real. What more do we need?

Don’t Compare Your Blog to Others

By Christian

You have a unique value proposition to offer your readers. Get in tune with it! What do you do better than anyone? Competition is fierce. That’s not news, and it shouldn’t surprise you. I’ve written about how to research keywords and find little pockets of opportunity here and there, and that’s good stuff. It’s important to be able to do that, but it’s MORE important to simply know who you are and work really hard at being better than anyone else in something.

There is SO much content out there right now about niche marketing. I get it. People want to make money online. They want to connect with a lot of people really quickly, easily and very inexpensively. And there are a ton of people out there talking about how to do it…how to find “your niche”. There is certainly such a thing as niche marketing, and learning how to write for search engines is important, but there is way more value in just going out every day and creating huge value for your readers. This is what’s going to create long term success for your business, nothing else.

Niche marketing is the equivalent of writing a great ad. It will pull in sales, and that’s a good thing. But it doesn’t last forever. It’s not substantive. If you want to be successful in business, you’re going to need to get in touch with what real value you can offer your customers. Nothing short of this will do.

Niche Marketing is not a Magical Cure

Please keep your magical thinking in check. We’re all subject to falling into this trap. God knows I’ve done it…but magical niches that provide you with huge traffic, tons of sales and easy money cannot be counted on. Can you make millions in internet marketing? Of course, but please don’t waste your days on trying to find some magical niche…in other words, don’t shy away from competition. Competition is a good thing; it means there is strong demand, and strong demand means you can make money in that area.

But what we see is not opportunity, we see competition. We see all the other guys and gals out there competing in a certain niche, and we think that because there are so many others that there is no room for us. Not true. Stop comparing yourself to others! And definitely don’t compare your blog to the others out there in your niche. You are unique. You are an expert in your field. You bring a new and fresh perspective.

Why I Write This Make Money Online Blog

Look at what I’m doing…a blog about making money online. This has been done before! But I bring a unique perspective. I come from direct sales; I’ve had a lot of success in that area, and over the last few years, I’ve been applying everything I know about sales…to online business. I look at making money online in a unique way because of the experiences and successes I’ve had, and I can offer value in that area. People who want to purely do internet marketing from a technical perspective and who are only interested in making money are not likely to find a ton of value in this blog, but people who understand the value of connecting with their customers on a human level and who want to build a real business will be able to see that I actually know something about that.

By not comparing your blog to others and focusing intently on the value you can provide, you can get in touch with what you really want to do. This is huge! It’s absolutely essential for you to like what you’re doing and to have a LOT to say in whatever niche you decide to target. Don’t pick something just because you think it’s a good market. Bad idea. Do what you love. Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for failure…forever seeking some magical niche that will solve your problems. Not gonna happen! Answer these questions:

What niche do you WANT to work…regardless of competition?
What unique value can you add to it?
What experiences and unique successes have you had that can lend to your expertise in this area?
Why should people listen to you?
Is this a topic that you talk about a lot anyway?
Would you do it for free? (the answer should be “yes”)

If you can answer these questions, it will help you get in tune with what you ought to be blogging. Regardless of what others are doing…you need to develop the conviction necessary to market in the area where you really feel the most competent and where you can really provide the most value to other people. That’s what a real business is built on…it’s built on you, not a niche.