Global warming and climate change will affect all of our lives. Mankind has no way out except to change the pattern of consumption. Everything (production and consumption) should proceed according to sustainable development patterns. For example, producers of goods must produce goods that can be recycled. Also, plastic should not be used in packaging.
It is clear that not everyone is concerned about global warming. That means they don’t care if the packaging of the product they buy is environmentally friendly or not. But it is important to me and many others. A part of the market of various products is made up of those who love the environment and are looking for products that are compatible with the environment.
Fortunately, in the last few decades, some manufacturers realized this concern in a part of the market and decided to give an answer to it. That is, they produced products specifically for environmentalists. So, instead of buying from the competitor, when I notice the presence of those producers in the market, I go to them who offer the goods that suit my needs and concerns.
What those producers did is nothing but Niche Marketing. What is sting marketing? Why should a business go to this type of marketing and product sting? What are the disadvantages of niche marketing? And finally, how do you find a niche business product?
In this article, correct and accurate and valid answers have been given to the above questions.
Of course, before anything else, it is necessary to say one thing:
- Both Nishe and Niche are correct and two correct pronunciations of the same word.
Table of Contents
What is Niche Marketing Strategy?
First, let me tell you what Niche means in the word. Niche or Nishe originally means a ledge in the wall. Its figurative meanings are: place, suitable place, suitable position; real position; firm footing; Cozy corner and safe place. So now let’s see what this niche marketing is?
Niche marketing is an advertising strategy that focuses on a unique target market. Instead of marketing to everyone who could benefit from a product or service, this strategy focuses exclusively on one group—a niche market—or demographic of potential customers who would most benefit from the offerings.
So, niche marketing means delivering a specific product to a specific customer. Of course, be careful that niche markets are created by businesses. That is, there are businesses that recognize the needs of certain customers, a part of the market, that remain unanswered and solve that need. So, that particular product or service that has never existed before is monopolized by a business.
There is no discussion of the cozy corner of the market. The main argument in niche marketing is that a product is going to fill a niche for a specific market segment. That particular segment may be distinguished from the rest of the market by having a special feature. It means that it has found a distinct need from the rest of the market. He wants a product or service that others either don’t need or don’t care about.
Niche market features
Do you remember the example we started the discussion with? Those products are examples of bite products. Products that are not everyone’s concern, and not everyone is willing to pay for an environmentally friendly product, which is probably more expensive than the equivalent. A large part of the market is not looking for such products at all. So, the first and most important feature of a niche market is that it is a potential and specific market with a very small number of applicants.
A niche market is good for small businesses because it gives them the opportunity to specialize in something for a small group of people. This saves production and advertising costs. But niche marketing is not just for small businesses. Big and well-known businesses also use niche marketing strategies to find customers with specific needs (such as electric cars produced by car giants).
The third feature is that the bite product is unrivaled. The business that first creates a niche monopolizes it. But there is no guarantee that it will remain unopposed. If others think of producing the same niche product and the competition increases, there will be no more niche market.
As I said, a niche market is created because of a distinct need in a group of people. That distinctive need is also due to having a special and common feature in that group (such as environmental concerns). Of course, that feature may be fixed or dependent on a certain time, place, and geography. That special feature may be one of the following:
- place of residence (geography)
- Age
- A particular culture, particular beliefs or concerns
- education
- Job
- Physical or mental illness
- Physical or motor disabilities
- Political tendencies
- Interests, habits and hobbies
- A special lifestyle
- Allergies and sensitivities
In order to understand very well the niche market or niche products, how they are found in the market based on one of those features; I will tell other interesting examples.
Examples of niche marketing and niche products
- PacSafe
Maybe you and I, our work and way of life are not such that we are constantly traveling and traveling by road and plane. But there are others who spend most of their lives in travel. For this reason, they have the right to worry about the safety of their bags and luggage. 20 years ago, two friends who loved travel and adventure and couldn’t find safe and secure bags and backpacks in the market that day, started working on their own and produced a niche product.
- Glorious PC Gaming Race
I definitely don’t understand how a person can sit behind the computer and play games for 20 hours a day. I have nothing to do with the world of computer games and its accessories. But there are many who have jobs and are looking for new devices that make gaming easier. Among this group of game enthusiasts, there is another small group with a special feature: they want to play with PC, with mouse and keyboard. In 2014, a company came to help this small segment of the market and made gaming mice and keyboards.
- Octavia Elizabeth Jewelry
For many customers in the large and profitable market of gold and jewelry, it does not matter how the jewelry they buy is made or what materials (stones) it is made of and what damage has been done to nature and the environment in the process of making it. It doesn’t even matter to many whether big and reputable companies in this field consider fair wages for all their employees or whether they respect the rights of their employees and workers or not?
But for the American designer who makes handmade jewelry, all those things that I said are important and concerns. Of course, he knew that these things are important for a very small part of the market. For this reason, he has introduced a brand to the market that makes sustainable jewelry and of course gives all the rights and rights of the people involved in production and supply.
Advantages and disadvantages of sting marketing
In the following paragraph, all the benefits of niche marketing and their relationship are clearly stated.
The benefit of niche marketing is that it allows brands to differentiate themselves, appear as a unique authority, and resonate more deeply with a distinct set of customers. Rather than blend in with the many other brands that offer the same type of product or service, a brand can use niche marketing to stand out, appear more valuable, reach its growth potential, and build a stronger, longer-lasting connection with its ideal. Audience.
And the disadvantages of niche market:
- Niche product customers are very, very limited. This means a small market and usually not much profit. It is also possible that your niche product is not designed properly and human-centered and fails in the same small market.
- A niche product may end up being more expensive than the limited market can afford. That is, although the customer wants and needs that product, but cannot buy it.
- It is true that advertising costs are reduced because the audience is precisely defined, but when you are a new brand and a small business that wants to produce only a niche product, you have to introduce yourself to the same limited market. Because the customer needs your product, he should not necessarily trust you too soon. It takes time and money to build brand equity.
Steps of Niche Marketing (How to find your niche market?)
How to find that particular unmet need and that particular unproduced product? Whether you are a big business or a start-up brand, you may be able to find and create your special place in the market (your niche) with the help of the following steps:
1. Research (Industry Research)
Know the market well and very deeply. What is your field of activity? What products are produced in this area? Who are the customers/audiences of these products with what features? What are your competitors producing? What is missing between the products of your competitors? What do users/customers think about those products?
Do quantitative and qualitative research. Interview the audience/customers. Follow social networks and audience comments about competitors’ products. Take help from Google and its tools to see what words are most searched in the field related to your work. Once you’ve researched and found a gap in the market, you need to research and read to come up with ideas to fill it. Then you have to research the implementation of those ideas. The important question is whether the niche you found is profitable or not. That is, if you fill the empty space of the market or the cozy corner for the customer, he will have money to spend and buy your niche product.
It is at this stage that the STP model and persona-based marketing will help you a lot.
2. What do you have to offer (or what can you offer)
You just don’t have to know the market and customers very well. You should also know yourself and your strengths very well. Does your business basically have the financial, technical and human resources to produce the bite product? Can you fill in the blanks correctly? If the concern and interest of your business is not to produce environmentally friendly products, those products cannot be your niche market.
In niche market you need to connect with that particular group. When the interests and principles and values of your business are different from that group, how can you produce a product for them and become a brand that they are ready to buy only from? Look again at the examples mentioned. You will see that niche marketing is not possible without knowing and understanding the niche audience. At this stage too, the results of the research will be useful to you.
3. Introduce yourself to the niche audience through suitable (advertising) channels
It is true that in niche marketing, the niche audience is a small and specific group with common characteristics, but you still need to advertise to reach them. In the first and second step, you found the niche customer. You know who he is and what his job is and why he is looking for a product that does not exist in the market.
At this stage, you should see where this customer spends most of his time and how you should announce your presence to him. First of all, social networks and online platforms should be checked. If your target audience is gamers, you should see which social networks or blogs they are most active in.
Second, influencer marketing can be very helpful and push you forward. For example, the handmade jewelry brand (Octavia Elizabeth Jewelry) that we introduced, has and is receiving help from famous American celebrities for advertising. Celebrities who share the same concerns as the owner of this brand.
Third, because your audience and customers are limited and have common characteristics, the best and most cost-effective advertising method is to ask them to introduce you to others. If I love to travel, I probably have friends or am a member of groups and clubs where travel and adventure lovers gather around me, so I can easily introduce products like PacSafe to them.
There is one important thing to understand that ‘niche’ does not exist, but is created by smart marketing techniques and identifying what the customer wants.