Marketing has changed quite a bit over the years. While big national brands can still blast their ads out through big media like television and radio, most companies have found that they need a more targeted approach. You need to find your marketing niche, and if it doesn’t exist yet – you need to create it. Below are five ideas to get you started.
1. Create a Unique Brand
Sometimes your product will be so unique that it creates its own niche. But that is not always the case, and it might not be the case for your company. If you’re selling products that lots of other competitors are also selling, then your brand is what’s going to set you apart from them.
Don’t just take into account the visual aspects of branding like logo and color themes. Who is your brand? What kind of personality do you project? If you can nail that down consistently, your brand will start to attract its own specific niche of customers.
2. Own Your Space
It’s tempting to try to be everywhere, and that might’ve worked a decade ago, but today’s digital marketing requires precision. Find a platform and own it. Pick a marketing method and master it. Position yourself to be an expert in your field and in your industry. Instead of trying to spread yourself thin, stay where you are and drill down deeper into your niche.
3. Build Your Tribe
One aspect of niche marketing that needs to be emphasized is the power of your tribe. You can’t sell to everyone, and you don’t need to sell to everyone. Creating a core of regular, repeat customers should be a major priority for your company. Your biggest fans are the ones who will carry your company into the future, so find them, connect with them and bring them as much value as you possibly can. Visit a company like The Rainmaker Institute if you need help with analyzing your customer base.
4. Create Customer Personas
Client personas have been used for years as effective marketing tools. To define your niche, you need to define your audience. And no, “the world” is not your audience. If you know who you are, and you know your brand, that will make it a lot easier to determine which narrow slice of the market you need to be targeting. Creating detailed customer personas and tailoring your marketing campaigns to those specific demographics can go a long way in helping you carve out your marketing niche.
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5. Become a Brand Ambassador
One of the most interesting shifts in marketing today is the fusing of company branding and personal branding. Consumers today want to connect with the brand on a personal level. It’s not just about the product or the service that you provide. It’s about who you are. Maybe it’s always been about that.
Today more than ever, customers buy from people who they know, like and trust. It was always that way, but with social media today there is a transparency that brands in the past never had to deal with. This can work for you or against you, so you need to be in control of every aspect of your personal brand and understand how this affects your company brand.
Become an educator and an advocate. Become an expert in your industry. Make use of video marketing, podcasts and blogging. All of these will help you build your personal brand, and that will translate into growing your company brand as well.
Your company has a challenging road ahead as it seeks to increase brand awareness and market position. Defining your niche is more important today than ever before, so use these five niche marketing tips to carve out your own slice of the pie.