Think Small! Niche Yourself To Success

When you talk about getting your message out to others, there are many obstacles you will encounter that you will have to effectively navigate around, especially if you have a new presence online. In fact, this principle is true in offline marketing as well. One thing you need to consider is who you are going to focus your message, or your expertise, to reach. By narrowing the target of your audience, you can can effectively increase your chances of being found by people. When you target your message, or product (or book), to a subsection of the market, and not to the mainstream market, you are engaging in what is called "niche marketing."

Though it may sound counter intuitive on the surface, niche marketing is actually a powerful strategy for you to adopt. In fact, in my opinion, it is one one of the fastest ways to success. Here is an example of how it works. I have professional marketing experience and recently decided to share that experience with people online and offline. My experience is from marketing educational video products for a company. When I wrote my book, The Samson Effect, I applied my marketing experience to help me get the the message of my book out.

When I decided to share my marketing expertise with others, I needed to determine what target of the market I wanted to focus on. I chose the niche market of authors. Now, I could have decided to jump into the mainstream market and promote my marketing advice to everyone. After all, the audience size for that message is huge. But as a new presence in the market with a micro budget, I would have been swallowed up by the vast number of powerhouse players that are already there. I would have been the proverbial little fish in a big pond. More like a single krill in a massive ocean.

But by focusing on a niche, I have already seen success at reaching people with my message. I chose to limit my target audience specifically to authors who are trying to find readers for their books. I know, as an author myself, that there are certain particularities with book marketing that don't exists in the mainstream marketing audience (ie, book signings, public readings, etc...). Not I am a bigger fish in a substantially smaller pond. People are finding my message though I have only been online for a relatively short time with it. This is the power of niche marketing.

As you consider your marketing plan, think about your niche. What subsection of the market can you stake out and claim as your own? By embracing a niche marketing strategy, you may see your success grow substantially. It works for the auto industry when they market their hybrid cars to the environmentally friendly consumers; it works for magazine publishers who create new magazines for a micro audience, and it can work for you.

Here are some tips to think about as your find your niche:

1. Make sure it is truly a niche- Using my marketing example, I could have fooled myself into thinking I was in a niche market by saying, "I will target my audience to only the segment of the market with business owners." Nice try, but that is nothing more than a renaming of the general market. Make sure that your niche is truly a subsection of the overall market.

2. Apply the "Goldie Locks" test- You want to make sure that your niche isn't too big or too small, but just right. If you chose a niche that is too big, then you will still be competing with the dominate established players in the market and you will struggle to have your message heard. If you choose a niche that's too small, then you may dominate the market, but you may not have enough readers to sell your books to. I could have chosen authors living in Hawaii who write Alaskan cookbooks as my niche. Chances are, I would dominate that niche, but my overall business success would be limited to the point that it would not be a viable niche to be in.

3. Research your niche and become an expert in it- When you enter a niche, you want to quickly establish yourself as one of its experts. Chances are, if you have done a good job at choosing your niche, there may be other experts already there. This is a great opportunity to reach out a hand and network with other colleagues. By establishing yourself as an expert and finding your place within the niche, you can become a name people begin to associate with your expertise.

4. Communicate with your niche- If you go through all the effort to locate your niche, make sure you spend time in front of them. This is really what Marketing Tips For Authors is all about; not just finding readers for your books, but learning how to stay in front of them. By keeping a steady stream of communication with your niche, you will continually enhance your visibly as a niche expert.

5. Always be on the lookout for other niche markets to slip into- Once you find yourself securely snug in your niche, look for other niches to cross market to. The Chicken Soup For The Soul series has done a masterful job at this. You can now find your serving of Chicken Soup created just for you, no matter who you are. As a dad of twin boys, this one looks interesting to me: "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Twins and More."

Spend some time thinking about who you want to market yourself to and then go after that market. By slipping into a niche, you will find it much easier to be heard and to find people who not only listen to your message, but ultimately take action. By "thinking smaller" via niche marketing, you will be poised to make a big splash.

***On a personal note, I want to wish a happy anniversary to my lovely wife Emily.***

Tony Eldridge