When you are searching for a great niche, look for recurring problems for which people are seeking solutions
bret ridgway
We can’t count the number of times we’ve heard an information marketer or author say words to the effect of “Everybody needs to read my book or do my course. Everyone would benefit from it.” Those, my friend, are words that point to an info product that is, in all likelihood, going to fail in the marketplace.
Why? There’s a common marketing phrase that says, “If you try to sell to everybody, you sell to nobody.” If you think everyone needs your fantastic new gizmo you’re kidding yourself because it makes it so hard to craft a message that really resonates with any particular group of people.
The same is true for your information products, including books. If you try to position it in your marketing message as something that everyone needs to read then it makes it hard for people to jump on board because they don’t consider themselves everyone.
You need to figure out what subset of everyone you can most positively impact with your message and focus your marketing efforts to that group.
What is your ideal niche?
- Are your prospects most likely male or female?
- What age range are they in?
- What is their ethnicity?
- Do they have specific geographi- cal ties?
- Do they have a specific health issue they associate themselves with?
- Do they have a particular hobby they’re involved with?
A marketing avatar is a process of honing in on exactly who your perfect customer is.
There is a common phrase in marketing these days called the “Marketing Avatar.” A marketing avatar is a process of honing in on exactly who your perfect customer is. In your case, the perfect reader. This process entails detailing everything about this perfect reader, including gender, age, job, hobbies, trends, fears, desires…everything!
Very few information marketers make the effort to truly understand their ideal market in depth. Where do they hang out online? Are there forums or discussion boards online related to their interests and/or concerns that people hang out in? What keyword or keyword phrase are they using online to search for answers to their questions?
Go to your favorite search engine and type in a keyword phrase that would relate to the info product you want to develop and add the word “forum.” It’s pretty easy online to find groups talking about the things you want to write about. Look for recurring problems for which people are seeking solutions.
The late, great copywriter, Gary Halbert, was once asked what competitive advantage he’d want if he had hamburgers to sell. Was it the best location? Was it the best tasting burger? Was it the freshest buns?
“None of the above,” said Gary. What he’d want is a “starving crowd.” So where is your “starving crowd”? And, very importantly, who else is trying to serve that same crowd? What other products already exist in the marketplace targeting the niche you want to serve?
Locating a great niche can be quite challenging. You want a targeted enough niche that your potential customers deeply associate themselves with that niche. That implies a smaller, more tightly-knit group.
Yet you want a large enough niche that the size of the universe your product will appeal to is significant enough in size to support building a business on that niche. It’s kind of a fine line that you walk.
Resist the urge to simply pour everything you know into a product about your topic. Be sure to take the time to research the market and develop as clear of an understanding as possible as to how you can best service that market.
