The four most dangerous words in the world of selling and marketing probably are, “Everybody needs my product.” Talk about a recipe for disaster. It has been said that if you try to speak to everybody then you speak to nobody. This is so true.
As you work to position your products or services in the marketplace, you’ve got to determine which sub-segment of the market you want to go after. Too wide of a focus and nobody can relate to your offer because it doesn’t speak to them at a level they can relate to.
For example, there are a lot of information products related to time management. If you come out with another generic time management program, you become just another face in the crowd. You’ve got to niche your product to a subset of the market looking for help with time management.
How about something like “Time Management for Soccer Moms” or “Time Management for Work at Home Professionals?” When approaching a new market niche, it’s critical to speak their language. You need to understand the group’s “hot buttons” and be ready to communicate with the target market as an understanding member – not as an outsider.
You also need to remember that competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you identify a market you think would be hot be sure to do your research first. How many people are looking for information on what you want to offer? If you find no competitors in your segment that in all likelihood means that the market segment isn’t profitable enough for others to want to play in.
It can sometimes be a fine line to walk. You want to be specialized enough that your target market can really relate to your message.
You want them to feel as if you’re speaking directly to them. On the other hand, you don’t want that market to be so specialized that the size of the market isn’t large enough to be profitable for you. But, as a general rule, the more specialized you are, the better off you’ll be.
Create More Than One Product For Your Niche
If you’ve been involved in marketing for any length of time you’ve probably heard that the person most likely to buy from you is someone who has purchased before.
This is also true, but if you have only one product to sell a customer you’ve reached the end of that revenue stream pretty quickly unless it’s some type of consumable or a recurring billing product.
I see a lot of marketers who develop a single product for a market niche. Then they immediately go to another market niche and develop a product for that niche and so on and so forth. While I’m not dead set against playing in multiple markets, I am against having only one product for each niche you’re working in.
When you’re always trying to get a new customer (since you have no repeat business), your cost of sale is higher. When you have a second and third and fourth product aimed at the same niche, your marketing costs for each additional product you’re selling to that niche can be almost zero. It’s simply a matter of emailing your customer list another offer they can take advantage of.
The additional products you have to offer a market don’t even have to be your own product(s). You can offer related products from people that on the surface may appear to be competitors of yours. Find products on ClickBank or JV Zoo that you can sell to your list.
People are thirsty for knowledge and many will purchase almost everything they find on a specific subject. If you have only one product to sell them, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table, so niche your product down and then create more than one product in that category.
