Niche markets are almost always rooted in an unmet need
Niche markets are almost always rooted in an unmet need. You start out by identifying people’s pain points, whether personal or professional, then come up with a way to solve those problems. As much of a gamble as this could be, the rewards can be great. However, this isn’t the only thing we should be learning from niche markets.
Here are some examples of what all entrepreneurs should learn from niche markets.Click To Tweet
Divide the Value
Niche businesses should disrupt pre-existing markets, and grind down the value typically lost to intermediaries. However, a lot of them start off by focusing on solving the pain point on the buyer’s side, and then clumsily trying to fill the other end. However, this kind of model relies on both buyer and seller parties in order to function properly. Think about the problem Uber had with their promotions. After running discounted rides over one summer, the drivers got angry, as they felt that customers were receiving unfairly discounted rides at their expense. To avoid this kind of issue, make sure that any extracted value is divided among parties evenly. By making this a priority, you’ll keep your staff happy, and avoid issues in customer service and churn.
Narrow Down Choices
When developing a service business idea, a lot of entrepreneurs are tempted to offer their target market a wide variety of options, hoping to capture a larger part of the market and drive better customer satisfaction. However, in many cases, all those different choices will only serve to overwhelm the customers you’re trying to attract. It may not be immediately obvious, but the best way to earn trust and loyalty is often by specializing in a single area. A marketing firm that keeps all its customer-facing materials open and general may see some major success, but you can be sure that it will have to strain its resources and make some very smart calls to do this. On the other hand, businesses that sell themselves as a B2B management consultancy, an engineering PR firm, a lawyer marketing company, or any other narrow niche you can think of, will have a much easier time generating conversions. Don’t confuse or smother customers by making your offerings too broad.
By Sandeepnewstyle (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Open Up Lines of Communication, and then Fill Them
Because marketplaces don’t sell products actively, publishing fresh and engaging content as often as you’d like can be extremely challenging for some businesses. Enticing people to a certain brand platform is the easy part. From there, you need to focus on keeping them there. Many marketplaces, especially these days, are only able to survive through community engagement. If a developing marketplace fails to offer any kind of unique perspectives, or doesn’t become an authority in its industry, then it’s in trouble. This only leads to it becoming an intermediary to another, competing marketplace, and causes massive user attrition. Though community may be a large or insignificant part of your business model, this highlights the need for open communication channels between the brand and the customer base.
