Learning Niche Marketing: Understanding Niche Marketing Better

Learning niche marketing is like learning any other profession in life. Until you do so, you are on the outside looking in. There are many aspects that go into any profession and niche marketing is no different. Understanding niche marketing, just like understanding accounting or any other profession comes when the terminology begins to fall into place and you become proficient in the tasks involved in that profession.

Every profession has its own language, so to speak, and those on the inside understand when that terminology is used. I recall when I first began training in the computer field and was awed and overwhelmed by the terms and acronyms being used.

Until I understood that SCSI stood for small computer systems interface, any discussion on that topic went over my head. Once I understood the term and its association with my profession, it became a part of my professional vocabulary. So you see, understanding niche marketing in part involves understanding the terminology as it is used within the profession.

Today lets take a look at the most obvious term, the word “niche.” This is a term that is frequently used in the every day world and most of us have an understanding of its meaning when used in a biological or corporate context. When we are told that someone has found his or her niche in life, we have no problem understanding that someone has found where he or she is happiest in life.

Defining The Word Niche

The above definition of the word “niche” is correct in the context of our everyday world, but it takes on a different meaning when used in the context of the Internet marketing profession. In order to be a niche marketer, you need to have a clear understanding of what the word “niche” means within that context.

Wikipedia’s definition for the term niche market is “the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing on.

This definition may still be unclear to you the reader, as it is not written in a manner that we would normally use to describe something. In a nutshell it means that a niche market is a smaller piece or section of a commonly accepted market.

By way of example, we could say that ladies shoes is a smaller section (or niche) of the ladies clothing market while ladies Italian shoes is an even smaller niche within the same clothing market.

Keeping with the same example, what other niches could we find within the ladies clothing or even the ladies shoes market? To name just a few, we might have…

• casual shoes
• work shoes
• nursing shoes
• running shoes
• evening wear
• hand made shoes

The list we could potentially come up with would be never ending. Any one of these areas listed is a niche within the ladies clothing market that can be focused on and promoted. Even within the ones listed above, there are several potential micro or sub-niches such as Dansko nursing shoes, which would be a sub-niche, focused on one supplier within the nursing shoes niche.

Understanding niche marketing begins with understanding the word “niche” within the Internet marketing context. Without this understanding, it will be difficult for you to pin point which niche you will be working with.

If you are unable to define your niche, you will also be unable to identify and understand the type of potential customer your marketing efforts will target. If you don’t know your customer, how are you going to be able to pick out products and services that customer may be interested in?

Defining the word niche plays an important role in learning niche marketing overall. Now that you are sure what it means, your next step will be finding the right niche for you to work with. The right niche, especially for those just starting in niche marketing will involve in some way a hobby or interest that you have.

Once you have gone through the process of finding the right niche for you and you have identified “your niche,” there will be a lot more for you to learn about this new profession that you have chosen, but that is a topic for another day.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com