This is different for entrepreneurs in a niche market. These entrepreneurs create specific products or serve specific audiences. Besides allowing you to narrow your scope, serving a niche market helps you gain more credibility and become the go-to brand for your audience.
In this post, you’ll learn about the benefits of niche markets, how to find your niche, and what to do after you identify an unmet need.
By focusing on a small audience, you can use your resources to find customers who align with your product. These people need your product the most and are most likely to convert.
Mass markets often evolve from niche markets. So while you’re starting small today, consider the big picture, and start building the foundation that’ll help you succeed on a grand scale.
Operating in a niche market means you’ll deal with less or no competition. Many companies or individuals like to serve many customers. By going narrow, you’ll offer a specific product that’ll eliminate many companies from your customers’ radar.
That said, there may also be fewer customers looking for your product or service. So you’ll need to enter a niche market that has an adequate audience.
Niche marketing allows individuals and businesses to improve brand loyalty. Engaging with fewer people means you’ll find it easier to nurture prospects and build quality relationships. Your audience will know that you understand their vibe. They’ll see you as a true partner, rather than a vendor who’s only interested in their money.
Is there a hobby or skill you’re passionate about or good at? Take some time to reflect on those areas of interest as potential niche market ideas.
Below are a few questions to help you brainstorm:
Writing your answers to these questions will help you identify your core strengths. This allows you to build on a niche market idea you already love.
This is where research tools come in handy. Let’s explore some of them.
Exploding Topics is an excellent tool that allows entrepreneurs to find emerging trends before they take off. Here’s how it works.
From there, you can see your competitors in that market and find your own way to shine.
As you can see below, the interest in the term has been growing steadily since 2017 in the U.S.
With this data, you can get an idea of market size and demand.
For instance, if we enter “Bakuchiol for” in Answer The Public, we’ll see 331 results like bakuchiol for acne, body, blackheads, breastfeeding, skincare, and face.
Each result provides a niche opportunity for you to explore.
For instance, when we plug in “bakuchiol for acne,” we see it has a high-paid difficulty and moderate cost per click.
Other tools to use for competitor research are:
Use these tools to explore the best-selling products consumers are researching and see if your new business can meet their needs.
If you’re dedicating your resources and time to a new business, it should have the ability to become profitable. Here are a few factors to consider when finalizing the niche you’ll cater to:
Your idea could be profitable if you research the market and discover similar products, but few companies sell them.
Look at the price points of competitor products so you can price yours competitively.
If the test is not as successful as you hoped, don’t scrap your idea entirely. Go back to the drawing board and find key areas where you can improve your product or marketing.
If you’re wondering what a niche business looks like, below are seven examples of businesses that cater to niche markets.
After leaving their corporate jobs, sisters Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne pursued their passion for baking and opened up Georgetown Cupcake. Unlike other bakeries that create cakes and other sweets, their sole product is cupcakes, and they were able to perfect their recipes by focusing on one product type.
Instead of offering a variety of home products such as furniture, textiles, and artwork, The Container Store focuses on selling compartments — large and small enclosed storage containers where consumers put their stuff.
Sure, customers could go to a convenience store to buy storage, but there’s a good chance they won’t find the exact container that fits the space and aesthetic of their cupboard.
SoulCycle is a 45-minute indoor cycling class that sets itself apart from competitors by only offering one specialized spin class. Other fitness studios don’t compare to the community of dedicated cyclers who spend hours working out at SoulCycle.
In the broader market of menswear, Ties.com stands out by only selling accessories like ties, socks, pocket squares, and wallets. Since their products make up a small portion of the menswear industry, they stand out from the competition because they can focus on creating unique, high-quality accessories.
Dorm Moms adopted this approach by focusing on a specific audience. Rather than cater to a large population of people in need of laundry service, Dorm Mom serves only college students.
Led by Kelly and Laura Moffat, Kirrin Finch provides individuals in the LGBTQ community with bespoke suits and button-up shirts for weddings, workwear, or just to look your best any time.
By specializing your products and services in a narrow market, you’ll better use your resources, produce products faster, and develop a loyal customer base. Selling to a niche market can be a short- or long-term strategy — the key is finding your audience and tailoring everything you do just for them.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
