If you’re starting from scratch with a business plan, the possibilities are endless.
But one basic question to consider is how you’ll differentiate yourself from competitors.
For instance, if your offering is mainstream, you might want to clarify what makes you special in terms of price, quality, customer service or quirky branding.
And all the above criteria apply to a niche company too, but if your product is groundbreaking or simply highly technical, you’ll need to find ways to make it relatable to uninitiated customers.
Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, looking at how similar firms operate is sometimes revelatory — so here are five cool ways to market your niche business, with real-life examples.
- Blog
When you’re trying to connect with target customers in a meaningful way and generate lots of fresh, relevant content for your website and social media streams, writing a blog is a brilliant idea.
And it has hidden benefits too — for instance, high-quality regularly updated content boosts your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) value, meaning it ranks higher on search engine results.
A lively example is vegan lifestyle site HappyCow — its blog is packed with tasty recipes, restaurant reviews and travel diet tips.
- Social media
Used appropriately, social media can increase the reach of your specialist business, build a loyal online tribe and eventually produce unique user-generated content which makes your own job slightly easier.
Cosmetic brand Lush has its social media game down pat, with 3.3 million followers on Instagram according to official figures, live product demonstrations on Facebook and catchy Twitter and Instagram tags like #lushlife.
- Charity work
If your company is committed to raising cash and awareness for charities, publicising this on your website and social media helps the causes you care about and projects a positive, empathic image for your brand.
It’s an awesome way of humanising your brand — check out the charity page of tattoo parlour Forevermore to get to grips with the idea.
- Merchandise
If your branding’s on-point and makes everything from your store to staff and product packaging look sharp, merchandising is another effective marketing method.
Promotional trinkets like keyrings are ok, but if you want to make money and advertise yourself effectively, selling authentic clothing is even better.
Look at Hard Grind barber shop’s online store for examples of fierce branded fashions that cleverly convert customers into human adverts.
- Case studies
You’ll be aware of the ways in which the specialist products or services you provide can solve problems for customers — but spending too long describing their tech specs will turn people off.
Instead, focus on explaining in layman’s terms how an item can be used in a real-life setting by using case studies.
Expert wire supplier Ormiston Wire has some outstanding examples on its site — there are fascinating case studies on everything from TV puppets to the British Antarctic Survey.
That’s the end of our list, but the start of a conversation. Please share your own niche marketing tips in the comments section.
