From time to time as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with small business experts that could benefit my audience. This is excerpts from my #smallbizchat interview on Twitter with Isabella Murphy @nichelady. She’s a Product Creation Specialist, Niche Marketer – CEO of Staying Paid.com – making payday come everyday through strategy, not chance! She is a professional writer, and blogs for pleasure and profit. The Nichelady is generally known on the Internet for such concepts as “staying paid around the clock” and “leverage.” She can be reached at nichelady@gmail.com
SmallBizLady: What is @smallbizchat?
Isabella Murphy: The perfect way to approach a niche audience – get connected & stay connected, share real-time experiences
SmallBizLady: Thank you Isa, I appreciate that you think so highly of what we try to do on #smallbizchat.
SmallBizLady: Lets get started. What is a niche?
Isabella Murphy: A niche is small enough to both highlight & appreciate your focus on them, but large enough to create products & services 4
SmallBizLady: What are the benefits of niche marketing?
Isabella Murphy: The benefits of niche marketing – lower advertising costs compared to “untargeted” ad campaigns (read: anyone who does X) Another benefit is ease of entry – smaller group, easier to leverage passion & systematic product/content creation for sales.
SmallBizLady: What is a niche mentality?
Isabella Murphy: A niche mentality is when a small business owner knows up front that they want to be a specialist in their industry focusing on a specific audience of customers.
SmallBizLady: What is the difference between a fad and a niche?
Isabella Murphy: Seasonal niches or fads are fine as a business model if you go into it fully understanding that it’s a fad which represents a short term revenue opportunity. It’s not a long-term business strategy – Good for leading in with limited time offers. Fads fade giving rise to other, related products to sell. Niches are strategic marketing positions in tan industry. You want a very specific customer.
SmallBizLady: How should a business owner find their niche?
Isabella Murphy: Take a realistic inventory of what you like to do what your friends/assoc/family are passionate about and/or annoyed about. You find your niche often by seeing what people are either stark raving mad about or passionate about. I do a lot of trend watching. I’m on trendwatching.com’s list. I also read the newsstand headlines & newspapers
SmallBizLady: How do you make sure your niche is viable?
Isabella Murphy: You need to be careful, with too specific a niche you run out of room to grow, with too broad of a “niche” and you don’t have enough time to really penetrate the market before you run out of financial resources.
SmallBizLady: What are the downsides of having too specific a niche?
Isabella Murphy: Not enough profitability – forced to leave the niche due to lack of sales – customers may only see you as a provider of that particular niche solution and may reject your attempts to eventually expand.
SmallBizLady: Give 3 tips for evaluating a niche?
Isabella Murphy: 1) Can you spot their three biggest problems? 2) Can you solve their problems profitably? 3) Can you generate a specific customer profile
SmallBizLady: How important is it to niche as an online business?
Isabella Murphy: Very important! Ease of entry and lower resources make niche marketing one of the most level playing fields around, especially online.
If you enjoyed this Q&A interview, follow @smallbizchat on Twitter and please join us on each Wednesday for #SmallBizChat 8-9pm ET.
For more tips on starting or growing your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog at http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com
Really liked her comments. Very practical advice and a pragmatic approach to uncovering a solid selling strategy. Biggest problem is always sizing the potential customer demand. Having several ways to gauge the market for your product or service could significantly reduce downside risk and increase the possibility of success.