Don’t Miss Out! Why Startups Need Profitable Niche Markets To Thrive
SQI Security Entrepreneur Series 54
Why Startups Must Prioritize Profitable Niches For long-Term Growth
INTRODUCTION
The one thing everyone seems to want these days is to start their own business. Many new business owners believe that the only thing they need to be successful is a website that will bring in automated profits around the clock. While a site is a useful tool to have, it isn’t a full-edged business.
Unfortunately, many would-be entrepreneurs are not prepared to put in the effort that is required to research a niche correctly to determine that the niche they want to work in is a paying one. Finding a paying niche, and then creating content, products, and services for that niche, is the best way for you to build a solid foundation for a successful online business.
It is also the best way to achieve the level of success and kind of profits that most business owners need to make their efforts worthwhile. Not picking a lucrative niche is an easy mistake to make when you are excited about all the great ideas that you have. It is also easy to fall into a niche that you’ve heard people are making a killing selling online.
Passion and enthusiasm are essential when it comes to running your own business, but so is research. All the large corporations spend time researching before releasing new products to the public to see if there is any interest in a new product. Unfortunately, most new business owners get it wrong. They first create a product, then spend the time and money to launch the product, then try to find a market for it. The secret key to online success is to-
- Find a paying market
- Create a product for it
- Launch the product by directly marketing to the paying market you’ve already located.
FINDING YOUR NICHE:
A niche is a small, specific, target market of potential customers. Smart business owners try to sell their products and services to a niche base of customers by conducting detailed market research with a focus on trying to understand the consumer behavior of the people who are interested in that niche.
Specifically, their needs, concerns, and desires. Once the research shows that consumers that are interested in the niche are willing to pay for products, services, and solutions that are related to the niche, the business will then try to cater to them as much as possible by providing a range of items for sale at various price points.
This is because the more credentials you have, the more money you can charge for the products and services you are offering in your niche, within reason. Your price point has to be within reason because finding the right niche isn’t just about finding the right one that pays, but it is also about what people are buying and how much they are willing to pay for them.
Your expertise, credentials, and the added extras you are offering can help to remove some of the doubt in the customer’s mind and convince them that the extra cost is worth it. However, you will only be able to convince them to pay the extra money if you know what other offers are available so that you can make an even better offer.
As you research your niche, you will not only discover if it is a paying one but if there are users who are willing to pay premium prices for the kind of insider information that you can provide. You also want to think about the life cycle of the customer in a niche. While they might start out as a beginner, by sticking with the niche and continuing to learn, they will eventually need to obtain intermediate or advanced information. Understanding the life cycle of your customers provides you with the opportunity to continue to sell to them over and over again.
CHOOSING YOUR NICHE:
As you begin your journey into starting your own niche marketing business, you want to start by jotting down your ideas for a niche that you would like to work in and the reasons behind your interest. There are many reasons for working in a niche. Many people decide on their niche because it’s a hot and trending market.
While it’s okay if you want to jump on the bandwagon of new and emerging markets, you have to be prepared to be nimble and put in the hard work to stay ahead of the curve. These kinds of niche markets will only allow you to be in business for a short period before you have to find another niche that will be profitable.
Niches that don’t expire too soon, or at all, are referred to as ‘evergreen.’ An evergreen niche may not have as much excitement as the latest gadget, but they are more stable and can keep your business running for years. Being evergreen means that the products and services that you are selling should be able to keep you earning a profit year after year.
You also should try to find a niche that is interesting enough to make it fun and enjoyable for you to go to work every day. For many, choosing a niche is easy because they base their business on their own personal interests and expertise. Being an expert in what people are looking for in that niche can be a good thing. It will give you a pretty good idea as to whether or not the niche will be profitable, to begin with.
In other words, if you buy products in the niche, chances are there are other people out there that will buy them as well. However, it is essential for you to keep in mind that people won’t always behave in the manner that you expect. While you may think that your idea is a terrific one, without doing the proper niche research, it could bomb, leaving you with the realization that there is no paying market for it after all.
A common mistake that you’ll want to try to avoid is spending your time creating a product, website, and more, for a niche that is worth little or nothing because it is not a paying market, or because you’re targeting the wrong audience.
