Marketing
Finding your niche
The Tokyo example
For success in the modern world, journalist and author Derek Thompson (https://twitter.com/DKThomp) urges the ambitious find their niche, instead of focusing on netting the largest possible audience.
Thompson explains this concept through his Tokyo example:
If you go to Tokyo, you’ll see there are all sorts of really, really strange shops. There’ll be a shop that’s only 1970’s vinyl and like, 1980’s whisky or something.
And that doesn’t make any sense if it’s a shop in a Des Moines suburb, right? In a Des Moines suburb, to exist, you have to be Subway. You have to hit the mass-market immediately.
But in Tokyo, where there’s 30-40 million people within a train ride of a city, then your market is 40 million. And within that 40 million, sure, there’s a couple thousand people who love 1970’s music and 1980’s whisky. The Internet is Tokyo. The Internet allows you to be niche at scale.
Who is your audience?
When starting a business, it is important to start with the target audience. But there is no use if that target audience is everyone. If you try to be a Subway, marketable to the masses, you’ll bump up against too much competition.
US-based author J.R. Ford (https://authorjrford.com) found success through a specific target market. Ford pens GameLit novels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG). Although too niche for big-name publishers, this nicheness – and subsequent lack of GameLit in bookshops and libraries – has created a small but hungry audience of GameLit fans keen to load their shelves with authors like Ford. Contrastingly, authors writing in more mainstream but therefore more competitive and saturated genres may not enjoy Ford’s success of multiple published books and an Audible deal.
Understandably, there are concerns about pigeon holing. If a brand is too specific, is there room for it to grow with a possibly finite audience and narrow focus?
Yet, Ford’s experience shows that targeting an under-served audience is a smart business move. A small audience has large market potential.
If you can serve this under-served audience with a specific service or product to meet their needs, then consider their attention captured, their brand loyalty cemented, and their satisfaction guaranteed. A successful business must provide a solution to a problem and, the more specific that problem and the more tailored that solution, the better.
Leader in the Field
Focusing on a niche concept also enables you to become an expert in your field. Specialisation will hone your skills, experience, and knowledge far more than spreading yourself thinly and becoming a Jack of all trades, but master of none. If there are fewer people working and delivering in your field, then you are more likely to be sought after and respected, and you can truly claim to being a valuable authority on your subject. Customers also tend to trust specialisation over generalisation, as quality and reliability is often diluted by a wide range of products and services.
To use another well-worn phrase – specialisation positions you as a big fish in a small pond. With less direct competition comes the ability to differentiate yourself.
The culinary industry knows this well. Cafés and restaurants use nicheness to beat off the competition. Some, like the Cereal Killer Café (https://www.cerealkillercafe.co.uk), the UK’s first cereal-themed café, has turned this nicheness into a cult-like following of devotees that has consistently hit the headlines. This nicheness is often achieved through unexpected food combinations, such as Bubbledogs hot dog and champagne offering, or unique experiences, such as Dans le Noir? (https://london.danslenoir.com), where customers are served by blind and visually impaired waiters, or The Clink (https://theclinkcharity.org), based at HMP Brixton prison.
Plus, there are a slew of restaurants that offer a single food or dish, instead of an extensive menu, and therefore claim expertise in, for example, toasted sandwiches, or cheese, or hot chocolate. If a restaurant only serves vegan bao buns, then surely those are going to be some of the best vegan bao buns around? Whether the case or not, that will feature in the customer’s thought process when it comes to choosing a place to eat vegan bao buns.
Are you at one with your audience?
Serving a niche audience also ensures a steadier income with lesser competition, and an increased brand loyalty. Even if your niche starts to become mainstream, if you pioneer early and establish yourself as the go-to expert and thought-leader, your audience will keep returning to you. Steady income can also be high income. If your audience is under-served, they may be more willing to pay a higher premium on products or services because of low supply but relatively high demand.
A niche concept is key to many business models but identifying and delivering this niche concept requires an authentic passion for what you do, and a deep understanding of your target market and their needs. If your passion is more mainstream, home in on a specific focus. For example, you buy lots of shoes. Is there a particular style you love the most? Do you have a passion for sustainable or affordable shopping? Do you come from a background that is less represented in the fashion industry? Again, authenticity is incredibly important. Don’t force interest in a niche. Customers will easily root out insincerity, particularly if they have such a specialised interest, which will break trust with you and your brand.
Finally, focusing on a niche concept helps at the marketing end. Highly focused marketing campaigns tend to perform better than generic advertising because they resonate more strongly with a specific audience thanks to targeted language, branding, emotional impact, and calls-to-action. Specialisation, and a deeper understanding of the target audience, leads to more thoughtful and powerful marketing content, which provides better value for your customers and ultimately leads to greater satisfaction. Customers want to be seen and heard, and this is best achieved through targeted marketing that advocates for a specific audience base and works to meet their needs. Focused marketing also creates a stronger brand identity, which again engages the right audience for your product or service.
Conclusion
So, don’t be scared of finding your niche.
Don’t shy away from boldly standing out.
The world needs more strange shops, not Subways.