How to Carve Your Niche in the Marketplace

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by Michel Fortin

In today's hypercompetitive marketplace, an important area in which top-of-mind awareness (positioning) must be applied is in offline traffic generation. Long gone are the days of mere search engine submissions and crafty (and often misleading) "webmastery" using 1,001 prospecting tactics. Today, due to the information revolution, prospects are more informed, more educated, and more sophisticated than ever before. Using a plethora of marketing techniques like these are no longer effective -- or, in the very least, not as effective as they used to be.

People can no longer be "sold" let alone tricked. However and unfortunately, there are many companies still running Web sites that use these outdated approaches. Today, prospects not only see them coming but they also consider such techniques to be insulting. I do say "outdated" because, in cyberspace, more and more tactics are being frowned upon with each passing day. In addition to spamming, other methods such as spawning, click-throughs, pop ups, offline telemarketing, direct-mail marketing, etc. are also being added to the list of cybertaboos. Understandably, they exist because the lack of human interaction on the Internet takes away the emotional element from one's traditional marketing and selling efforts. While attempting to increase one's visibility is their purpose, online marketing strategies are sadly becoming part of an increasingly difficult endeavor.

Therefore, what is a better, more effective, and certainly more "politically correct" approach to generate traffic? In essence, a solution to this dilemma is to generate traffic offline that is already pre-qualified and pre-sold, even before prospects visit a particular site.

FIND MORE WITH LESS
The first rule in qualifying prospects through offline traffic generation is to specialize. The most common mistake newcomers to any field of business make is to think that by expanding their portfolio they will "secure" more business, and nothing can be further from the truth. Specializing and narrowing one's focus as much as possible will paradoxically increase the likelihood of getting more hits, let alone business.

Specialization is in itself a fundamental marketing process. It's amazingly effective in creating "top-of-mind" awareness among a target market; a process that I have discussed in previous articles. For instance, an accountant specializing in car dealerships will get more business than a general accountant will. An advertising consultant specializing in print media for home furnishing stores will get more business than a typical advertising agent will. A photographer specializing in weddings will get more business than a regular photographer will. And the list goes on and on. This applies to the Internet just as well.

Over the years, specialization has been referred to as "niche" marketing. As more and more businesses get started (as well as more and more Web sites populate cyberspace), the less time, energy, and money people will have to spend in making choices for who they will choose to do business with. This is not only related to new and repeat business but also to referral business.

For instance, let's say you have two friends who own Web sites on which they sell cars. You're thinking of referring clients to one of them. One of your fiends has a typical site while the other, however, has a site that specializes in first time car buyers. It offers special creative financing methods for those new to credit, additional car-specific driver training courses for new drivers, and rate comparison charts that suggest insurance companies with the lowest rates for newly licensed drivers (e.g., students, young drivers, newlyweds, late bloomers, etc.). Now, to whom do you think you will refer more people? This is the awesome power of narrowing your focus.

BE AN EXPERT
Think of a laser, which is basically a beam of highly concentrated light. You want to focus like a laser on your niche and, when you do, you will as a result burn yourself into your prospects' minds. When you get down to it, as a consumer you will choose, when you have a choice presented to you, to go to a business that specializes in a unique area in which you have a need. Specialization casts an aura of superiority and exclusivity. When you deal with a specialist, you will automatically assume that that person has greater expertise, has greater knowledge about the field, and offers greater service since, by catering to a unique market, it implies that he or she will have a better understanding of your situation, needs, and concerns. Remember that perceived truth is more powerful than truth itself.

Additionally, specialized Web sites generate far more "opt-in" e-mail subscribers than general ones. Specialization is the wave of the future, and the greater the competition will become, the greater the need for more specialists. For example, why do you think there is a trend in specialty stores these days? They are popping up everywhere! Today, there are stores selling only dry foods in bulk. There are vitamin and food supplement stores. There are electronics stores. There are toy stores. There are even mothers-to-be and baby clothing stores!

The need to specialize is obvious. With companies, Web sites, e-mail, and the media storming you with information, and with your very limited time to be able to shop around for the best product from the best company at the best price, you will more than likely go the store that pops into your mind and do so only when the need presents itself. For instance, you can buy a toaster from a department store, a home furnishings store, an appliance store, a grocery store, a drugstore, and even a bank! Heck, if there were a store selling only toasters, you'd probably go there first. So ideally, your job is to find your niche and to narrow it down as much as possible.

BECOME A CELEBRITY
You want to be the leader in your category or in your unique area of expertise. By doing so, free publicity will, as a result, flow to you quite easily. Non-traditional mediums will seek you out. Specialized publications, strategic alliances, and cable as well as community television stations are wonderful mediums to get the word out effectively. This is an area in which you can get a lot of publicity at little or no cost.

For instance, I once met a computer consultant who ran his own show for free on cable television -- yes, free! As a programmer specializing in financial institutions, he hosted a show called "Solution  Sentral" on which he is either being interviewed or playing the role of the interviewer, with guests ranging from bankers and corporate executives looking to hire computer consultants, to other consultants in areas similar to his own. He also took calls on the show, had his URL displayed at the bottom of the screen at all times, and had an online question-and-answer format where people, through a chat program, asked questions to which he answered directly on the air. The show was not meant to advertise him directly -- if so, the station would charge him for it -- but as a "public service" or public information gesture.

Publicity is remarkably different than advertising. There are many different ways to get publicity out there, let alone free publicity. In a hypercompetitive marketplace, specializing causes people, other mediums, as well as other companies (looking to refer clients or form strategic alliances) to seek you out. Your goal is to get yourself known as an expert in your field. If you have narrowed your focus to a very specific, highly specialized field, publicity will come easy to you. The media loves to hear from people who are uniquely qualified.

GET OUT AND ABOUT
Do you write articles for your local newspaper or in the very least in the op-ed section? Do you send out press or news releases to all the TV, newspaper, and radio stations in, at least, your area? Do you offer free seminars in conjunction with nonprofit or not-for-profit organizations during, for instance, fund raisers? Do you offer yourself to speak at luncheons, clubs, and organizations such as the Rotary? Do you offer free services to charities or sponsor community projects? As you can see, the list goes on. There exists a multitude of publicity opportunities out there and I encourage you to vigorously seek them out.

A hair transplant doctor I know sent out press releases to all the TV stations and offered to perform a hair transplant live on the air as part of a suggested medical documentary. During a regular newscast and with the consent of the patient, cameramen taped a live procedure where the doctor continually answered questions asked by the reporter. The phone number and URL were frequently mentioned. Not only did it cause his practice to get flooded with calls (and his site with hits), but the doctor also had a bright idea: He obtained the permission to mass-copy the televised report on videotapes, mailed them as part of his information package to potential patients and referral-sources, and digitized them so that people may view the procedure online while visiting his site.

I know of an insurance agent who decided to specialize in life insurance for newlyweds and newly established families. His company didn't require it but he decided on his own to develop an expertise in this area. You'll often find him at bridal fairs, bridal shows, home-buyers seminars, home furnishing stores, banks and mortgage-lending institutions, and so on. Now, for a typical insurance salesperson to do this kind of stuff may or may not be a waste of time. But how much more effective will he be if he promotes himself at those special events or locations as an insurance agent strictly catering to new couples and new families? Yup. Much more.

THE WRITE WAY
Write articles about your unique expertise. Send a query letter to newspapers or magazines for an article you wish to contribute. A query letter is one in which you address the editor and propose a topic for an interesting article you would like to write. Make sure that the headline of your query grabs their attention and makes them want to read it. Make your article somehow related to a free report you have to offer. Give them a brief outline of your article along with a summary of your free report as a sort of "tickler." Send the same query letter to as many newspapers as you can, especially specialized publications read by your target market.

Don't forget newsgroups, newsletters from other companies, e-zines from other organizations, trade associations, trade publications, Web sites with online article archives, sites with free offers, news-oriented sites, and, most important, strategic alliance sites. Don't forget to include in your query letter that you're not looking for any compensation (at least, not for now), but ask if you can add a byline. A byline. is a small bio at the end of your article stating who the author is and how he or she can be reached. It's also a good way to generate leads by offering your free report.

As Jim Rohn once said, "There are some things you don't have to know how it works. The main thing is that it works. While some people are studying the roots, others are picking the fruit. It just depends which end of this you want to get in on."