9 Niche Carving Techniques

April 23, 2008

I’ve written about how finding a niche can help you grow profits by keeping competitors to a minimum.

But, how do you find niches? Below are 9 ways to do just that.

Business Function - Accounting, sales, human resources, purchasing

Demographics - Age, sex, marital status, income, children

Location - Northeast, United States, Texas, Montgomery County

Interests - Antique collecting, gardening, cooking, music, movies

Life situation - birth, death, newlywed, retirement, selling a business, starting a business

Price - one of a kind, highest quality, best customer service, bargain, cheapest

Problem - Collections, cash flow, finding a new career, getting financing

Company Size - Fortune 500, solo operator, 5 or less employees

Industry - construction, medicine, legal, graphic design, interior design

Sometimes finding a niche can simply be looking at existing clients to locate trends or similarities. I’ll be honest that “niche” preaching has been overplayed. To the point that many people get caught up in searching for that single, “undiscovered” market that they miss the little niches that float by unnoticed.

Developing and maintaining good relationships is a niche. I’ve witnessed this first hand after buying several Websites.

The previous owners had developed such good repoire with their clientele that it took longer to bring sales back up again. I had to start all over—gaining trust until clients felt comfortable buying from me—not from the business—but me.

Don’t let finding the perfect niche stall your marketing efforts. Besides, you won’t know if you’ve found a niche until you’ve tried to market to it!

Related posts:

1. Web Design - an Industry Outlook
2. Freelance Web Designer - Quick Start Guide Summary
3. Freelance Web Designer - Quick Start Guide Step 1

Posted in Freelance Life