A Niche in Time Saves 9

Just like the old proverb “A stitch in time saves nine”, you can save yourself a ton of frustration by being proactive about researching your niche market before you do anything else.

 Unfortunately, I say this from personal experience grrr! Luckily, you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did. I got caught upin the excitement and desire to get up ad running quickly, but I promise you, profits will not flow and your business will not grow unless and until you’ve done the proper keyword research and market research. Procrastinating, or not giving enough of your time to this component of your marketing strategy is just asking for trouble.

 

Here are 9 painful mistakes you can save yourself from experiencing, by doing the proper market research:

 

Wasted time - Without a well-defined niche, you’re wasting precious time marketing to an audience who could really care less about what you have to offer. Instead, save yourself valuable time by researching your market so you know exactly what they want, rather than guessing who might want what you have.

 

Wasted money - When you know WHO you’re marketing to, it’s easy to see where your marketing dollars should be spent. Too often new business owners want to cast a wide net and end up spending advertising dollars on people who aren’t the least bit interested in what you have to offer.

 

Wasted energy - As a home-based entrepreneur, you’re likely a one-woman or one-man show. You can’t afford to allow a poorly defined marketing strategy to pull you in multiple directions away from your goals. Efficiency and automation is key for solopreneurs and home-based business owners. Work smarter, not harder.

 

No traffic - Marketing to anyone and everybody may sound good, but is actually counter productive and often results in zero traffic to your business. Just because you have a website doesn’t mean people will know about it, much less visit it. Your advertising methods must be targeted to a specific audience and drives them to your website.

 

Missed opportunity to build your brand - It’s hard to create a buzz about your business when no one knows about it. If your marketing strategy isn’t focused enough to draw targeted traffic to you, there’s no way to create it out of thin air. Your website should be optimized for search engines so that your niche market can quickly and easily find you and recognize your brand. Once they realize you’re the go-to source to solve their problem or fill their need, they’re more likely to spread the word. Remember, word of mouth is like free advertising!

 

Not Understanding Your Market - You can’t simply “guess” what your market is interested in by looking at the volume of searches only. Spend time looking at trends, visit social media sites and community groups...listen to what your people are saying. You can glean a lot of information this way and get a fuller perspective of their true desires, which brings me to the next mistake that causes frustration:

 

Not matching your message to your market - A well-defined niche market makes it easier to develop ideas for new products or services that inherently appeal to your specific niche. Give your market what THEY want, not what you want them to have, or you will turn them running to your competition.

 

Crisis of Identity - One of the most important elements of choosing a niche has to do with the level of competition you have. Choosing to enter an already-crowded marketplace, is like diving into a sea of sharks. Competition isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that too much of it makes it harder to differentiate yourself and establish yourself and your brand. It can be done, but again, performing a good level of research can help you carve out a little corner of the real estate that is being under-served. It takes a savvy marketer to realize that.

 

Floundering profits or none at all - There has to be enough of a demand for your product or service to be profitable. Just because you think you have a great idea for a great product or service doesn’t mean there’s a market hungry for it. I’m reminded of a man I saw next to the highway selling bed sheets off of his tailgate. What?! How many hours and days does he have to sit there to make any money, much less a meaningful profit? I’d call that wishful thinking and wasted effort.

 

If you’ve already committed some (or all) of these mistakes, it’s time to put the brakes on, and examine your current strategy. It’s never too late to refine or re-define your niche. I know plenty of people who have even changed their target market completely after conducting more specific research. To learn more about defining a niche, read my 3 part series: “How to Choose a Profitable Niche”.

 

 

As an alternative to doing your own keyword research, you may want to explore using one of the various SEO tools out there on the web to help pull it all together for you. There are some free and paid services. I personally use Market Samurai. I was able to test drive it for free before deciding to purchase. Market Samurai can seriously shorten the process and even do the heavy lifting for you.

 

 

Have you committed any major marketing or business faux pas that has caused you pain and money? I'd like to hear about it. Leave me a comment below.

 

 

If you liked this article or found it to be helpful, I’d love to hear about it - leave me a comment below. As always, please feel free to share a link to this article using one of the buttons below. Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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