HOW TO VIRAL YOUR BUSINESS PART 3
Finding Your Niche
More often than not, consumers
will find themselves rolling their eyes and taking a big sigh at the latest and
greatest infomercials about the new must-have gadget of the season.
It can be difficult to imagine
the ideal product for the masses and many times, creating the ideal gadget is
nearly impossible so predicting the gadget of the season is up in the air.
Rather than trying to create demand, consider filling demand by taking the time
to conduct research and fill a niche area.
There is nothing more stressful
than coming up with a new product only to discover that it has only been
invented before, but marketed so poorly that you had simply never heard of
it.
While many great products were
created this way in the past, our current foundation for spreading the word on
a new product is so great that it’s difficult to be the best in any given field
due to an array of constant competition. Instead, consider finding a market
that already exists and creating a product to develop specifically for that
demographic to purchase.
Consider working in a niche that
interests you. For example, a male college athlete may be able to recommend the
best workout gear for others in his demographic but probably knows little about
what stay-at-home-moms need for the daily routines, despite his idea for a new
baby sling.
The main reason to consider
staying in your demographic would be that you would know what questions to ask
and which problems to initially avoid. Consider sticking to the habits of your
target market, at least in the beginning of starting a business or when coming
up with a new product.
Consider the Extremes
Think back on some of the most
elaborate, yet specific businesses listed online or in a favorite magazine.
Photo Finish Frames, created by a marathon runner, initially launched as a
framing business but quickly moved to specialized frames for runners.
Basically, the owner developed a
system to ship a specific size frame to a marathon runner in order to frame an
image of the runner along with their racing number and finishing time.
No Film School is another example
of a specific niche. Websites like this one send to-the-point, weekly emails.
No Film School’s emails show up as a list of twenty articles for the week.
Among these articles, each one is
designed for aspiring filmmakers who are interested in the inner workings of
script, camera, lighting, production and all the other areas that result in
creating independent films outside of Hollywood.
This niche simply invites the
idea of everyday film education without paying the staggering debts of tuition.
Finding Your Niche
Marathon running and independent
filmmaking do not interest everyone, which is what makes these two companies so
successful within their field.
Rather than continue to dream of
creating a business that already exists, consider examining the social groups
that you are already belong to in order to create a new business that you would
be excited to be a part of, as either an owner or a member.
Start by taking a creating
viewpoint at your current resume, social media page, hobbies, work experience,
and daily physical habits. Think about all of the groups you have ever been a
part of and consider joining new groups that interest you for further
inspiration.
This may involve actual groups or
even magazine subscriptions or websites that you often read. Then, consider
other individuals like yourself and think of what you enjoy, why you enjoy it,
and consider others who may value similar items.
Narrowing Results
After creating a detailed list of
fields that interest you, narrow these down to two specific fields that most
interest you. Sometimes, a product may overlap into both categories, but it’s
best to start with two in order to brainstorm a wider range of results.
Once you have chosen two
categories, conduct additional research. Begin by searching online for websites
that focus on specific categories or visit a local bookstore to find out more
information on a particular field of interest.
While it’s not important to
choose a category for the wealthy, such as golf, it is important to choose a
category of those who purchase goods within a field, such as runners or
photographers who buy shoes and equipment.
Once you have chosen two specific
markets, begin brainstorming ideas of products that currently do not exist, or
have been marketed poorly.
Consider coming up with problems
that exist and quick ways to solve these problems with a simple product. In
terms of simple, think how revolutionary, yet essential, the windshield wiper
was for the first vehicle.
Be Specific
Perhaps even before the initial
product has been created, think of the benefit to be had or problem that the
product is trying to fix. Much like finding the proper tagline for a movie, the
product must be well explained in a single sentence, so there is absolutely no
complication of the potential customers not understanding the benefit of the
product.
Consider the initial release of
the Apple iPod. Rather than list the gigabytes or any of that other
technological jargon that confuses many consumers, the company simply delivered
“1,000 songs in your pocket.”
Long Tail of Keywords
After coming up with a successful
product or service, a sales site can then focus on the long tail of keywords.
While the phrase originates from statistics, the concept remains quite
simple.
The term applies to retail when
considering sales of a large number of unique items or when delivering a large
number of individual web searches.
Meaning, it can be difficult for
a new company to show up in the top results on a Google page, but when searches
are more specific, it’s easier to place higher among the results.
In order to better understand the
long tail, consider the example of real estate. When choosing SEO words like
“real estate,” there is a great deal of competition fighting for top
results.
However, when
using phrases like “Winston Salem North Carolina Real
Estate townhouse,” results are
much more specific. These types of businesses are ignoring the vast, general
terms and focusing on the specifics.
The long tail allows for
businesses to ignore the responsibility of supplying popular items to the
masses by focusing on difficult-to-find items for niche consumers.
The total sale of the large
number of unique items can help companies compete with more well known
companies who sell bulk popular items. Consider the bulk book sales from Amazon
or the bulk movie rentals, song downloads or book downloads from Apple, two of
the more known long tail retailers.
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