Niche Marketing Takes Advantage of Trends
By now you have certainly heard a great deal about "niche
marketing." This internet marketing model involves discovering
and servicing smaller market segments instead of seeking to
reach the always-elusive "general public." Niche marketing is a
successful and growing marketing trend, in large measure,
because it takes advantage of current social trends in a way
traditional marketing cannot.
We live in a diverse society comprised of relatively small
groups with specific interests. Attempts to reach everyone are
doomed to fail because of this diversity. Marketers once
believed in a variation of the "melting pot" theory, believing
that assimilation within a society would lead to common
characteristics that could be tapped by a savvy sales expert.
Although there is truth to this perspective, we are learning
that smaller market segments are retaining unique
characteristics and interests. In fact, the melting pot's
ability to bring us together is having the once unforeseen
marketing consequence of producing smaller, more insulated
groups.
Our increasingly globalized world, as long predicted, is making
us more alike. Simultaneously, however, it is allowing us to
pursue very individualized and particularized interests. The
internet, in particular, facilitates the creating of niches.
One's interest in saltwater aquariums, for instance, would have
been a relatively individual project only a few years ago. Now,
due in large measure to the ease of communication afforded by
the internet, one can join and interact with other saltwater
aquarium aficionados easily. What was once an unconnected
collection of interested individuals has been transformed into a
legitimate, albeit niche, market segment.
Smart marketers have realized the internet's power to serve as a
home to smaller market niches and that traditional marketers may
fail to adequately serve these virtual communities. For
instance, there is a vibrant saltwater aquarium community
online, but who is really trying to win their business outside
of a few companies who are already well known within the
community? The answer, a fortunate one for niche marketers, is
that relatively few people are making a legitimate effort at
supplying the community with informational and other products.
Increased use of the internet on a global scale is creating
solid market niches that are woefully underserved by traditional
sales and marketing strategies. Appropriate niche marketing
allows the properly directed marketer to tap into these
underserved niches successfully and profitably.