"The concept of a company having a niche market can sometimes be confusing. The problem is how often people confuse the services a company offers with the niche they provide them to. And what is the difference between the two?
Take for example a comic book store. This kind of store is known as being aimed at a niche market. The difference I mentioned above is that a comic book store targets the niche market of comic book and figure collections. This is their niche market. However, that doesn’t mean the store sells only things that apply to the niche market. A casual comic book reader or even a person who has never read one in their life can walk into the store and still find something to buy. These people aren’t necessarily in the niche market the store targets, but the store is still designed to be open to them as well.
What does all of this really mean for a store?
Marketing is where the concept of a niche market comes into place. A store has to decide what market they want to target and this is their niche. Using the example above, the comic book store will target collectors. So how do they go about doing it?
There are several effective ways. Printing full color catalogs can be an effective strategy in order to show your niche market all of the products you have. In the context of a comic book store they would have in it all the comics they’re selling, with emphasis certainly placed on the rare books. A casual reader outside the niche won’t have much interest in the rare ones, which is why the store can target only the collectors with these catalogs.
Postcard marketing acts as another strategy for a store. By mailing postcards out to the various collectors the comic book store is able to keep them up to date on all recent shipments along with any other unique items they might’ve gotten in. For collectors this would be a useful tool to know when that specific issue they’ve been after has come in.
Any kind of business can use this strategy effectively. Most stores are going to have a core customer base that belongs to one niche or another. When designing a marketing strategy this is the audience they need to target. The important part is for their store to remain open to people who aren’t necessarily in the niche as well.
A comic book store is going to get business from those who would never think of collecting just as much as they will from the collectors. Don’t think that if your store is going to focus on a niche market then you have to ignore everyone else.
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About the Author:
The author is affiliated with a company that specializes in full color catalogs (http://www.printplace.com/mkt/full-color-catalog-printing.aspx), postcard marketing (http://www.printplace.com/printing/postcard-marketing.aspx) and postcard mailing (http://www.printplace.com/printing/postcard-mailing.aspx)
Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:42:18 - 100%
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