Today’s economic news is scary to say the very least.  It has forced us all to re-examine the way we do business and to become much more efficient. Traditional methods of doing things aren’t working so well anymore. It’s time to think and act with much greater efficiency than ever.

Yesterday, I attended the Business Before Hours event at our Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce. I can’t tell you how many people told me they were getting back to some very basic ways of marketing their businesses due to the economy.  Taking the approach a new business owner employs of trying to get in front of as many people as possible, directly, with their message. Using this method puts you in front of a much smaller group of prospects.

I also noticed something else, very few (I’m being generous – maybe none) honed in on a specific niche aspect of their businesses.  Take a look at the definition of niche marketing here at Wikipedia ( go ahead – I’ll wait for you to get back ).

Sometimes in trying to be everything to anyone who will listen we end up with nothing.  I believe that’s because so many other people are using that approach it creates a very crowded market place.

So how do you niche market? Here is a rundown of the steps you should employ:

• Identify a few aspects of your business – maybe even only one – that you don’t see much being said about among your competition (usually because its such a small percentage of the big picture) and zero in on it for niche marketing. For example, if you offer promotional items for businesses to use in marketing themselves, pick one or two that are creative and unusual or offer a creative and unusual way to use them and promote that message.  Make these the focal point of your marketing efforts.  Target businesses that could really put a creative spin on those particular items.  Make it your mission to market to that segment of the prospecting pool in as many ways as possible so you can reach as many as possible with your message.  Employ a variety of methods since your pool of prospects will all have different habits and respond in different ways to marketing efforts.  A one size fits all approach will not produce maximum results.

• Devote a budget and promote this one segment of your business in as many ways as you can possibly afford, targeting this one niche. Zero in as much as possible on a specific demographic, you might find the options for advertising your message get a little smaller depending on what your niche is and the question of where to advertise now becomes less overwhelming.  Plus, if the only avenues are the mass audience media products, you now have a way to stand out in a crowded arena.

• Don’t make it hard for people to do a little more research about you & your product/service.  I often see businesses push a product or service and then visit their website and not find it mentioned anywhere.  That’s often because it isn’t the primary focus of the business, or the website is mostly an online business card.  If you have a website then there had better be a page or section that’s easy to spot carrying the same information as your advertising efforts.  Don’t make people work to follow through on a purchase or inquiry – they’ll go somewhere else.  Adding just one page that follows the same message as your marketing efforts with a highly visible graphic on the homepage linking to it (or better still, make it the homepage) can make a tremendous difference.  The web presence won’t cost much with this approach because elaborate is not needed, just a clean, precise message. Perfect strategy to employ in a tight economy when your a small to medium-size business.  I can even point you to some resources if you don’t have a web presence at all that will get you out there for <$50-$75 if you want to do it yourself.

• Brand yourself/company to that one, highly targeted portion of your business. It sets you apart from your competition since your message no longer competes directly with others in the same arena with you.

• Here are ideas to help you focus your thinking. You can target a geographic area with your message, a segment of the population (preferably a relatively small one), etc.  The intensity is very important.

• Create a concise tagline as part of the entire effort. You can put this line on everything – business cards, stationary etc.  If you stay committed, realize this isn’t an overnight solution and work hard at it, as time goes on your business will be associated with that one niche.

• Try the social marketing angle with this whole strategy.  If you’re into Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media avenues you can implement the same strategy creating a circle of synchronized efforts with all forms of media – each driving traffic to the others.  Make mention of the others in each avenue you employ.  Print ads mention LinkedIn and Facebook accounts, Tweet about an ad coming out in a magazine, Facebook mention of your radio spot leading up to it and after it begins, mentions of where you will be with a booth or networking event, etc.  Don’t know a thing about Social Media? Call me I’ll be glad to get you started with some free resources.

Niche marketing isn’t a new concept but it is a difficult one for businesses to stick with since the temptation to go off the path is so great.  It takes a little time to see results and many give up too soon because they don’t see immediate results.  Countless business owners over my career in advertising have made the statement “I tried that, it didn’t work”.  Upon investigation “tried that” usually meant one or two advertisements here or there that didn’t bring the masses to the door so it was deemed a failure.  This will be a process of identifying the right niche and then producing the right marketing message and it often involves trial and error.  If there was a set recipe for everyone to follow you could go buy the book and enjoy instant success, there isn’t, so prepare yourself to work at this over an extended time frame.

The market we’re in now is unlike any most of us have experienced at all and certainly not recently.  We’ll get through it.  Try this approach and if you need help I’m happy to offer advice and aim you at resources I’ve used.  You can contact me through this blog, my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter presence or just pick up the phone and call 205-482-2680.

~Lisa