- Geekmaster
- 2020-04-15 10:06:55
- 10 minute(s)
How to find a profitable niche for your business? You want to start a business, but the thing that’s holding you back is the market niche you know you need to choose. And, honestly, this can be tricky!
When starting a business, rule number one is to know who your customer is . Do you know that 42% of the startups fail because they couldn’t find a profitable niche for their businesses?
WarningThe initial temptation is to go broad so that you’re not excluding potential customers. Unfortunately, that approach leads to what used to be dubbed “spray and pray” marketing—a term describing how irrelevant messages get sent to generic audiences in the hope that something will stick.
The result when you try to sell to everyone is that you sell to no one.
ImportantNiche marketing is the process of concentrating all your marketing energy on a small, well-defined segment of your target audience. A business niche is a specialized or focused area of a broader market that your business serves specifically.
“When you try to serve everyone, you serve no one.” Share on X
According to Charlene Walters, author of Own Your Other, finding a niche differentiates your business from the competition and allows you to excel in your sector.
ImportantA niche is the profitable segment of any market with a focused audience who are looking for a solution against their problem. This is where you come up with a solution and promote it in the respective niche.
Products come and go, but niche audiences stick around forever . Instead of struggling to find ideas for products, you know exactly the types of products you should be promoting – because they’re in tune with your niche audience’s needs.
"Stop wasting time on B-level opportunities." — Russell Brunson Share on X
Finding a profitable niche is important for business owners who want to not only create a steady stream of revenue, but also establish a loyal audience . A solid market niche helps to ensure that a particular group of customers will want to buy from your business, instead of going to the competition.
Yet, it’s hard to find a profitable niche.
WarningThere was a golden age on the web, when earning money was pretty simple. All you had to do was set up a website, focus on creating content, and you could make a pretty penny with ads and affiliate marketing. That process still works, only now it’s a lot harder. These days, profitability depends heavily on your niche .
If you’re struggling to decide, or you need more data to work with, use the following tips and tricks to find a profitable niche which suits perfectly your needs.
Follow Your Passion
It seems so obvious, but sometimes entrepreneurs forget to check in with their desires as they search for a profitable business niche. If you’re in this for the long run, you want to create a business you actually enjoy .
Business isn’t easy, and at some point it will test you. If you are working in an area that you don’t care about, your odds of quitting will greatly increase.
WarningIf you don’t really care about the work you’ll be doing you definitely won’t be successful. Being an entrepreneur has a lot of ups and downs and the only way to get through those periods is to have a passion for the work itself .
Also, by following the passion you would know the communities and groups where these topics are discussed , and you can easily place your product at the right time with a good sense of authenticity.
"Passion is the genesis of genius." — Anthony Robbins Share on X
ImportantThis is why your niche should arise naturally from your goals, interests, and values . The key to finding the ideal niche is to identify activities at the intersection of what you enjoy and what you’re good at.
The first thing we recommend you do is to make a list of all the topics you’re passionate about . Take a deep dive into the things you enjoy doing, and start to make a big list of ideas.
Don’t worry about the financial viability of your ideas at this point — just get them written down.
WarningThis doesn’t mean that you need to find a perfect fit. If you are passionate about some aspect of running the business, you will stick with it. If you don’t care about the topic, you may not be able to find the drive within to persevere .
What hobbies do you enjoy?
What hobbies do you enjoy?
What topics are you interested in?
What topics are you interested in?
What clubs do you belong to?
What clubs do you belong to?
What special skills have you developed?
What special skills have you developed?
Solve Problems
To create a profitable business, you first need to find problems your target customers are experiencing , then determine whether you can actually solve them. Your niche must have a problem statement to solve.
Important Define an unmet or underserved need . Analyze your target audience and identify gaps in the marketplace. Your products or services should soothe a pain point that your audience is currently experiencing. Choose a sector that also has anticipated growth.
This involves doing research into the problems, challenges, pain points, aspirations, and desires that your niche audience has.
“The problem contains the solution.” — Michael Bierut Share on X
ImportantAs you probably know, pressing problems often make for the most profitable niches . If someone is in a great deal of acute pain, they want a solution now! They are actively seeking help, and they’re far less likely to hesitate when it comes time to pull out their wallet.
Profitable niche markets solve problems (needs).
Once you have a preliminary idea for your niche, survey that target market to uncover their pain points . Take a look at sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Quora to see what dialogue people are having. What questions are they asking and what problems are they experiencing?
Offer to help people with their issues and start testing your product or service that way.
HacksCreate a Meetup group so you can get ideas by personally interacting with your target audience . Surveys are another option to better understand your niche. Tools like SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo make it easy to create custom surveys without all the complexity.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The Hierarchy of Needs was developed by Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), an American psychologist. For Maslow, people’s motivation is directly connected with the fulfilment of needs. At the bottom of the pyramid, he listed our primary needs: the satisfaction of physiological basic needs like breathing, eating and drinking. On the above segments, our secondary needs are listed like so: safety, love/belonging, self-esteem and personal fulfillment. People are willing to spend money, when they are triggered by emotion — their needs — rather than reason.
Assess Profitability
Now you have to pick out the most profitable problems . Not all problems are created equal. Some problems your audience will gladly pay to solve; others will be a hard sell.
WarningBefore jumping into any niche, you must have a clear idea about niche worth . This clear idea will help you in the decision-making process of whether to go for it or not.
ImportantDifferent types of markets have different inner workings and different consumer behaviors. Some markets are naturally more profitable than others .
Evergreen Markets represent about 95% of the most profitable markets both online and offline and are guaranteed sources of income and success:
- The Health Market: Health is more of a crucial requirement.
- The Wealth Market: Who doesn’t want to be rich?
- The Relationships Market: We all want to be recognized in our community.
"Profitability is where growth takes place." — Rush Limbaugh Share on X
You must have a clear answer to this question “is the audience willing to pay“? The answer should be in “Yes” only.
HacksAfter doing a Google keyword search, the next step is to explore Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Search for those same keywords and see if any terms result in at least 10,000 searches per month. If you find keywords with substantial search volume , that’s usually a good indicator of a potentially profitable niche. Another idea is to search for those same terms on Amazon and see what pops up.
HacksFinally, Clickbank is a helpful resource. This online retailer boasts a library of over 6 million unique products created by passionate entrepreneurs. Doing research there will give you some indication of whether there is a potentially profitable niche market. Ideally, you have narrowed your selection down to a niche that has both a need and a market where people will pay for your product or service.
How To Find A Profitable Niche
Price Point
Expensive niche products sell better.
If you want to make money, you need to sell expensive items.
Target Market
Little effort, while generating many sales.
Don’t start a business with a niche that requires a lot of individual attention with your customers.
Brand Loyalty
The customer doesn’t care what brand they buy.
It’s hard to convince people who are looking for a specific brand to shop generic instead.
Know Your Competitors
The presence of competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing . It may actually be showing you that you’ve found a profitable niche. But you do need to do a thorough analysis of competing sites .
"Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors." — Sam Altman Share on X
Is there an opportunity for you to stand out in the crowd? How will you plan to differentiate yourself?
ImportantIf you find a keyword that has substantial traffic but little competition and paid advertising, that might be an excellent chance for you to insert yourself into that market. Analyze your competitor’s websites and look for opportunities that they have missed . You might be able to uncover an opportunity to deliver a superior product.
Is there enough competition in your niche?
WarningToo much competition can sometimes mean the market is saturated. But not enough competition is just as troubling — competition indicates that people are looking for these kinds of offers, and there are often good affiliate opportunities to be found.
HacksYou get to play around with some super easy tools, such as semrush, ahref. These tools allow you to easily research the top content, traffic sources, social media, as well as the sales pages of your competitor.
Based on the results of the competitiveness test you’ll be able to figure out if you are going to move forward with your niche idea.
ImportantThis is the deal — if your competitors’ site has large traffic, have large social media following, have products as well as affiliate products, then there is a strong positive signal you’ll be successful in this niche if you really work hard at it.
What To Look Out For In Your Competitors’ Sites?
Site Design
Is the design appealing?
Is it easy to navigate? Check the colour, font, content layout and graphics.
Site Topic
Is the site focused on your topic?
Or is it operating in different niches (sites like this may be too broad for you to model after. You may drop this as a competitor)?
Site Affiliates
Find out the affiliate sites.
Do they have their products? How is the site monetised?
Final Thoughts
Hopefully this article has taught you how to find a profitable niche. You understood how decisive your niche selection process is in the overall success of a business .
WarningOne of the most common reasons new businesses fail is a lack of research . It’s important to know if there’s a market for your products or services before launching a business.
By ensuring that there’s an audience for your niche, you increase your chances of making a profit.
"Identify your niche and dominate it." — Nate Parker Share on X
If you believe you’ve found a business idea you can invest yourself into, take the plunge. The learning and growth that comes from doing will be far greater than the rewards of just planning.
Once you’ve followed the previous steps, just go for it!
ImportantYou can do all the research in the world but until you finally get out there, you’re not going to know how your niche is going to respond to your offering. Remember to remain flexible and continue to make adjustments along the way .
Stick with it, and eventually, you will crack the code that will open the door to that ideal niche market . Be patient and go through the process again and again.
Now it’s time to take your first steps toward business success, with your brand shiny new niche!
What’s a niche idea that you’ve had? Struggling to find a profitable niche? Let me know your ideas in the comments!
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