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Small Business StartUp Advice Why Picking the Right Market Niche is So Important
| Guest post by: Janis Pettit |
Article Overview: If you broke your leg, would you go to a family doctor or an orthopedic surgeon? Well, your potential clients want niched experts as well. It's crucial to pick the niche that's best suited to your expertise.
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Small Business StartUp Advice Why Picking the Right Market Niche is So Important
Now that you have some ways to find the money to get your business going, I'll be sharing some tips on what you need to do during the start-up process over the next few weeks, since more than a third of you who responded to my recent survey were in the start up phase.
If you're reading this and you're already successful, take this opportunity to share your start up experiences and "pay it forward" by leaving a comment.
Picking Your Market Niche
Before you pick your market niche, you need to do some research. I'm sure you have an array of talents, knowledge, interests and passions. Not all of them are marketable and you don't want to be batting your head against a wall trying to become profitable.
Being a generalist just doesn't work. Why not? Because people want to go to experts. Here are some
silly and not so silly examples of niches that are too large, just right, and too small.
Too Large Just Right Too Small
Doctor Dermatologist Faces only
Internet marketer Weight loss For men 25-35
Lawyer Estates and Wills For divorced women
As you can see if your market niche is too large, you're likely to be passed over for an expert. If it's too small there just aren't enough clients. Finding the right niche is crucial. But before you settle on a niche here are 3 important criteria to consider.
1. Will my products/services fill an aching need for my target clients?
2. Are they willing and able to pay?
3. Are they relatively easy to reach so I can market to them?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, you might want to continue researching your niche.
One final question to test your niche is this–is it oversaturated with competitors? If so, can you put a spin on your ideas? If it's a growing market then you might be able to successfully throw your hat in the ring. If not, and you're on the tail end of a trend, chances are you'll struggle and you may want to re-think and refine your niche.
Follow this simple process before making a commitment. Check out what successful businesses are doing in your market niche. How are they marketing? How profitable are they? Following these simple suggestions could have a huge impact on your success.
Targeting Your Niche Made Simple – Start Small, Grow Later
How to Greatly Increase Your Odds of Business Success By Niche Marketing
How to Pick a Profitable Niche for Your Small Business
How Viable is Your Market Niche?
How to Dominate Your Niche Market
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Related Forum Posts
My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Ideas For Business
- Hello Lucy,
you may consider this list for Ideas for Business: (Top 23 list)
Rank Company
1 Google
2 Genentech
3 Wegmans Food Markets
4 Container Store
5 Whole Foods Market
6 Network Appliance
7 S.C. Johnson & Son
8 Boston Consulting Grp.
9 Methodist Hospital Sys.
10 W.L. Gore & Associates
11 Cisco Systems
12 David Weekley Homes
13 Nugget Market
14 Qualcomm
15 American Century Invest.
16 Starbucks Coffee
17 Quicken Loans
18 Station Casinos
19 Alston & Bird
20 QuikTrip
21 Griffin Hospital
22 Valero Energy
23 Vision Service Plan
These maybe the coldest franchises out there:
- Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops.
WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure %
1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56%
2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94%
3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18%
4 COPY CLUB 36.36%
5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71%
6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71%
7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59%
8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78%
9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48%
10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33%
11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33%
12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33%
13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33%
14 BLIMPIE 31.39%
15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77%
Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Exclusive: Interview with Results
- Hi Forum Members,
I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles).
As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business.
This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business.
I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months.
At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews.
I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum.
If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM.
Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: Biz Plan Competition
- i just wanted to say that posting Small Business Events on CanadaOne is a great resource. Thanks Julie!
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