Home Business Owners Gotta Niche - Here's Why...
Hi! Barb Casey here, on my niche marketing soapbox. Here are the reasons why I believe so strongly in niche marketing for home business owners.
So, what's a niche, really?
The word "niche" comes from the French verb nicher "to nest." Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines a niche as "a place, employment or activity for which a person is best fitted." A business niche, then, is a commercial means of livelihood involving work that you are completely suited for, that you feel "at home" doing. Finding the right niche allows you to "live your real life" doing work you love.
Why don't more businesses niche?(1) Creating a niche requires you to narrow your business focus.
Unless you're by nature a highly focused person, you've probably looked into a number of different ways to earn a living as an independent business owner. You can see the possibilities in quite a few of these business opportunities and hesitate to give up the chance of making extra income. But... what do you call yourself on your business card?
A niche helps you simplify your business.
(2) Some people think a niche might be boring.Limiting your business to one thing doesn't sound too exciting. You have varied interests, talents and skills and you want to engage in them, but having a business niche sounds like you'll be doing the same thing day in and day out. That's why creating the right niche is important.
Your ideal niche will make use of your skills and talents in an occupation for which you have a passion.
(3) A niche requires tough choices.Committing yourself to becoming known for one thing means letting other business go. You may have sidelines you've been nurturing or paying clients who fall outside your niche. You might even have to change your business name so it stands for the "one thing" you've chosen to become known for.
Taking a stand takes courage.
What makes a niche work?
> You need to be clear about your business purpose.
> You need to create a focus for your business that tells prospects what you stand for. This involves deciding what to eliminate and what to keep from your current business operation
> You need to pinpoint, or target, your clientele.
> You need a business name describing your focus.
> You need to communicate your uniqueness to prospects and clients in a way that sticks in their minds.
Inspired Marketing Articles for Spiritual Entrepreneurs
- Are You Attracting What You Want... Or Don't Want?
- The Law of Attraction for business owners.
- Spiritual Marketing, Vol 2
- THE INDUSTRY OF BLISS:
Bliss sells. Helping people attain "peak psycho-spiritual experiences."
RIDING THE ENERGY WAVE:
People with higher thoughts and vibrations stimulate others to higher thoughts. - The Yin and Yang of Marketing
- How the major ad agencies are missing the boat when it comes to selling to women.
- Recession-Proof Your Business
- The "R" word is being mentioned again. Here are ways to lift your business above the economic bumps.
- Inspired Marketing Ideas
- Raising your own and your business's energy is essential for allowing the Law of Attraction to operate at a higher level. Here are tested methods for doing just that.
- 35 Inspiring Marketing Articles
- Barbara Casey's article archives. Practical and inspirational ideas for home business success.
- Evolution by Excellence
- The value of an organization is measured by its bottom, not its top. Do you want to be evaluated by the WORST you can do - or by the best?
A Home Business Owner's Essential Marketing Library
You can find all of these books locally or on Amazon.com
Getting business to come to you
A complete do-it-yourself guide to attracting all the business you can enjoy... from the home business experts Paul and Sarah Edwards
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 11/21/2008) 
Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice Hall Business Classics)
Learn to write better ads with this gem of a book. It's a classic that belongs in every entrepreneur's library.
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 11/21/2008)
Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It
The examples in this book are largely from corporate America, but you can translate the ideas into a small business also. The narrower the focus of your business, the easier your marketing becomes. Essential reading.
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: (as of 11/21/2008)
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Read all the Trout and Ries books you can get your hands on, including Differentiate or Die and The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 11/21/2008)
6 Ways a Niche Can Boost Your Business Income
1. A niche builds confidence.Niches are often based on your area of expertise. If your area of expertise is also the work you love to do, you've probably spent a lot of time and money in educating yourself and in perfecting your skills. Building a business around a subject you've mastered gives you more confidence when taking your message to the marketplace. "Sideline" businesses don't have the same impact, because they are not where your strengths lie.
2. A niche makes you credible to prospects.
People are more likely to trust the work of a small business specialist than a small business generalist. Prospects looking to purchase a product or service don't want "okay." They want the best they can afford. Achieving mastery in a specific area gives depth and focus to your business. If you're a one-person operation, breadth just isn't believable.
3. A niche helps you become known more quickly.
If you direct your marketing efforts repeatedly to the same group of people, you will become known more quickly. If you communicate a clear business focus to this same group, they are more likely to remember you when they have a need for your product or service.
4. A niche reduces your marketing costs.
When you "target" your marketing to a specific group, you no longer have to worry about marketing to the "universe" through generalized ads. Tailoring your marketing to people who already have a need for your product or service means you won't waste money on marginal prospects. Your cost per lead is reduced.
5. A niche can increase your income.
People are happy to pay specialists more than they pay generalists. If you are known as an expert in your field, you can command higher fees. You will be worth these higher fees if you can solve a client's problem more efficiently, quickly or conveniently than someone with less mastery.
6. A niche turns competitors into referral sources.
Once you decide to specialize in a specific area, you eliminate a number of competitors. If your competitors don't provide the same service you do, they are more likely to refer clients who can best be served by your area of expertise. You can return the favor for those needing services outside your niche.
Niche Marketing Books at Amazon
Here are a few Amazon best-sellers on niche marketing
First, Best, or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $17.95 (as of 11/21/2008)
Handbook Of Niche Marketing: Principles And Practice (Haworth Series in Segmented, Targeted, and Customized Market) (Haworth Series in Segmented, Targeted, and Customized Market)
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $69.35 (as of 11/21/2008)
NICHE Internet Marketing: The secrets to exploiting untapped niche markets and unleashing a tsunami of cash
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $27.00 (as of 11/21/2008)
FREE Resources for Home Business Owners
- Keyboard Symbols: List and Instructions
- Learn how to make keyboard bullets, copyright symbols, French accents, scissors, diamonds, and more. Instructions and Alt Key shortcuts. Your marketing materials will look more professional when you use the "real" symbols.
- Top of the Line Free Marketing Newsletters
- Here are some of the top free e-zines that teach marketing to home based business owners.
- Free MS Word Flyer Design Tutorial
- Learn how to design an attractive flyer using Microsoft Word. Discover new tips and tricks for working with fonts and graphics, text wrapping, embedding fonts and more.
- Free Marketing Plan Start-up Kit
- Get Robert Middleton's FREE "Marketing Plan Start-Up Kit" and subscribe to his ezine at the same time. Great material here.
Niche Marketing Resources
- Make a Big Splash Selling Your Books on Amazon
- For authors in the holistic, self-help and inspirational niches... here's a book marketing plan for selling hundreds of books in a 1-2 day campaign on Amazon.com - Make a Big Splash Selling Your Books on Amazon. There's an affiliate program, too.
- InfoGuru Marketing Manual
- HIGHLY Recommended: Robert Middleton's InfoGuru Marketing Manual is one of the all-time great marketing courses for independent professionals, including coaches, corporate trainers, consultants, authors, speakers, body-mind-spirit professionals and more.
- How to Make Money from Your Blog - article by Steve Pavlina
- Learn how to make your niche blog work! Steve Pavlina gets over 1,000,000 visitors a month to his blog. And he shares his methodology on this page. Bookmark this site.
How to Make Bullets, Copyright Symbols, Hearts & More
A handy list of keyboard shortcuts for do-it-yourself marketers.
On the top of the screen of your open Word document, you'll see the headings: File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, etc. Click on "Insert" and on the drop-down list, click on "Symbol." A symbol box will pop up. Click on the symbol you want to insert into your text, then click on the insert button and close the box.
(2) Another way (this works with other Windows programs as well) is to use the "Alt" key and numeric keypad numbers - make sure NumLock is ON.
Using the numeric keypad, hold down the Alt key, then hit the numbers in succession. For example for © Copyright, hold down Alt, press the number 0, then press the numbers 1, 6, 9. Then you can let up the Alt key.
Here are a few basic symbols:
Copyright (©) is Alt, 0, 1, 6, 9
Trademark (TM) is Alt, 0, 1, 5, 3
Registered (®) is Alt, 0, 1, 7, 4
Bullet is Alt, 0, 1, 4, 9
Ellipsis (...) is Alt, 0, 1, 3, 3
"N" Dash (-) is Alt, 0, 1, 5, 0
"M" Dash (longer -) is Alt, 0, 1, 5, 1
Cents (¢) is Alt, 0, 1, 6, 2
For a longer list of keyboard symbols, please visit http://squidoo.com/keyboardsymbols.
Some of these keyboard shortcuts don't "take" in emails and lenses (couldn't get a proper trademark symbol or bullet to work above), but they work great in printed brochures, flyers, business cards and letters.
News from Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThanks for dropping by. Comments? This is the place...
ShelaghAtSpiritus wrote
Hi Barbara, A fantastic lens with really great information.
And I so agree with you about the importance of being in a niche, not floundering around in the big open sea of the internet!
When I started Spiritus, many people told me "you are going to turn a lot of people off with the name "Spiritual Marketing Directory". And that's true -I do.
But I've learnt that equally the name attracts a lot of people too, and those are the ones I want to attract.
It takes a bit of courage to begin with, but it's the way to build a strong business in the end.
You can see what I'm doing at Spiritus -the Spiritual Marketing Directory
Posted September 01, 2008
Junyuan wrote...
This is one great lens on niche marketing. You've put up lots of great, detailed and comprehensive information which in my opinion, will benefit all home based business owners. I've given you a 5 star rating for your lens, and added it to my favorites. Great stuff! ;) I've also have a lens setup on how to find red hot, profitable niche markets. Feel free to visit when you're free and let me have your comments. ;) You might want to consider adding your lens to my Internet Marketing Directory to get more traffic to your lens... Cheers!
Posted June 12, 2008
banquetmanager wrote...
I'm new to this "work from home" business and still learning everyday. Thanks for the info. Please visit my lens at: http://www.squidoo.com/myworkathomedaddy
Posted May 03, 2008
PatriciaTheDreamReader wrote...
Thank You Barbara for all your help! I'm on my way.
Posted April 27, 2008
anatlantagirl wrote...
Great Lens! Can't wait to read Marketing with a Mission. Please visit my lens on saving money. < a href="http://www.squidoo.com/savenotsacrifice"> Save Money
Posted February 27, 2008
