My colleague, Josef Katz, over at Trump University recently shared with me that apparently, the exclusive country club phenomenon has found its way online. (By the way, he and I are going to be giving a joint case study presentation on day one of the upcoming Social Media Summit in NYC.)
Millionaires who don’t want to hob nob with non-millionaires now have social networking communities just for themselves.
The invite only (a current member has to invite you) online enclaves serve as a digital oasis for today’s modern jet set and people who don’t want to be harangued about ‘insider’ investment tips and what’s-it-like-to-be-a-millionaire.
This feeds right into my recent thoughts about technology trends. Step into my mind…
At one point, technology was allowing us to move further away from one another – from a real-life interaction perspective. We could hide behind e-mail, use videoconferencing to attend meetings, manage projects online. These tools allowed us all to avoid in-person interaction, but I feel the tide turning.
People – and businesses – are now using technology to create micro-groups of other like-minded and like-’walleted’ groups. The best, most successful online groups are groups that apply what I call extreme niche’ing.
Extreme nicheing is when one or more sets of marketing criteria - that are sub-sets of larger criteria - are selected as the target of messaging or communication by an organization or business.
For example:
Niche – women over the age of 55
Extreme niche - women over the age of 55 who are also millionaires
Extreme-squared niche – women over the age of 55 who are also millionaires and who are also million-dollar philanthropists
I could go on but, you see my point.
Now, you might think that the more extreme you get with nicheing, the smaller the pool of targets who fit the bill and therefore the number of people/businesses to whom you would market decreases accordingly. And, you’d be right.
There are, however, three flip sides (if there is such a thing):
1) That group is probably not being marketed to for the same reasons you would be marketing to them and therefore might be more receptive to your marketing messages. For example, it’s one thing to appeal to a woman because she’s over 55, but a whole other story to appeal to her age bracket AND her world view (philanthropy).
2) You might save time, money and energy on marketing and still increase revenue.
3) It allows you to be a big fish in a little pond with fisher(wo)men who can afford to pay you a handsome going rate.
Bottomline: Take a look at your business’ current target market. Is there any sub-segment of that market you could target that would make marketing easier and increase your topline? Think about it.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 9:00 am and is filed under Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.12 Responses to “Extreme Nicheing Online”
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September 12th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Brilliant! While many focus on thinking “outside the box.” You have gone inside the box and discovered a goldmine. Who knew there was ‘Niche Bling’ in our future. I love it.
Michelle
http://weeknd.entrepreneur.com
September 12th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Michelle:
Thanks! I think the possibilities for extreme nicheing are endless.
-Lena
September 18th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I love this topic of extreme nicheing! Any resources you can recommend to find out more? My area of expertise is health and wellness – I’d love to discuss possible extreme niches. Thanks for this great overview. Cheryl
September 18th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Cheryl:
No, I don’t have many resources to share about this topic -other than what’s in my head.
I can say that it just takes time to sit down and think about it a bit.
Take a look at your existing market. Let’s say you target busy people.
What is a natural sub-set of that market for you? What’s your extreme niche within that market?
Maybe it’s busy entrepreneurs?
Maybe it’s busy Mom’s?
Maybe it’s busy billionaires?
Busy pilots?
Think about it and feel free to share your results here!
Thanks for writing!
-Lena
September 18th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Thanks Lena – I just read a string of emails from my siblings. We’re strategizing about the best ways to help our aging parents – 87 and 84. We’ve been commenting about the aging process – aches and pains, needing help doing tasks, running out of energy sooner, etc.
I think my niche is somewhere in there – not energy because that’s not my specialty – I think healthy aging is the starting niche. Actions we take now can affect our quality of aging. It can even reverse some of the damage that we’re noticing now. So would your extreme niche strategy for baby boomers ook like this:
healthy aging for entrepreneurs
healthy aging for women
healthy aging for etc?
I don’t think I quite have it – I’m just switching target markets rather than drilling down deeper into one group. Right?
Maybe it’s healthy aging for productivity – then pick a group? Geez, so many ways to go with this. Help
September 19th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Cheryl:
You’re on the right track but you’re switching extreme nicheing (going deeper into a particular target market) with extreme positioning (going deeper into a target market based on the service you offer)
Flip that process and you’ll be on your way.
You know what you’re offering – wellness (forget the healthy aging part for right now).
Start with a demographic category first, like entrepreneurs. How can you apply an extreme niche to that?
Entrepreneurs => with over a $1M in sales
Entrepreneurs => with over a $1M in sales => who have some sort of challenge, like ADD, for example
Entrepreneurs => with over a $1M in sales => who travel greater than 50% of the year
You get my point, yes?
-Lena
September 19th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Yes that makes more sense. I was a little thrown off by the “busy” example. Let’s see if I’ve got this (forgive me, I’m dense!)
target market women
women who are baby boomers
women who are baby boomers and executives
women who are baby boomers, executives, and taking care of aging parents
Is that more like it? If not, just shoot me. I’ll get over it. Cheryl
September 20th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Now you’re talkin’ !
Way to go!
-Lena
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 am
I own a travel website and I’m a travel agent. My site is BEplaces.globaltravel.com
Should I focus on…
Business Travelers….who like to travel w/family
College Travelers….who travel in groups
Group Travelers….who love to take cruises
Is this the idea?
September 24th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Jacqueline:
I can’t tell you which market you should focus on without knowing a LOT more about your business but, I can give you some hypothetical guidance.
You first need to choose a market – whether it’s college, group or business travelers.
Let’s say you choose business travelers.
An example of extreme nicheing with this market might be:
business travelers who are entrepreneurs
business travelers who are entrepreneurs who own more than one business
business travelers who are entrepreneurs who own more than one business who have a sales force of more than 5 people
Get it?
Thanks for writing!
-Lena
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:58 pm
This was a very interesting discussion about extreme nicheing. It took me a loooooong time to settle into a niche as a life coach — I tried several.
I am proud to say my niche is: small business and solo entrepreneurs who find themselves suddenly taking care of aging and ill parents. Plus, it incorporates elements that I really enjoyed from the other niches. You can read more about this niche at: http://www.thelemonadecoach.com
Blessings,
Paula
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Paula:
That’s a great niche and I can’t tell you how many people will benefit from what you have to offer – entrepreneur’s especially.
In fact, one of the main reasons I started my business was so that I could be there for my family if they ever needed me and not have to worry about whether or not I had enough sick days or personal days saved up.
Excellent!
-Lena