OWN YOUR
NICHE
Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics
to Establish Authority in Your Field
and Promote Your Service-Based Business
Stephanie Chandler
Copyright © 2012 by Stephanie Chandler. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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OWN YOUR NICHE: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics
to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business
By Stephanie Chandler
1. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / E-Commerce / Internet Marketing 2. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Entrepreneurship 3. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / General
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Authority Publishing
11230 Gold Express Dr. #310-413
Gold River, CA 95670
877-800-1097
For Ben, my spirited, smart, funny, stubborn son who reminds me every day what really matters in this world.
May you always question the rules and follow your heart.
Introduction: Removing the Hype from Internet Marketing
My Journey
Choosing a Niche
Research Your Niche
Making the Decision to Shift Your Focus
Develop Your Niche Identity
Entrepreneur Interview: Anita Campbell
Chapter Two: Establish Your Authority in Your Field
How Authority Works
How to Claim Your Authority
It All Begins with Great Content
Types of Content You Can Create
Entrepreneur Interview: Karl W. Palachuk
Chapter Three: Build Your Audience and Engage Community
General Networking vs. Community Networking
Community Marketing Methods
Strategic Referrals
Entrepreneur Interview: Melinda F. Emerson “SmallBizLady”
Chapter Four: Turn Your Website into a Client Conversion Machine
How to Write Great Website Copy
E-Commerce Implementation
Converting Site Visitors into Buyers
Entrepreneur Interview: Kathleen Reale
Chapter Five: Increase Website Traffic
SEO Basics
Example: Happy Times Day Spa Home Page
Incorporating Photos and Video
Improving Linkability
Other Important SEO Strategies
Entrepreneur Interview: John Paul Aguiar
How a Blog Benefits Your Business
Developing Blog Content
Blog Promotion Strategies
RSS Feeds
Entrepreneur Interview: Shasta Nelson
Chapter Seven: Social Media Simplified
How Social Media Can Benefit Your Business
What to Share on Social Media:
What NOT to Share on Social Media
Facebook Basics
Twitter Basics
LinkedIn Basics
Google Plus
Social Media Time Management
Social Media Success Roundup
Entrepreneur Interview: Neal Schaffer
Chapter Eight: Content Marketing Tactics
Social Bookmarking
Promote with Video
Podcasts and Audio Recordings
Teleseminars and Webinars
Article Marketing
Information Products
Presentations
Tracking Content with Google Alerts
Entrepreneur Interview: Denise O’Berry
Chapter Nine: Hype-Free Internet Marketing
Internet Radio
Google Places (including Google Maps, Web Search, and More!)
Yelp
Superpages
Paid Search Engine Placement
Internet Advertising Providers
Monitoring Site Traffic
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guidelines
Entrepreneur Interview: Roger C. Parker
Chapter Ten: E-Newsletters and Email Marketing
Creating an Effective Newsletter
Newsletter Topic Ideas
Email Deliverability
Entrepreneur Interview: Deborah Shames
Getting Media to Come to You
Elements of a Media Kit:
Search-Engine-Optimized Press Releases
How to Write a Press Release
Reaching Media with Email
Fifty Reasons to Contact the Media
Be Prepared When the Media Calls
Entrepreneur Interview: Maria Nemeth, Ph.D., MCC
Chapter Twelve: Internet Revenue Streams
Google AdSense
Affiliate Sales
Information Products
How to Generate Ideas for Information Products
50 Ways to Transform Content into Information Products
Online Events
Event Planning Guidelines
Paid Content
Entrepreneur Interview: Al Lautenslager
Chapter Thirteen: Build Your Audience Offline
Professional Speaking
Resources for Speakers
In-Person Events
Lead a Group
How to Start Your Own Group
Business Networking
Direct Mail
Publish a Book
How to Develop an Interesting Book Concept
Publish an Ebook
Corporate Sponsorships
Final Thoughts on Owning Your Niche
Removing the Hype from Internet Marketing
“Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out the noise of your own inner voice.”
—Steve Jobs
This book is going to contradict some of the hype you may have heard about marketing online. If you’re looking for guidance on how to write long, manipulative online sales letters, how to coax bigger, badder sales with invasive email marketing strategies, or how you can churn content onto Twitter every five minutes, then this probably isn’t the right book for you.
This book won’t teach you how to conduct business with a megaphone or command people to pay attention and get out their wallets now because time is running out and the offer is limited and it will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. That kind of in-your-face marketing doesn’t pass the gut test with me, and it’s not the only way to promote your business or make money online.
Own Your Niche is about getting visibility with the right audience online and offline in a high-integrity way. It’s about checking in with your instincts, questioning the advice you’ve heard, and communicating with your audience with authenticity, in a way that feels right to you.
It is also about choosing the right audience, demonstrating your authority in your field, showcasing your unique skills, and bringing value to your audience. It’s about building loyalty, community, and brand recognition, giving more than receiving, and it’s definitely about growing your business.
What every business needs is visibility and loyalty with the right audience. That means that they follow your blog, sign up for your newsletter, engage with you on social media, participate in your programs, devour your content, and gain respect for you and your business. These efforts remove the barrier to purchase without arm-twisting or in-your-face methods. Your prospects will buy from you because you provide value and solutions to their problems—all with authenticity and integrity.
Refusing the Churn-and-Burn
There’s a lot of marketing advice out there, and some of it is downright lousy. For years I’ve been watching marketers use and teach tactics that make me cringe. For example, some marketers treat their email lists like megaphones and will tell you to do the same. I have grown tired of signing up for newsletters only to end up unsubscribing soon after because of the invasive messages that follow.
Recently, I signed up for two different newsletters only to be hammered with daily auto-responder messages. One marketer filled his messages with affiliate links and sales offers, which promptly arrived day after day, each message insisting that I could not possibly live without the solution offered. Another filled hers with self-promotional sales ploys and invitations to spend thousands of dollars on her “exclusive” coaching packages.
Sadly, these folks know exactly what they are doing. They know that a high percentage of recipients will unsubscribe. But they don’t care because by sheer numbers they will still generate some sales from those who want to believe in what they’re selling. They also work aggressively to add new subscribers to their lists on a regular basis. So for every subscriber lost, another is added. And if you sign up for their coaching programs, they will tell you to do the same!
Are these people making big money online? Some are, yes, because of the numbers game and the churn-and-burn strategies they use. It starts with a low-dollar offer followed by offers that climb up the ladder to hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars. They will hate this book, though they are laughing all the way to the bank.
I’ve also talked with countless people who have paid big money for programs and “blueprints,” only to end up struggling because they couldn’t get the tactics to work for them. Too often they end up in debt (after being convinced to spend far beyond their means as an investment in their business), frustrated, and with lowered self-esteem. They assume that they are doing something wrong. After all, they were promised that these strategies would work.
The fact is that these tactics aren’t the only way to get exposure for your business or make money online. Just because someone says it’s a good idea doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea for YOU. This is where you have to check in with yourself and do what feels right to you.
Part of what makes these marketers money is the massive collaboration with others who employ the same tactics. If you look closely you’ll see the same people co-promoting each other, churning-and-burning, and not caring about those who they offend because enough people are willing to get out the credit card and take a chance on an over-promised solution.
I was disappointed to learn that one popular author, whose books I have enjoyed, refers to one of his mailing lists as his “repeat offenders list.” These are the people who pay big bucks for his programs and those he recommends, and so he continues marketing to them and delivering offers from his peers who pay him handsomely for access to his golden list.
I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to be called is a “repeat offender”—and I certainly don’t want to treat my audience that way. When it comes to email, I have had a long-standing policy to avoid sending out “blasts” to my lists. I have been asked by marketers hundreds of times to promote books and programs and events and I turn them down, despite how much affiliate revenue I am offered in return. Am I leaving money on the table? Yep. But more important to me is that I can sleep at night. I respect my audience and have a remarkably low unsubscribe rate as a result. And when I do have something valuable to offer, my audience pays attention. They aren’t burned out from constant offers and promotions.
I believe there is a growing movement against these offensive marketing tactics. During a recent speaking engagement I mentioned that I loathe long-form sales letters and refuse to use them. This evoked a surprising, rousing applause from the audience, followed by later conversations with attendees, many of whom told me they simply won’t buy from those pages. But once again, the people who use those sales letters—complete with testimonials from their friends with big, bold-red headlines reading “But wait, there’s more!”—don’t care about the sales they don’t capture because there are still plenty of people willing to take a chance.
What I know for sure is that you CAN promote and sell online without the churn-and-burn. Imagine if you were shopping on Amazon.com and each product page was converted into one of those long sales letters. How annoying would that be? Instead, Amazon revolutionized the use of social proof by allowing customers to write legitimate product reviews. There are no sleazy sales tactics here, just the right level of information to help you make an informed buying decision.
Don’t get me wrong—we still have to ask for the sale online, and we still have to get exposure with the right audience. We have to have sales pages, email lists, blogs, and social media activity. But this can be accomplished in a high-integrity way.
And so the pages that follow reveal strategies that have worked for me and the many people I interviewed for this book and encountered over the years. Like any advice you receive from anyone about anything, you should take what feels right to you and discard the rest. Not every strategy is right for every business.
Perhaps the best news of all is that you don’t have to do it ALL online! You can pick and choose your tactics, roll them out one at a time, and find your own combination of what works best for your business. You don’t need to be on every single social network, sending out spammy emails, or dedicating half of your work week to online marketing strategies. There’s a better way.
And hopefully at the end of the day, your bank account will be fuller and your client list will grow, while you also sleep well at night knowing you have conducted your business with integrity and authenticity.
My Journey
In 2003 I said farewell to a decade-long career in the Silicon Valley. I decided to take control of my fate and pursue my entrepreneurial goals. I knew that I wanted to write, but since I didn’t yet know how to make a living doing that, I chose what I thought was the next best option—I opened a 2,800-square-foot bookstore in Sacramento, California.
I planned to get the business cranking and write novels from the back office, which seems naïve and rather humorous today. I had no idea how those initial plans would change, and how the path before me was about to twist and turn in some incredible ways.
About six weeks after the Open sign was lit, I thought I had made a huge mistake. I didn’t want to run a retail business. I hated the daily grind of managing the store and the endless issues that were involved. Dealing with cockroaches in the building from the restaurant next door (eew!), middle-of-the-night security alarm calls, employee challenges, and lugging out the trash just wasn’t as romantic as I had imagined.
Add to that the fact that the store was located in a strip mall with no street visibility and foot traffic didn’t come easily, and it felt like a colossal challenge. I realized I had to step up my marketing efforts, so I ticked off the tactics in my marketing plan. I bought big, expensive phone book ads, purchased advertising in local papers and coupon mailers, and threw a lot of money at the challenges before me. But the money I spent produced mediocre results and I knew I had to find a better way.
I began studying search engine optimization (SEO) strategies and applying them to the store’s website. Within days it moved to the top results on Google, which led to a huge increase in the number of phone calls we received and the number of people who came in to make a purchase.
I started out publishing a printed newsletter and quickly moved to an email-based newsletter. I had to plan ahead whenever sending out an e-newsletter because it always, without fail, made the phone ring and brought customers in the doors. It was like magic and I felt like I had found the key to the kingdom.
I also implemented online sales, which quickly became a significant revenue stream for the store. On weekends we held author events and used the internet to promote them, which was a fun and active time at the store. None of that was due to all that money I spent on traditional advertising methods.
Though I had embarked on the store with a 42-page business plan, it didn’t take long to realize that those plans needed to change. And that wasn’t the only thing changing. My goal of writing novels was squashed when I realized I lacked the imagination required to craft fiction.
In the midst of all the craziness that came with a growing retail business, I received countless phone calls and visits from my former Silicon Valley co-workers who felt trapped in their jobs and wanted to take a peek into my entrepreneurial world. Their interest sparked something in me. I thought that perhaps I could help them realize that there could be life after corporate America.
And so I took my new-found knowledge of internet marketing strategies and launched BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of resources for entrepreneurs. I began filling the site with resources and articles. In fact, I was essentially blogging before I knew what blogging was! And it was working. Traffic grew quickly and before I knew it, I had an audience.
Since I wasn’t going to be writing fiction, I decided to write the book I wanted to read. I had read dozens of business start-up books, but none had answered all of my questions (like how to negotiate a commercial lease). And so I wrote and self-published my first book: The Business Startup Checklist and Planning Guide. I listed it for pre-sale on BusinessInfoGuide.com and it began selling a full two months before it was in print. That’s when I really understood the power of the internet and more importantly, the power of building an audience.
All of this was happening while I ran my store. Actually, my staff ran the store; I showed up each week to handle paychecks. I kept the marketing wheels turning from my home office. I was having too much fun with marketing the business website. Soon after, I decided to embark on creating and selling information products including ebooks, special reports, and workbooks. They sold well through the site and inspired my second book, which was published by John Wiley and Sons: From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products.
The books led to new opportunities that I hadn’t expected. I was getting invitations to speak, inquiries for consulting, and media interviews. Before I knew it I had a whole separate business, which gave me the perfect excuse to sell the bookstore. In retrospect, the store was a stepping stone to get me to a place where I love what I do every day, and for that I will always be grateful.
Since then other books have followed: The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books (Quill Driver/Linden Publishing) and LEAP! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business (Career Press).
Changes continued to happen as my marketing business morphed into a publishing company. While out speaking to audiences and also hearing from my readers, I realized that there was a great need for a custom publisher to help nonfiction authors produce, distribute, and market books in a professional way. I also knew that a book was the ultimate ticket to establishing authority in your field, and so my company, Authority Publishing, was born.
None of this would have been possible without the internet, which today plays a significant role in everything I do. I have accomplished all of this without a single long-form sales letter. My mission has been to be generous with information, to share valuable content on the internet, and to inspire sales as a result of that work (which never really feels like work to me). These efforts and strategies are the foundation of this book. It is the book I wish I’d had to guide me through this journey because it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration.
Here’s an email I recently received via LinkedIn:
Hello Stephanie,
Thank you for all the advice you give daily. I have bought your book and learned plenty from your suggestions. I am [a doctor] developing [several books]… I was wondering if your company can help me with the design and editing of my series?... Thank you for your help.
After a phone discussion, this author downloaded more of my books to his Kindle and within a few days decided to hire my company to produce a series of books for him. This is proof that what you’re about to read works. He didn’t choose us because we offer the lowest prices (we don’t) or based on some urgent offer or hyped-up promise. He had followed my work and blog posts online and appreciated the helpful advice he had received. This is how the majority of my clients come to me, and how yours can find you, too.
The strategies in Own Your Niche are geared toward service-based businesses including consultants, coaches, speakers, authors, doctors, attorneys, financial professionals, creative professionals, freelancers, and businesses of all sizes that provide a service because you have a unique opportunity to reach a niche audience online with great content.
My hope is that this book will inspire your journey and will help you achieve business growth beyond your wildest dreams.
Why Niches Rule
“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those
who have agreed, but to those who have differed.”
—Charles Caleb Colton
I see a lot of business owners throwing spaghetti at the walls to see what sticks. Their marketing tactics lack focus, and so they try a little of everything and get frustrated when they don’t get the results they expect. This is one of the main reasons why so many entrepreneurs dread marketing.
Though marketing does involve testing to figure out what works for your business, there is an important first step that is often missed. You need to know who you are marketing to—and that audience should be narrowly defined. Once you do this, it can change everything about the results you get from your efforts.
Choosing a Niche
Everything about marketing comes down to the audience—your target audience. And the audience is different for every business. Once you identify your audience, every marketing decision you make becomes easier because you can gather data to help you find that audience and you can begin building your service offerings and your marketing campaigns around their needs. More importantly, the more narrow your focus, the better chance you have of standing out.
For example, general contractors are often skilled at doing many tasks. It can be tempting to remain a generalist in order to try to get what you perceive to be the most work possible. When a potential client calls and asks for a bathroom remodel, room addition, flooring installation, or garage make-over, the answer is always, “Yes, sure, we can do that!”
There are several potential downsides to saying yes to everything. First of all, you can’t possibly be an expert in all areas (unless you employ a large team of specialists in each area). Second, your portfolio of work can appear unfocused. If you said yes to everything and then showed photos of your wide variety of jobs to potential clients, they might think, “Gee, he does a lot, but I only see one example of a bathroom remodel. I wish I could see more examples. I wonder if he really has the right experience to do this job.”
On the flip side, if you met with a potential client who wanted her kitchen remodeled and you whipped out a portfolio of photos showing the many dazzling kitchens you created, a bright light would shine around you. You would be the obvious authority in your field—a field that is quite crowded with generalists.
Now, you may be thinking that what I’m suggesting sounds crazy because you would be giving up other opportunities and walking away from (gulp!) revenue from other types of jobs. But walking away from that other work frees you up to focus on your target audience: people who want kitchen remodels. And odds will be in your favor that once you narrow your focus and choose a powerful niche, your business will begin to flourish in some incredible ways.
I know a financial advisor who decided to specialize in working with divorced women. This move quickly made her the go-to person for women going through a divorce or already single, yet she still has plenty of non-divorced clients. The point is that her specialty has helped her stand out in a crowded field. And her choice of niche markets is rather large considering the rate of divorce in this country.
Benefits of Choosing a Niche
• Stand out against the competition, which are usually generalists
• Increase appeal with your niche audience because they will feel confident they are working with an authority who understands their needs
• Referral partners will be easier to find because you can work with those who also work within your niche plus those who focus on a complementary niche
• You can become the go-to choice for clients who need what you have to offer
• You may be able to raise your rates due to your specialty area of focus
How Your Business Can Thrive with a Niche Focus
When your business has a clearly defined niche, not only can you attract even more business from your ideal customers, you can often command higher fees. Sharon Broughton launched her business as a virtual assistant in 2002. She began working as an administrative professional from her home, and in the early years she said yes to most opportunities. But as she developed her skills over time and realized many were advanced skills that her competitors didn’t have, she increased her rates and narrowed her focus.
Today, Sharon’s specialty is working as an online business manager with clients who use Infusionsoft software (a robust customer relationship tool that few people in her field specialize in). She works with clients who own large online businesses and helps them manage their online activities. In exchange, she commands much higher rates plus a percentage of sales generated. She has also grown her business beyond a party of one and has a team of professionals who work for her.
Recently, during a radio interview, the host asked me if I could go back in time to when I started my business, was there anything that I would do differently. Without hesitation I told him that I would have better defined my niche and my audience. My first business was a bookstore, and it was tempting to try to be all things to all people. At one point we even stocked textbooks, which now seems beyond ridiculous. We could not compete with the textbook stores or keep up with the changing versions of books. We also stocked cheap series romance novels, which quickly proved to be lousy sellers and were hauled off to make room for more profitable categories.
When I eventually sold that store, I took many lessons with me on my entrepreneurial journey. Today, I own Authority Publishing, a custom book publisher, and we have a lot of big-box-style competition. Our corporate conglomerate competitors lead with low prices and publish anything in exchange for a check. I knew from day one that we had to differentiate or we would never make it, and so I chose to focus on publishing non-fiction books. Some people still don’t understand this choice. Shouldn’t we be willing to publish anything if clients are willing to fork over the fees? But my clients know that their books are in good company. We are selective about the books we produce so we are much more focused on quality versus quantity. This allows us to compete based on quality, service, and a niche focus, which also allows us to charge more than the big “author factories” because we deliver a different level of service.
Examples of Potential Niches
Business: Chiropractor
Niches: Workplace injuries (carpal tunnel), headaches, sports injuries, children, elderly
Business: Nutritionist
Niches: Food allergies, weight loss, weight loss for women (or men), vegan living, gluten-free, diabetes
Business: Financial Advisor
Niches: Industry-specific, such as doctors, attorneys, or entrepreneurs, single parents, state workers, industry with a high concentration of workers in your area
Business: Website Designer
Niches: Industry-specific, such as restaurants or retail sites, professional bloggers, news sites
Business: Consultant
Niches: Specific topic-focused, such as leadership for new managers, productivity for call centers, cultivating a remote work force, launching new technologies
Business: Freelance Writer
Niches: Articles about health, business, or technology; copywriting for websites; copywriting for healthcare, legal, sports, music; ghostwriting in a specific field
Business: Graphic Designer
Niches: Catalog work, book covers, marketing collateral, book layout, music industry, theater
Business: Life Coach
Niches: Women business owners, corporate executives, single parents, people with chronic illness
Business: Professional Speaker
Niches: Sales strategies for women, leadership for government offices, team building for tech companies
Business: Holistic Doctor
Niches: Allergies, menopause, sports injuries, pain management, fibromyalgia, smoking cessation
Business: Business Attorney
Niches: Corporate filings for small businesses, patents, trademarks, mergers and acquisitions
Business: Carpet Cleaner
Niches: Families with allergies, apartment complexes, commercial office buildings, neighborhood-specific
How to Identify Your Niche Focus
If you’re a selling to businesses (B2), choosing a niche will likely be a matter of targeting a specific industry or people within a specific industry. If you’re selling to consumers (B2C), different factors may be involved, such as who can afford your services, how old they are, where they live, or what they do for work or fun.
Choosing the right path for your business is something that takes some careful thought and exploration. Take time to answer the following questions. Consider engaging your staff in this process since they might see things from a different perspective.
1. Are there any specific industries or demographics that we currently serve on a regular basis? If so, what are the future opportunities like there?
2. Do we have a primary service that has special appeal to a certain industry or demographic?
3. Are there specific industries or demographics that sound intriguing? If so, what additional research is required to determine if this track makes sense?
4. What does the competitive landscape look like for the niche we want to focus on? Is the market saturated or is the field wide open?
5. What are our opportunities to make an impact in the chosen niche? What can we do differently from everyone else?
6. Is this niche growing, flat, or on the decline?
Research Your Niche
Before you settle on a niche, it’s important to investigate the demand within that niche, the opportunities and risks, plus the competitive landscape. Following are several ways you can research a potential niche.
Conduct Surveys and Interviews
One of the best ways to understand a market is to go right to the source. You can do this by conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups with your intended audience. Ask important questions about what influences their buying decisions, how much they spend on related services annually, what they like and dislike about competitor solutions, what issues they need solved, and how you can meet their needs. A tool like http://surveymonkey.com makes it easy to collect information online. You may also want to purchase a mailing list or find other ways to reach your intended audience directly.
Look for Industry Data
Use Google to research your target industry or demographic through trade associations and related firms that conduct surveys on market demand. These organizations can help determine if your niche is growing and how much demand there is for related products and services. In addition, check your local library for a copy of the Encyclopedia of Associations.
If you have trouble finding what you need online, head on down to your local library and ask a librarian for help. There are all kinds of reference books and databases available free of charge.
Investigate Search Demand
Internet search data allows you to understand the demand for a keyword or phrase. You can interpret this information one of two ways. First, a search term that’s extremely popular demonstrates that there is market demand. The downside of this information is that the competitive landscape will likely be greater online because other website owners are also using this data.
A search term with slightly less popularity can still show you there is market demand, but may also be easier to penetrate as the competition will likely be smaller.
Google’s free keyword tool is a great place to start: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Type in a search term to find out about its popularity on Google, along with similar key phrases that are related. For example, a search for “life coach” shows 368,000 global monthly searches. This proves that there is great demand for this term and thus, the life coaching industry. However, Google also indicates that this search phrase is “highly competitive,” meaning that there are many others vying for traffic from this search phrase.
A search for “life coach health” shows 1,000 global monthly searches, which indicates only a medium level of competition. So if you’re a life coach considering the healthy living niche, you can see that market demand exists and the competitive landscape may be easier to penetrate.
Another free tool by Google is http://trends.google.com. Here you can type in a keyword and get a graph of historical data showing how popular that term has been on Google search in recent years. You will also find demographic data showing the cities and countries that most search for the term.
Also check out Google’s Insights for Search: http://google.com/insights/search. Here you can discover search trends by location, category, product, or seasonality.
Evaluate the Competition
Understanding your competition is essential to determining whether your business can find a competitive edge in a new market. When I was in software sales in the Silicon Valley, we were urged to study competitors. This helped us position our strengths against their weaknesses, while also allowing us to prepare answers when asked about potential advantages the competitors had.
You can use the internet to find out all kinds of information. Start with your top five to ten competitors. Find out what products and services they offer, how much they charge, and what advantages they might have against you. You can also sign up for their mailing lists or call to inquire about additional details. Don’t be shy about this kind of research. You can bet they will be watching you, too.
Additional Resources
http://trendwatching.com – Provides monthly reports on a wide variety of consumer trends.
http://wikipedia.org – The user-generated online encyclopedia may provide some details and stats for specific industries or keyword phrases. Beware, since this is user-generated and data isn’t always completely accurate; however, sources are often listed and you may find links to additional research data.
http://pulse.ebay.com – A list of the most popular searches currently conducted on eBay.
http://forrester.com – Provides consumer and business data with technology, IT, and marketing categories.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html — Find consumer census data by region including state, county, or city.
http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/guide.html — List of census data, including by industry.
http://infoUSA.com – Sells mailing lists, though you can use its search functionality to get insight into the size of your target market.
http://www.marketresearch.com/ — Database of market research reports (fee-based).
http://www.marketingresearch.org/ — Provides market research data and a directory of certified research professionals so that you can find and hire help for conducting market research.
http://www.scip.org/ — Association of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, where you can find firms to hire for assistance.
Making the Decision to Shift Your Focus
As you make the transition to focus on a specific niche, know that you don’t have to turn away other business completely. If you’re worried that narrowing your focus could create a cash crunch, then gradually make the change. Begin to focus your marketing efforts on reaching your newly defined audience while you continue to accept other work. Over time, your marketing should catch up and you will discover how much easier it is to generate business when your target audience is clearly defined and your services align with their needs.
In fact, you might even get to a point where you are too busy with your niche work to even accept other jobs. If this happens, you will need to hire some additional help. Growing pains like this can be a good problem to have, but don’t let high demand have an adverse affect on your ability to deliver great service or accept new clients. I’ve seen too many service providers turn away business because they couldn’t keep up with demand, which makes no sense at all to me! Do your best to stay one step ahead of the growth.
Eventually, you may want to develop strategic relationships with companies that provide the services you no longer offer. For example, if you’re a consultant who specializes in working with technology companies and you receive an opportunity to work with a retail business, align with someone who works with retailers and who you can confidently recommend. Ideally you will form an alliance so that you can refer business to each other on an ongoing basis.
Develop Your Niche Identity
Once you have identified your niche focus, everything you do must convey that to your new audience. That means changing marketing materials, website content, advertising, and sales scripts. Some companies will need to change their entire brand identity as a result (for those who never really had one to begin with, this will be a powerful exercise in improving your focus).
Using the general contractor as an example, if the focus becomes kitchen remodels, then lettering on the company vehicles needs to be changed and/or added. Assemble a new portfolio for your website and sales calls, along with marketing collateral that explains the benefits of your services along with photos and testimonials.
Identifying Your Unique Difference
Within your niche there will no doubt be competitors in your field (if there aren’t, then your niche might be too narrowly defined). In order to really stand out and Own Your Niche, you need to understand what sets you apart from the rest. You could consider yourself to be the best in your field, but you need to know how you will convey that to prospective customers.
Consider the success of Zappos, an online shoe retailer. There is no shortage of places to buy shoes, yet Zappos quickly grew into an empire because it was different. The company’s inventory is unmatched. You can find shoes from $20 up to $2,000. Zappos also revolutionized service by offering free shipping both ways, removing the risk for buyers. If buyers discover they don’t like the shoes, they can ship them back at no charge, no questions asked. This liberal return policy combined with an enormous inventory made Zappos a favorite for shoe lovers everywhere. Without those policies, it simply would have been another online shopping site.
Recently, I met a business attorney who said she specialized in what she called “the usual stuff.” During our conversation, she mentioned how much she loves writing contracts. Bingo! She could differentiate her practice by promoting her expertise in contracts. Sure, other attorneys write contracts, but this woman loves them. Her passion and experience with contracts could differentiate her business.
Many of my notes and ideas for this book were kept in a Circa notebook by Levenger. While there are thousands of notebooks available in the world, the difference with the Circa is that the pages are heavier stock and most importantly, removable. I can easily pull out pages and move them to a different section. Because of its unique function (its differentiator), a Circa notebook is more expensive than most.
Incidentally, Levenger (http://levenger.com) as a company is distinctly different in its own right. The company tagline is “Tools for Serious Readers.” What you’ll find here are high-quality lap desks, pens, book lights, tote bags, and related items. This company could have been just another office supply source, but its focus on its niche market of people who love to read, and its differentiation of unique, high-quality products make it a favorite source for people like me.
For months I’ve been hearing ads on the radio from a local car dealer that has carved out a niche in serving people with sub-standard credit. The Paul Blanco used car dealership runs ads featuring their “Fresh Start” credit program for buyers with scores below 640. At a time in the economy when automotive dealerships are struggling to survive, the Paul Blanco dealership has found a way to stand out in a very competitive market.
What makes your business different from your competitors? The ability to answer this question in a powerful way can put you on the right track to Own Your Niche.
Consider Reputation
People are more likely to tell ten friends about a bad experience than a good one. To get clients talking about your services and recommending them to peers and friends, their experience has to be extraordinary.
Imagine calling a friend to report, “I just had a mediocre burger for lunch at XYZ Diner.” Or instead you called to say, “I just had the most amazing burger. We’ve got to meet at XYZ Diner for lunch next week!” The worst possible scenario, yet the one most likely to take place, is when you call to report, “I had the worst burger at XYZ Diner today. It was over-cooked and the service was terrible. I will never eat there again.” And guess what? Neither will your friend.
For many companies, reputation is defined by the customer experience. Consider the cell phone carriers and how they are perceived. Verizon Wireless is known for its exceptional coverage across the U.S. If you want reliable service, Verizon is a top choice. At the same time, the company is also known for being more expensive than many of its competitors. However, because of the company’s reputation for quality, higher fees are easier to justify.
Reputation can make or break a business. Reputation can also be cultivated by the business. Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” ad campaign was pure genius. Not only did it become a catch phrase (marketing gold), it set the groundwork for the company’s reputation. It was also a bold move. If the company’s cell phone coverage was sub-par, this campaign could have fueled a potentially damaging reputation.
I live in Sacramento, and though it’s a large metro area, the business community is relatively small and knit tightly together. Reputations here are akin to gossip in a school yard. I could quickly list a dozen businesses that have left a trail of unhappy customers. I could give you an equal list of companies that have earned rave reviews. Our community is not unlike most others. Reputation matters.
While you’re developing the new brand positioning for your business, consider reputation and what you want your company to be known for. Avoid anything that could highlight your weaknesses—and know that all companies have weaknesses. Focus on drawing out the best in your company.
Positioning Questions
1. Do you currently offer services that generate rave reviews? If not, how could you improve your customer experience?
2. What is unique about your business versus the competition?
3. What do you want your business to be known for?
4. What values do you hold in high importance?
5. Could your values or belief system become part of your brand positioning?
Modeling
In the marketing world, every marketing firm has what is known as a “swipe file.” This is where ideas from other businesses are kept, which can include postcards with interesting offers, attention-grabbing sales letters, or smart print advertisements. The point of a swipe file is never to steal ideas, but to learn from others and use the materials for inspiration.
When you transfer this concept to your business, there are a lot of ways you can benefit. By studying your competitors, as well as companies outside of your industry, you can spark new ideas. Take that a step further and you can even ask your competitors for ideas. Sound crazy? Keep reading.
Before opening my bookstore back in 2003, I spent a year writing a business plan and studying everything I could on how to start that business. I also decided to reach out to other bookstore owners around the country. Using the internet, I located contact information and began sending emails introducing myself and asking questions. I was overwhelmed by the responses I received. Because I was located in a different part of the country, I wasn’t viewed as a direct competitor. Instead, most store owners seemed honored to be asked for advice. Without a doubt, that effort shortened my learning curve dramatically and set up my business for success from the beginning.
How could you reach out to others who do what you do? What questions would you ask if you had the chance? Why not take that chance and ask?
Study Companies in Your Industry that Are Successful
You don’t have to contact competitors to learn from them. You can also sit back and study what they’re doing. You can learn a lot simply from visiting websites or reading marketing collateral. Study their services, how they position themselves, and what you like and don’t like about how they’re doing business. Also pay attention to where they advertise and what kind of media coverage they have received.
When it comes to competitors, I refuse to waste energy worrying about them, though I do try to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on. It is important to understand their strengths and weaknesses and how they compare with yours so that when you’re in a sales call with a prospect, you are prepared to respond to questions about how your company differs.
You can also draw inspiration from businesses outside of your industry. For example, loyalty programs work well with many retail businesses. How could you use something like that in your business?
Become a student of life and pay attention to how other companies operate, and then figure out how to apply those lessons to your own business.
Entrepreneur Interview
Name: Anita Campbell
Business name: Small Business Trends, LLC
Website URL: http://smallbiztrends.com, http://bizsugar.com (another of my key sites)
Social media links:
http://twitter.com/smallbiztrends
http://www.facebook.com/smallbusinesstrends
http://www.facebook.com/bizsugar
Tell us about your business and what you do:
I own a web publishing business called Small Business Trends, LLC. We publish information, tips, news, and advice for small businesses. Think of it as similar to Inc. Magazine, except it’s all online instead of in print. People often ask, “What is your business model?” It’s simple, really. We publish information that we provide mostly for free to our readers. Advertisers and sponsors pay to be visible to the audience we’ve amassed. That publishing model has been out there for centuries – we’ve just translated it to alternative media such as blogs and social media, instead of printed magazines and newspapers.
We also have an internet radio podcast that features interviews. And just like many traditional magazines, we have branched out into events. We produce online/in-person events such as the Small Business Influencer Awards and the Small Business Book Awards. And we have a social media website that enables small businesses to promote their websites and blog posts for free.
Who is your target audience?
Our target audience is exclusively small-business people and entrepreneurs. We define small business as a business having 100 or fewer employees. The typical reader is a small-business owner or manager.
Our sweet spot is the established small business that’s been around for at least a few years, with a small number of employees (fewer than 20 employees). A smaller group of readers are also sole proprietors and individual entrepreneurs. Another segment is startups, but that’s not our main focus. We don’t focus too much on the “wannabe business owner.” There are numerous sites out there that will show you how to get a business started from a clean sheet of paper. Our advice and information tends to assume that you’ve already started your business, been around for a little while—such as a year or so—and want to know what you should do to grow your existing business.
How did you get started in your business?
It is not what I set out to do – it started a bit by accident. I left the corporate world where I had been an executive in a technology company. I started doing some consulting, mostly for friends and colleagues, helping them with their business plans, business models, strategy, and marketing. I decided to start an email newsletter to market my consulting services, but I needed an easier online method to publish articles I was writing for the newsletter (using Dreamweaver software to post articles online is NOT one of my skills!).
Someone suggested I start a blog as an easy way to publish articles online. So I went over to blogger.com – and the rest is history! Before I knew it, more people were reading the blog than the newsletter. At that point, I decided to put more attention on the blog. After all, when something does well, you adjust and put more resources toward it.
Eventually, that blog became much, much bigger, and evolved to become my business’s main revenue generator (not just a marketing tool). That initial blog grew to become my company’s flagship website, with 250+ contributors, daily news features, and hundreds of thousands of targeted visitors each month.
Along the way, we acquired other sites (such as bizsugar.com, our social media site). We also started other initiatives, such as the awards events I mentioned.
What are some of the best tactics you have used to build your audience and establish your authority online?
There are really four “umbrella” elements:
(1) Produce a lot of content – This includes writing on blogs. And today you have to not only have your own blog—so that you can publish whatever you want, whenever you want to—but you must also guest post on other blogs. Guest blogging has been a key visibility tactic during 2011, and I expect that to continue in 2012 and for the foreseeable future. You also should submit articles to newspapers and magazines that accept them.
Don’t limit it just to text. Think multiple media, too – videos, infographics, podcasts, and other formats. Today, a tremendous amount of your online visibility is tied to having good content that gets indexed in search engines like Google and Bing, and can be found by those searching for what you have to offer.
Of course, producing a lot of content is also a way to establish yourself as a thought leader. So the quality of your content is important. With it being so easy for people to get published online today, you have a lot of competition! Develop a particular angle or “voice” that is uniquely yours so that you stand out. Or bring forth some hard-to-find information that no one else has. That sort of uniqueness is what separates ordinary content from those who get quoted as experts.
Quantity is just as important. Establish a regular editorial content plan identifying how frequently you will produce and publish content online, what type(s) of content, on which websites, and the specific topics that you want your professional name and/or business name associated with. Hire a freelance blogger or writer if writing is laborious for you – everyone needs a little help!
(2) Engage in social media – The second element of building your audience is to reach out via social media. Social media amplifies your message – it helps spread your blog posts and videos and other content. It also helps you build a network of connections. And it keeps your name in the limelight. We’ve found Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BizSugar, and blogs to be the best for our audience. But find out where your target audience spends time. That may be relatively easy, or it may take some digging and experimentation. And focus on a few. Don’t be a dilettante – be a dominatrix! In other words, become a power-user of one, two, or at most three social sites. Don’t do a dozen poorly.
(3) Develop a good SEO plan – The third element of building your audience is to understand how search engines work, and how to get good visibility via organic search results. Remember, search engine optimization (SEO) consists of more than just Twitter and blogs. Your pages must be friendly to search engines; you have to have inbound links to various pages in your site; you will want good title tags, etc. – in short, you must focus on a variety of technical elements that make up good search engine optimization.
(4) Don’t ignore PR – Public relations is the fourth key to build your audience. PR can consist of monitoring/replying to HARO pitches so you can get quoted in mainstream media, holding giveaways, speaking at seminars, sponsoring charitable events, distributing press releases, and reaching out individually to journalists. Find opportunities to put yourself and other key members of your organization out in the public eye. You establish brand familiarity and thought leadership, and become more memorable that way.
How has social media impacted your business? Any success stories you can share?
We produced the Small Business Influencer Awards in 2011. We had zero marketing budget, except for our time. We were able to publicize the Awards almost completely through Twitter by tweeting about the nominations using a specific hashtag, and holding two Twitter chats and two Twitter-based giveaways. And we put tweet buttons on the site to make it easy for others to retweet when they nominated or voted for someone. In the space of a few months, we had more than 10,000 tweets about the Awards. We got almost 400,000 visitors to the Awards site, and 125,000 votes from the community. And I attribute it mostly to Twitter.
Do you engage in any communities and if so, how has that impacted your business?
I and my team are active on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. We are also very active on the social media site I own, bizsugar.com, and the community we run at Small Business Trends. I personally participate as a moderator at the private seobook.com forums. I’ve also participated on some advice sites such as business.com Answers and Quora.
Small Business Trends, Twitter, BizSugar, and the SEOBook forums have led to a number of deeper business relationships, including being featured in books, interviews of all kinds, and even revenue-generating partnerships and business deals.
What role does content play in your marketing strategy?
Content is crucial to the business – in fact, content is at the center of our business. But it’s not the ONLY thing.
We learned a long time ago that we couldn’t just publish. In other words, you cannot have the mentality of “publish and they will come.” That’s a quick way to fade away into obscurity today. Only about 50% of our effort is spent on publishing activities. The other 50% is spent actively marketing our content through newsletters, RSS distribution channels, partners, SEO, event marketing, and most importantly, various social media outposts and mini-communities we’ve created. We have a higher-than-average marketing expense budget (for a business of similar size). A significant portion of our people, time, and money resources are spent on marketing activities.
What advice would you offer to readers who want to promote their business online?
(1) Get good at writing or find a good freelancer you can rely on.
(2) Understand what your competitors are doing. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook, and see where they are speaking, guest posting, or getting visibility. That will tell you who to approach to get visibility for yourself or others in your organization.
(3) Have a solid social media strategy and execute it! Keep your ear to the ground on which social media sites are hot in your industry or among your customers. Make sure your business has a presence there. Develop some internal expertise in a few key social media sites – and make social media a priority, not an afterthought. It will be worth it.
If you were starting your business over today, is there anything you would do differently?
I would have hired a full-time software developer earlier. Technology helps you realize your dreams – and your business model. While there are a lot of do-it-yourself tools, you can accomplish so much more so quickly with custom software. It’s worth it.
Quick Tip
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Establish Your Authority in Your Field
“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.”
—Margaret Fuller
Marketing your business with authority is about building recognition in your industry, generating buzz online, and showcasing your company’s talents and skills to generate demand for your services. It is about delivering your best content and killer customer service with integrity and passion, while listening to your target audience and engaging with them authentically.
In a nutshell, Authority rules.
Marketing with authority is about creating excellence in what you do and allowing that to shine through. Consumers want to buy from the best and when you establish your authority in your field, you are perceived as the best.
We see authorities in the media every day because the media loves experts. If you watch the Today show or Good Morning America, you’ll see real estate experts, doctors, therapists, nutritionists, parenting experts, consultants, attorneys, and chefs. Many of these guest experts have become media favorites: Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Curtis Stone, Barbara Corcoran, and Dr. Oz. But none of these people were born in the eyes of the media; they all started by choosing a niche and showcasing their authority in their respective fields.
Another important point is that many people can play in the same sandbox. For example, there are dozens of financial experts out there: Suze Orman, Jean Chatzky, Carmen Wong Ulrich, David Bach, Jim Cramer, and the list goes on. What makes each authority stand out is his or her unique perspective on the topic of finance—which is really the essence of marketing with authority. It’s not about doing what your competitors are doing. It’s about doing what YOU do best, and that’s when your light begins to shine its brightest.