What is Niche Marketing?
Simply put, niche marketing is selling a specialized product to a select group of people. Most niche markets are things that you cannot get elsewhere. For example, if you sell toys you could either be THE toy outlet, carrying several thousand varieties ( thus having a niche of wide selection ), or you could specialize in remote control cars and only carry 100 different types ( thus having a specialized selection ). Both are valid niche markets, but the radio controlled car would probably do better.
How to Find Your Niche
Your niche is usually related to your passion. What will you enjoy writing about, researching, sharing, and doing in your free time. If you choose a topic that is not truly work for you, you are more likely to go into greater detail. Nearly every hobby or activity has its own niche market, you will just have to find your own.
To find your group of people, the highly targeted customers that want exactly your product ( like a remote controlled car lover ), you'll have to think like them. Where do they hang out? Where will they get their research information? Who reviews their products? Who offers contests? Where are the clubs? Once you begin to think like them, you will easily be able to list where they can be found and pursue marketing to that specific group or niche of customers.
How to Talk To Your Niche
If you were with a group of friends, racing remote controlled cars and some guy walked up shouting "BUY MY STUFF", you likely would find him annoying. I bet very few people would actually be interested in purchasing from him at that time. Sales are not about cramming your offer down someone's throat.
If that same guy walked up to his niche and made conversation with them, offered some tips or advice and was interested in what they were doing, it would eventually come up that he has some remote controlled cars for sale. He'll make more sales because he has won their trust, and let them decide on their own to purchase.
The trick is to finding the way to do this online, and niche marketing is the way! With a site full of articles about your subject you establish yourself as an expert, thus winning immediate trust. You let people absorb your information at their own pace, letting them believe it is their idea to visit your pages. If you combine this with a convienent way for them to purchase items related to your niche, sales should be automatic.
What is a Newsletter?
Newsletter Marketing is an easy way to locate and advertise directly to your niche. A mailing list is a list of people who are interested in a certain topic. A newsletter is the mail sent out to this list. Your newsletter should focus on providing content, not making a sale. It is important to always make it easy for your niche customers to order from you, but also important to not be too aggressive. If you do not provide content, articles, ideas, advice, current information, etc. and instead force feed them your advertisement, they will remove themselves from your mailing list!
What is a Newsgroup?
Imagine a bulletin board at the supermarket that says: Now Hiring. It may list the several jobs that are available. The equivalent of this on the Internet is called a newsgroup. There are tens of thousands of specialized message boards that talk about certain subjects. Nearly EVERY hobby has its own newsgroup. Remember though, it is inappropriate to just post an ad to this list of people. Instead, you should watch the conversation, and add your advice, or ask questions as appropriate, but in your signature ( 1 or 2 short lines ), advertise your website. You'll get much better results this way.
It is considered extremely bad form to post a question to yourself just so you can answer it though! Do not try to trick or cheat, just be helpful and put your signature in your message. You'll get great results.
Newsgroups ride the same network as the Internet you are familar with, but use different protocols and servers.
Why not Just Sell Everything?
Walmart has branded itself as a low cost alternative to most items. You do not have the luxury of this type of marketing yet, nor the budget to compete with the likes of a giant like walmart. Instead, focus on your specific niche and your investment will be much lower, while your return will be much higher. As a small business, this is the only way you will succeed! This is true, online or offline.
Resources for Finding Targeted Leads
http://www.newsfeeds.com - This is a paid service that allows you to get almost all newsgroups for $4.95 per month, in case your provider blocks your news access for some reason. Normally you would not have to pay for a service, but this is likely the best one to pay for if you must.
http://groups.google.com - you can search the google groups news archive for messages as far as 10 years back. How would you like to have an ad to your business for free, for 10 years? We recommend that you do a few searches for your name, business, niceh, etc and see what the common conversations are. You may be VERY suprised at what others have to say and what questions they ask where you could be the hero and help them.
In addition, your Internet Provider will have information about how you can setup a newsreader and post messages. Some providers do not allow posting to newsgroups, so you may need to use a paid news service like dejanews.