The Meat – Sell More Low or Sell Less High

I hope you all enjoyed Part 2 of my Oyster Marketing Strategy last week where I discussed the “Shell“, or how to nurture a customer along a path in which they become a POWER CUSTOMER (aka, repeat buyer).

Today, I want to discuss the “meat”.

“Oysters tend to vary in size and although the biggest oysters fetch the most money, the smaller oyster are in much higher demand.   There are many more markets for small oysters because of their popularity within the restaurant business and “smoked” oysters business (canned).”

So really you have a couple of options:

(1) Target a broad niche in which you know people are selling tons

(2) Target a unique niche in which you know there is always wanted demand

I guess it is working within a long tail (more niche) versus a short tail (more broad) here.   Many people tend to naturally go towards very broad markets when starting out.  They choose the “small’ oysters, ie…the obvious products that they know sell because there are droves of other people selling it.

Something that would qualify as a broad niche would be “get a 6 pack”.  Sure, this is not as broad as weight loss, but it still tips the scale in my opinion on being a first rate, easy-to-think-of niche.

One thing that people fail to realize is that the Internet has opened up an absolutely ridiculously massive amount of products, keywords, and tiny little niches.  Gone are the days of going to your local record shop and choosing between 10,000 artists on the shelves and here are the days of being able to sift through 1,000,000 artists through online digital stores.

This represents 990,000 new products, new brands, and new marketing opportunities within one niche alone.

Another example of this is MOVIES.  Think of all the movies.  Think of all the foreign movies, independent films, and movies that simply an offline movie store cannot afford to keep on their shelves.

That market is massive.  I am not saying this is the best starting point for someone online, what I am saying is that the Internet has created the longest tail of niches…in pretty much every aspect of marketing.

One last example before I move on here.  Look at dieting.  Back in the day you would have been limited to just a few options.  An ab roller infomercial product, a health club membership, some special pill out of a magazine, or a diet plan that was advertised on TV.

Now, there are 10,000’s of dieting products available online.  Anything from “lose weight for you wedding guides”, to “online dietitians that will create you your own diet plan (for a fee)”.

For those that think outside of the box and choose to sell to smaller niches (sell the large, less-wanted-but-less-competition oyster meat), there is great opportunity.

But people tend to go so dang broad when starting out?

Is this a good idea?

What are the positives and negatives of tackling broader markets?

On rare occasion I see new marketers “going niche”.  This is how I recommend everyone start out…but very rarely do new marketers choose something really “niche”.

These are typical starting point markets that newbies choose:

(1) Dog training
(2) Make Money
(3) Lose Weight
(4) Learn Guitar
(5) Learn a New Language

These are the niches they should be starting with:

(1) Puppy Potty Training
(2) Make Money With WordPress
(3) Lose Lower Back Fat
(4) Learn how to play Nickelback Songs
(5) Learn how to learn spanish before vacation

These are examples of a longer tail niche.  These are also much more specific “problems” that people have and if you target them with targeted help…you will be much more successful.

Think about the state of mind of someone typing in “learn how to play guitar” versus “learn how to play nickelback songs”.  The latter is a much more targeted visitor and one that is further along in the customer lifecycle (something we explain in depth within wealthy affiliate).

Some people ask how I come up with a niche.  What would constitute and really unique niche for me? That leads me into…

How can I find a niche on my desk?

Well, probably something like…

Oh god…

I am thinking…

[I just popped 2 ginkgo biloba and drank a cup of coffee]

Ah, there we go.  Got one.

Tie Accessories.

Where the hell did I pull that from?  Gingko baby….

No seriously, finding these smaller, more unique niches is a piece of cake.  I looked on my desktop for some inspiration here and low and behold, there sitting from a lunch-time snack today was a “twist tie”.

Sure twist ties are a niche, but you are either going to have to have an “in” at a grocery store, or you are going to have to sell a 100 gazillion of these things to pay your house off.  Instead, I grabbed a word out of it.

“tie”

I know there are clips on the front of ties.  What I learned though is that there are other accessories with a quick search in Google.  Tie bars, pins, tacks and chains.

This is a very small niche.

But it has…

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