What My Cat Taught Me About Niche MarketingGet The Edge Marketing on theedgemarketing.com. What My Cat Taught Me About Niche Marketing topic will increase your understanding on The Edge Marketing. We at theedgemarketing.com only provide news, articles, information in The Edge Marketing. The Edge Marketing at theedgemarketing.com provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Some people are 'dog people,' others are 'cat people.' I'm a cat person. Regardless of which pet you prefer, we can all agree that pets enrich our lives in many ways. They provide unconditional affection, they don't care what we look like, and sometimes even they teach us a life lesson. But I never expected my cat to teach me a marketing lesson! A niche marketing lesson, to be more precise. At this point, the dog lovers reading this are saying that this cat person is crazy. But I'm not. Here's how it happened. Like millions of other pet lovers, I bought plenty of pet toys. We all want to be able to interact with our pets, yet still have them not be bored when we're away, right? My cat went through the usual toy assortment: feathers, balls with bells in them, foam balls, catnip, string, and an assortment of stuffed rodents. Because we all want the best for our furry friends, I bought the biggest stuffed rat I could find. It received an occasional sniff but was mostly ignored. The medium-sized stuffed mice received more attention, but only if I moved the mouse or threw it for the cat. He wouldn't play with it on his own. Then my cat was given a pair of tiny stuffed mice. I thought they were too small and would be ignored just as the giant rat was. Boy was I wrong! Like a lion on a gazelle, my cat pounced on the tiny mouse and gave it a beating it would never forget. He played mouse hockey through the house, scoring goals under the refrigerator and under the stove. He played baseball, tossing the mouse high into the air and catching it again, or hitting a home run on the way down. He played jungle lion, proudly carrying his prey back to his waiting pride (me!). So what does all this warm fuzzy cat stuff have to do with online sales? It's a metaphor for niche marketing. The cat is the consumer. The cat toys are your products. The ultimate goal is to match the former with the latter. Your first product, the giant rat, was of vague interest to the consumer (the cat). The consumer sniffed at your ad or sales page, but did not like what he smelled, and moved on. No sales. Your second product, the medium-sized mice, were more interesting to the potential buyer. He would take action, but only after intensive prompting on your part. You would probably have to spend a lot on pay per click ads or gave away lots of bonuses to get his business. A few sales might be made, but it would be expensive to get those sales. But your third product, the mini-mouse, was pure magic! Your cat consumer took one look, something in his brain clicked, and a sale was made. It was as if your product was a key that unlocked the part of the customer's brain that triggered the buying impulse. Jackpot! That's what my cat taught me about niche marketing. You must find a product that somebody desperately wants (preferably a large group of somebodies). That product must be exactly what they were looking for, even if they didn't know they wanted it! It must be so tantalizing that your customer is more concerned about playing with his new toy than he or she is about paying for it. You see, I made a classic info-product mistake with my cat. I gave him what I thought he would like. I wasted money promoting large stuffed rodents and heaps of other toys to him. What I didn't do is ask him what he needed and give him that! Don't make the same mistake! Figure out what your customers want FIRST, and give them that. Then watch them pounce on it so fast that the payment process is almost an afterthought for them. I have since learned that the mini-mice are about the same size as real mice. No wonder the cat was sold on them immediately! He had never seen a real mouse, but there was a mini-mouse sized niche in his brain that was instantly gratified by the smallest mouse toy. Don't give your customers what you think they need. Ask them what they want, and give them that. Then you will have truly created a better mousetrap, and they will beat a path to your door (and your bank account)! This copyrighted article may be freely copied as long as no content is changed (other than line length to fit your publication). All hyperlinks must remain active and clickable.
|
Advice Home Business Technology Online Advertising Motivational Internet Marketing SEO Help Online Games Science Articles Happiness More Articles:1. How Prince Connects With His Target Market! By Shawn Casey While Internet legend (and young pup) Frank Kern would have you believe that I'm so old I should be confined to a wheelchair, I'm still on the good side of 100! And I can stil enjoy a good concert from time to time. My daughter - Rachel, my wife and I had the good fortune to score some last-minute tickets to the recent Prince concert here in Atlanta. The concert itself was nothing short of amazing. Prince is a master musician who really knows … 2. Why Do You Need to be in the SERPS? By Scott Hendison Why does your business need to be in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)?Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing both have the same goal, which is to help visitors find your website. Ten years ago there was probably nobody searching online for your product or service. Five years ago, there may have been a couple of dozen people looking for it in any given week or month. Today, in 2005, you can be sure that there are many p… 3. How to Connect Features and Values 'Buy this magazine or we'll shoot the dog,' went a memorable cover for the satire magazine National Lampoon many years ago. On the cover, along with the threat, was the picture of an attractive dog with large sad eyes - and a pistol pointed at its head!Want a powerful way to make sure your message leaves an impression on the people who receive it?Talk about the consequences that will occur as a result of following or not following your advice. Th… 4. Market Research Ignorance By Veronica Dubak Recently, I was invited to participate in a focus group for women regarding casual restaurants. The panel consisted of eight other young women who frequented casual restaurants enough to be informed on the subject to be able to properly provide information regarding them.The focus group started off well enough - the panel conductor introduced herself, and asked us to do the same. She did this to simply create a better group dynamic, not for rec… |