How to annoy the clucking chickens in the guru farm
Today's Adventure in the Biz Opp Jungle:
'In which Charlie gets lost in a guru farm, reveals why niche marketing is not such a big secret, and tastes the difference between a coke and a smoothie, and reveals a shortcut to online business success'
Hi
I'll be frank.
I'm getting tired of self-promoting American gurus popping into the bottom corner of my PC screen, shouting on about 'niche marketing'.
"I'm gonna show you how to generate millions of dollars from this incredible money-making technique not even the gurus know about!" cries the guru.
"What on earth is he on about" ask the other gurus on the internet, crowding closer to have a look.
"I don't know" say another bunch of gurus. "It's a technique that not even WE know about."
"So why does HE know about it?" the gurus demand. "Isn't he a guru himself?"
"No", says another guru, "He's an uber-guru."
"I'm not only an uber-guru," yells the American uber-guru, tapping his nose, "I have discovered an amazing niche marketing technique that not even the UBER GURUS know about."
Sometimes I feel like a lost child in a farmyard full of gurus. They're all squawking loudly and displaying their feathers. Yet they all look the same and they're pecking at the same pile of seeds.
So today, I thought I'd give you a quick lesson in the secret of niche marketing. This way you'll realise two things:
1. Niche marketing isn't such a big secret
2. Niche marketing is the most exciting and common sense way for any newbie to accelerate quickly into a home business.
This should save you a few quid on that £37 manual that promises to show you a secret that you should know about anyway.
The non-secret revealed
There's a lot of guff written and spoken about "niche marketing" as if it's some kind of amazing new groundbreaking secret.
However, I'll break this to you gently. Niche marketing is as old as the hills. And the concept is so simple, I can't believe people are still flogging their manuals and seminars on the back of this so-called "secret".
Really, the whole idea is just common business sense. To explain...
A niche market is quite simply a defined group of people who share an interest or quality. For instance truck drivers are a niche market. Fans of horror films are a niche market. Organic foodies are a niche market. Dieters are a niche market. Classical guitar players are a niche market. Special needs teachers are a niche market. People who shop at second hand clothes boutiques are a niche market.
Internet marketers are THEMSELVES a niche market.
Similarly, a niche marketer is someone who provides a service or product specifically for a narrowed-down target market, or "niche-market".
This isn't a new idea. In fact, businesses can usually be split into two generic types: those that target the general population, and those that target niche markets.
I'll quickly illustrate this for you...
Mainstream vs. niche markets
Take for example, Coca Cola. It is aimed at a mass, global market. Its many advertising campaigns target young and old, men and women. Its sugar-free versions help it keep its market as broad as possible. It is sold in almost every shop you can think of. It uses billboards, TV, radio internet, magazines and newspapers to advertise to the masses.
Now take something like the Innocent smoothie, a fresh fruit and yoghurt drink with no preservatives or added water.
Years ago, this was launched as a niche product with no mass marketing. It specifically targeted wealthier, health conscious workers who wanted an alternative to fizzy drinks. To target this audience, this product first appeared only in up-market sandwich shops, usually in city centres.
If you think of Coca Cola as a mainstream business, Innocent is a classic niche business.
However, Innocent has now become so successful that they've left their niche and broadened their market. They're now producing stuff for kids too, with lots of different products to appeal to many types of person, and they're now in the supermarkets, service stations and garages. They advertise on telly and almost everywhere else. They've gone from niche to mainstream.
But the only way they managed this current success was by targeting and exploiting a niche first. They found a narrow market and conquered it. Now they're moving on.
In other words it's easier and quicker to become a big fish in a small pond that attempt to dive straight into the big pond.
A shortcut to a successful online business
Really, that's the secret of niche marketing. You locate a small group of people who share a need or desire, and you offer something that fulfils their need or desire.
Sure, you may only make small profits from a small group of people at first. But as with Innocent, this is the base from which you grow.
In fact, niche is really the only way a newbie can start. Because let's face it, you won't have the skills or know-how to tackle big markets.
Here's another example. Say you started a magazine about cars tomorrow. You would be up against the big boys immediately. You'd need to match their advertising budget and their ability to get into newsagents and supermarkets.
It would be nigh-on impossible. That's because you're attempting to set up a mainstream business with a general audience.
But say you developed a simple webpage that targeted ONLY people who own a Lotus. Okay, it's a far smaller audience than "people who like cars" but you would quite quickly be picked up by this smaller circle of people, because there's not much competition around.
Look, I'll SHOW you what I mean....
Go to www.google.com and type in "car magazine". See how many results come up? These are all magazines with flashy covers, experienced staff and reputations you have to compete with.
Now go to www.google.com and type in "lotus car magazine" or "lotus magazine". You can see a couple of niche websites if you look hard, and that's it. So you could quite conceivably be the third biggest Lotus publication right from the off. And you'd be up against websites that are fairly easy and inexpensive to imitate or better.
The reason why so many business opportunity gurus go on about 'niche marketing' these days like it's some kind of revolution is that the internet has made niche marketing very, VERY easy.
* Firstly, people now search on google for information about their interests, they can access information and ideas from anywhere in the globe, at any time of day or night, they hang around in forums talking to others with the same interest. This makes it easier for people to quickly find out what kind of products and information exist in their area of interest.
* Secondly, you don't need to print a magazine or create a physical product to tap into a niche. The internet means anyone can publish information quickly and cheaply. You don't need to match the professional quality and style of the mainstream.
So there you have it, the secret of niche marketing in 1000 words. I've seen £37 manuals that have LESS explanation in them than that.
So consider today's issue a BARGAIN
Of course, how you put all this into operation effectively - well that information is worth paying for. Jonathan Street's 30K a Day is a good example, as he takes the niche marketing idea and offers you a complete system with which you can exploit it.
It's one of the few products on this subject that doesn't waffle or repeat itself, or pretend it's "discovered" niche marketing. Instead it offers a practical way to make money out of very small groups of people.
See the details here
Or, if you're hungry for something different... look out for some important information from me in a couple of weeks time. Right now I am putting together something really exciting. Hopefully this will be ready by the New Year. I won't go into it further, but it takes the idea of niche marketing and does something with it that NOBODY has done so far.
Anyway, more on that soon. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Later alligator
Charlie Wright
The Biz Opp Jungle