If you work in a specialised industry, you might be loath to spend money on marketing, as your products or services will only appeal to a limited number of people. However, if you plan your marketing activities carefully, they could generate significant quantities of sales.
Here’s how to turn your specialist status into an advantage.
Companies working in niche sectors tend to have fewer competitors than firms in mainstream industries, so their leads are more likely to convert. Therefore, if you can boost the number of prospects you attract without lowering your conversion rate, you can grow your business while retaining enviably low acquisition costs.
That’s a superb scenario for small businesses with limited budgets. However, you’ll need to use different marketing methods than companies in more popular sectors, as fewer people will be interested in your wares.
So, how can you reach potential customers and encourage them to buy? Here are six tried and tested methods:
The more you understand your prospects, the better placed you’ll be to identify similar people and show them how your products or services meet their needs.
Having a smaller target market will enable you to analyse your customer data in greater depth.
Benchmark your business against other companies in your sector to see where you have the edge, and where you’re falling short.
You can use this information, together with the data you’ve collected about your customers’ needs, to establish your unique selling point (USP). Emphasising that USP in your marketing campaigns will help generate more interest in your business.
Once you understand how your company can meet potential clients’ needs, create content (such as blog posts, videos, or e-books) covering those interests or concerns. Use this content to demonstrate that you have the industry expertise they require.
If you produce case studies, people will see how you’ve helped other customers in their situation and, in turn, what you could do for them.
Use customer data to identify the marketing channels that are most likely to appeal to people in your target market, and focus your attention on those.
For example, if you’re selling luxurious homewares, Instagram could be the perfect platform for you, but if you’re providing corporate IT services, you’d be better promoting your company via LinkedIn.
Paid online advertising can be very effective, but your ads need to reach the right people. Most online advertising and social media platforms allow you to stipulate that your ads are only seen by specific types of people, or those living in certain locations.
You can improve the quality of the traffic you get from search engines by optimising your website for highly specific terms (known as long-tail key phrases) rather than more generic alternatives.
Niche companies need strong, lasting relationships with clients, as the more specialised the sector, the smaller the customer pool.
In addition to generating leads and reducing your acquisition costs, automating some of your marketing activities will enable you to nurture your prospects more effectively by communicating with them regularly.
At JDR, we have in-depth experience of working with companies in niche sectors.
Get in touch, and we can review your company’s existing marketing strategy, and design a tailored plan for you.
Image source: Pixabay