The Y2K Marketing Tune-Up

Part Two - Pick and Stick your Niche

Copyright 10/30/99 by Chas. Campbell and MNRealty.com

OK, this is number 2 of 3 in my Y2K marketing tune-up. If you haven't performed my "Top 10" yet, go back and do that first... always check the oil before going on a trip.

This time, let's talk about something uncomfortable.... defining yourself. "Niche Marketing" is about accepting the fact that you cannot be Everything to Everyone, so why not choose a segment of the business that fits your style, knowledge, and experience - and then turn that into a great asset!

There are two ways to approach "finding your niche" if you want to go through the motions. The first is to identify your "ideal client." Think back over the last couple years and visualize the customer or couple who you did the best work and had the smoothest transaction. Think about those customers that had the same ideals, concerns, and style as yourself. Form a composite of these customers - this is your "ideal client" - your "target market." After all, if you can only spend a fixed amount on marketing, why not spend it trying to attract the best/easiest customer profile? To create your Niche, look for the elements common to your ideal customers, maybe it's a lifestyle niche (example: "Upper Bracket.") Or perhaps it's an econonomic niche (examples: 1st Time Homebuyer or "Move-Up" homebuyer.) Of course, the oldest niche is location, location, location (example: North Oaks Specialist.)

Another approach to defining your niche is to build something based on your goals, resources, and interests. If you have experience in the builing trades, a New Construction niche might be a natural. Alot of corporate contacts and out-of-town buyer business would probably mean that you would want to sell yourself as a Corporate Relocation Specialist. Less obvious niches can exist based on past professions, sports & hobbies, church-charities-causes. This type of niche is less seen in wide area advertising, but can be very effective in direct contact media.

You can have multiple and/or overlapping, niches. It's still important to define them separately.

Once you have defined your niche, it is much more straightforward to build web pages to support your marketing efforts. First, consider the information needed by the visitors that represent that niche. If your niche is local, have lots of local community info online. If your niche is economic, such as 1st Time Homebuyers, then provide lots of info, such as "lessons" on-line, loan calculators, etc. Secondly, consider the type of people your niche represent, and try to provide INTERESTING info that goes beyond the basics that many sites can offer them. IMPORTANT! - try to CREATE your own information vs. info that is just linked to other sites. Examples: Get LOCAL MLS market stats onto your website or available by e-mail if you are a loation specialist. Get targeted resource links for specific niches, such as a page of senior resource web sites if you are specializing in Senior Relocation. The value is in YOU doing the research to FIND all the various resources and making it conv!
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enient for your visitors and customers to reach all that info quickly and easily.

One nice aspect of a web site is to provide multiple niches as multiple sections that your visitor can CHOOSE which one is interesting to them! The more the merrier!

An important note about Staying "Inside" your Niche: Just as important as defining and concentrating your efforts is the idea that you can attempt to do "too much" or go "too far" on your web site. Stick to your business and niche! Other companies and web sites are specializing in everything from travel to entertainment because they know about niche marketing too! You should not try to put links, pages, or sections on your web site that is basicly duplication of someone else's efforts. You will usually not do as good a job as the site that is specializing in that area, and you are siphoning off resources from your own budget and schedule that should be invested in "deeper" content within your own niche or area of expertise... REAL ESTATE!

Chas. Campbell is the Publisher and Webmaster of MNRealty.com,
An independent Minnesota Real Estate Web Server and Host.