Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business

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Before you settle on a niche, it’s important to investigate the demand within that niche, the opportunities and risks, plus the competitive landscape. Following are several ways you can research a potential niche.

Conduct Surveys and Interviews

One of the best ways to understand a market is to go right to the source. You can do this by conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups with your intended audience. Ask important questions about what influences their buying decisions, how much they spend on related services annually, what they like and dislike about competitor solutions, what issues they need solved, and how you can meet their needs. A tool like http://surveymonkey.com makes it easy to collect information online. You may also want to purchase a mailing list or find other ways to reach your intended audience directly.

Look for Industry Data

Use Google to research your target industry or demographic through trade associations and related firms that conduct surveys on market demand. These organizations can help determine if your niche is growing and how much demand there is for related products and services. In addition, check your local library for a copy of the Encyclopedia of Associations.

If you have trouble finding what you need online, head on down to your local library and ask a librarian for help. There are all kinds of reference books and databases available free of charge.

Investigate Search Demand

Internet search data allows you to understand the demand for a keyword or phrase. You can interpret this information one of two ways. First, a search term that’s extremely popular demonstrates that there is market demand. The downside of this information is that the competitive landscape will likely be greater online because other website owners are also using this data.

A search term with slightly less popularity can still show you there is market demand, but may also be easier to penetrate as the competition will likely be smaller.

Google’s free keyword tool is a great place to start: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Type in a search term to find out about its popularity on Google, along with similar key phrases that are related. For example, a search for “life coach” shows 368,000 global monthly searches. This proves that there is great demand for this term and thus, the life coaching industry. However, Google also indicates that this search phrase is “highly competitive,” meaning that there are many others vying for traffic from this search phrase.

A search for “life coach health” shows 1,000 global monthly searches, which indicates only a medium level of competition. So if you’re a life coach considering the healthy living niche, you can see that market demand exists and the competitive landscape may be easier to penetrate.

Another free tool by Google is http://trends.google.com. Here you can type in a keyword and get a graph of historical data showing how popular that term has been on Google search in recent years. You will also find demographic data showing the cities and countries that most search for the term.

Also check out Google’s Insights for Search: http://google.com/insights/search. Here you can discover search trends by location, category, product, or seasonality.

Evaluate the Competition

Understanding your competition is essential to determining whether your business can find a competitive edge in a new market. When I was in software sales in the Silicon Valley, we were urged to study competitors. This helped us position our strengths against their weaknesses, while also allowing us to prepare answers when asked about potential advantages the competitors had.

You can use the internet to find out all kinds of information. Start with your top five to ten competitors. Find out what products and services they offer, how much they charge, and what advantages they might have against you. You can also sign up for their mailing lists or call to inquire about additional details. Don’t be shy about this kind of research. You can bet they will be watching you, too.

Additional Resources

http://trendwatching.com – Provides monthly reports on a wide variety of consumer trends.

http://wikipedia.org – The user-generated online encyclopedia may provide some details and stats for specific industries or keyword phrases. Beware, since this is user-generated and data isn’t always completely accurate; however, sources are often listed and you may find links to additional research data.

http://pulse.ebay.com – A list of the most popular searches currently conducted on eBay.

http://forrester.com – Provides consumer and business data with technology, IT, and marketing categories.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html — Find consumer census data by region including state, county, or city.

http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/guide.html — List of census data, including by industry.

http://infoUSA.com – Sells mailing lists, though you can use its search functionality to get insight into the size of your target market.

http://www.marketresearch.com/ — Database of market research reports (fee-based).

http://www.marketingresearch.org/ — Provides market research data and a directory of certified research professionals so that you can find and hire help for conducting market research.

http://www.scip.org/ — Association of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, where you can find firms to hire for assistance.

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The above information on how to research a niche market is an excerpt from the book: Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business. Get your copy today–and while you’re at it, pick one up for a friend, too!

I also faced the reality that my business wasn’t scalable. If I was the only one providing services, it put a ceiling on my earning potential. I had some help from a virtual assistant, but I was still at the heart of the business doing the majority of the work.

Then I had an inspiration. I had self-published my first book and that led to several subsequent traditional publishing contracts. I had a love for all-things-publishing and a marketing background and realized there was an opportunity to develop a custom publishing service specializing in non-fiction books.

In 2008, Authority Publishing was born. I let go of my freelance writing work, hired some help to handle some of my legacy marketing clients, and most importantly, hired the right people to produce books. I am not an editor or a book designer or a project manager. Starting a publishing company forced me to build a team of talented people to do the work, leaving me time to focus on my strengths: sales and marketing. This move also left me more time for writing my own books and continuing to speak at business events.

I see a lot of freelancers get caught in this trap. When you’re the only one producing the work, you not only risk burn-out, you put a cap on your earnings potential. If you want to expand your services, you need to hire people who do what you do—or expand and offer other services that are delivered by a team of talented professionals.

When I look back now on how overwhelmed I was trying to keep up with everything, I am incredibly grateful for the decision to start the publishing company. Today I have a fantastic work-life balance and more creative freedom than I ever imagined possible.

You can too! But it won’t happen until you make the bold move to hire some help and expand your services. I bet you’ll be glad you did!

I also had other goals. I wanted to write books and get the message out there that there could be life after corporate America. And so I decided to structure the business in a way that didn’t require me to physically be there. Here are the steps I took:

1. I hired staff and trained the heck out of them. Customer service was numero uno!

2. I created a comprehensive operations manual and documented everything from how to issue a refund to what to do during a power outage.

3. I trained the staff to check the manual BEFORE calling me.

4. The business still needed to be built so I spent time on marketing efforts, but I managed most of them from my home office.

5.  I spent less and less time at the store until eventually I showed up just once each week to deal with cash and paychecks.

These efforts worked so well that I was able to launch this website (BusinessInfoGuide.com) and write several business books, all while my business ran without me. And the business grew as a result. I was able to sell the store several years later and move on to a business that better suited what I wanted to do with my life.

After selling the store, I found myself running a freelance marketing business, and it wasn’t long before I burned out on that. Read part two of this series where I’ll fill you in on how I built my current business, which essentially runs without me and leaves me lots of time for creative endeavors!

If your small business is seeking a loan, grant, angel investor, or venture capital, here’s a list of funding resources.

Grants.gov – Apply for federal grants.

SBA Loan Programs – Small Business Administration loan programs. Note that the SBA is not a direct lender, but helps entrepreneurs get financing with traditional banks.

Small Business Research Grants – List of federal entities offering research grants, provided by the SBA.

Woman Owned – Provides loans and grants for women-owned small businesses.

Idea Café – Provides a variety of sponsored grants for small business.

Kickstarter – Crowd-sourced funding option for creative projects.

Rocket Hub – Similar to Kickstarter, offers funding for creative projects.

Indie GoGo – Funding for creative projects.

InvestedIn – Crowd-sourced funding for just about anything.

Prosper – Private lending community.

Express Merchant Financing – Cash loans for small businesses from American Express.

SBIR/STTR – Small business innovation research grants, government funded.

Go Big Network – Online directory for posting funding needs and connecting with investors.

VFinance – Network for finding venture capital and angel investors.

Gaebler – Directory of angel investors by state.

I can say that without a doubt that my publishing business (Authority Publishing) has landed clients we wouldn’t have otherwise had if we didn’t accept credit cards. Our competitors accept credit cards and therefore we need to do that in order to compete; we need to make this option available to clients who would go elsewhere if they had to pay cash. And yes, the merchant card processor takes a percentage (around 3% or less), but that’s simply a cost of doing business.

Think about it this way: would you rather land a new client at a slightly lower fee or not have the client at all?

Here are some options for credit card processing:

Square Up – This popular service turns your iPhone into a credit card swiper. Great for businesses that are portable or host sales at live events.

Paypal – In addition to providing the ability to create shopping cart buttons for your website, Paypal offers a service called Virtual Terminal where you can process credit cards manually online. They also have an invoicing tool so that you can send a digital invoice via email to clients and they can easily pay online.

Chase Paymentech – Chase bank offers a competitive online payment solution that includes a web-based application for processing payments.

Here are items to include in your next business proposal:

1. Letter to Your Client

Write a brief cover letter to your client letting them know that you appreciate the opportunity to work with them. You may want to mention any previous work history that you have together.

2. Project Summary

Here you should explain the client’s needs as you understand them. Reiterate what problem(s) they need to solve. This should include one or more paragraphs as needed to capture relevant details.

3. Proposed Solution

Explain how your services address the needs identified in the project summary. If you are proposing a variety of options, list them and include supporting detail. Provide as much information as possible to help your client make a decision to purchase your services.

4. Pricing

Proposals usually include prices so explain options clearly. If there are several pricing options, list them along with any supporting detail needed. Also include payment terms and provisions for things like travel. For example, “Travel expenses not to exceed $2500 per trip.”

5. Company Overview

If the client is new to your business, provide an overview of your company. That can include relevant company history, business experience, past clients, or other details that will build confidence and lead to a purchase decision.

6. Testimonials

Past client testimonials demonstrate your experience and can influence the decision to purchase.

7. Contact Information

Make it easy to reach you by providing all relevant details: phone, email, fax, and a mailing address. If there are multiple staff members from your team involved, include contact information for each.

8. Overall Appearance

Add your logo or letterhead to the header of the proposal, and in the footer mark it as “Confidential” and insert page numbers. There are no hard rules about how long a proposal should be, though it should include as much detail as possible to make your business stand out against competitors and convince the client that your solution is the right one. If needed, add supporting documentation, charts, graphs, industry statistics, and other data.

Remember that proposals are often reviewed by numerous people before they are approved—and some of those may be people you won’t have the opportunity to meet. With that in mind, your proposal should be focused, persuasive, and stand on its own.

Signs That it’s Time to Hire Help

• You’re managing tasks you dread (such as bookkeeping or administrative work).
• There are never enough hours in a day.
• Your time could be better spent on revenue-generating tasks.
• If you took a few days off, your business would fall apart or cease to exist.
• You haven’t taken a vacation in a year or more.
• You’re too busy to accept all new clients and sometimes have to turn them away.
• You have a waiting list for new clients.
• Customer service is suffering because you’re not able to meet all expectations.
• You know that your business could grow if you had more help with operations.
• You are leaving money on the table because you simply can’t keep up with demand.

Types of Tasks to Outsource

• Bookkeeping/Accounting/Payroll
• Administrative
• Graphic design
• Website design
• Marketing support
• Sales
• Research

Hiring Options

Intern – Look to your local schools to find interns with a variety of skill sets. Interns work for free or minimum wage and often earn credit toward degree programs. Though there will be some paperwork involved, interns can lighten your work load and become an important part of your team.

Contractor – Hiring an independent contractor allows you to expand your team without dealing with payroll and other legal issues that come with employees. Contractors typically work on individual projects or a set number of hours per week/month. You can use contractors for accounting, administrative work (virtual assistants), graphic design, and just about any business-related tasks. Be careful when hiring contractors as you cannot set their hours or otherwise treat them like employees. You will also need to issue a 1099 at the end of the year.

Employee – When you hire an employee, you set their hours and put them on payroll, which involves withholding taxes and dealing with the other legalities of hiring staff. You will need to purchase worker’s compensation insurance and offer your employees other benefits such as health insurance, sick days, paid vacation, etc. For more hiring guidelines, visit the United States Department of Labor: http://dol.gov.

Budgeting for Staff

If you think you can’t afford to hire help, start by looking at how much you currently earn. If you charge $50 per hour for your services and could hire someone for $10 to $20 to handle tasks that weigh you down, you could come out ahead in the long run. Once you hand off tasks that you don’t like or don’t do well, you give yourself more time to focus on what you do best. More importantly, you have more time to focus on revenue-generating tasks, which can lead to greater business growth in the long run.

Also consider starting with an intern or contractor. As those roles expand within your business, it may eventually make good financial sense to shift to hiring an employee. The key is to strike the right balance between workload, costs, and return on investment. A good accountant can also help you reach these important decisions.

Resources for Hiring Contractors

These directories include a wide variety of contractors including writers, graphic design, web development, virtual assistance, and more.

http://elance.com

http://guru.com

http://odesk.com

http://project4hire.com

http://freelancer.com

http://ifreelance.com

Computer Programming

http://rentacoder.com

http://scriptlance.com

http://getacoder.com

http://joomlancers.com

Graphic Design (Crowd-sourced)

Graphic designers participate in contest-style bidding for projects by submitting samples based on the price you set for the project.

http://99designs.com

http://crowdspring.com

http://designcrowd.com

http://logocontest.com

Virtual Assistants

http://ivaa.org

http://assistu.com

http://authorsassistants.com

Resources for Hiring Employees

http://craigslist.org (note that you can also find contractors here)

http://monster.com

http://simplyhired.com

Aside from a coach, you can also enlist peers and collaborate by keeping each other accountable. Here’s how:

1. Invite one to five fellow entrepreneurs into your Accountability Group. Note that they can be located just about anywhere.

2. Commit to connecting with each other DAILY via email.

3. Start each morning with an email to the group describing three to five tasks you’re going to complete for the day. This is a fabulous catalyst to set priorities and gain focus just as your day is beginning.

4. Recap accomplishments from the previous day. What dragons did you sleigh? What accomplishments did you achieve? What didn’t quite hit the mark?

5. Provide gentle, encouraging support to each other. Offer kudos for a job well done and forgiveness when things don’t quite happen as planned. The point is to share and support each other in achieving goals.

Here’s an example:

To: Joe, Jane, Julie

Subject: Accountability for Tuesday

Here’s what I’m going to do today:

- Call five prospects

- Write two blog posts

- Sort and file the stack of paper on my desk

-Hit the gym (it’s scheduled on my calendar!)

Yesterday I did everything as promised: attended a new networking event, interviewed assistants, wrote up a new sales script, and sent out my e-newsletter. I also landed two new clients, hired a new bookkeeper, and scheduled lunch with a potential alliance partner. Kickin’ butt over here!

Joe: Congrats on your new blogging deal—very excited for you!

Jane: Is everything alright with you? We haven’t heard from you this week…

Julie: Thanks for the client referral and great job on your new marketing campaign—looks great!

Have a great day,

Jack

Do this for 21 days and you’re sure to develop some positive new habits that will help members move forward and accomplish more than ever before!

If you’re a selling to businesses (B2), it will likely be a matter of targeting a specific industry or people within a specific industry. If you’re selling to consumers (B2C), different factors may be involved such as who can afford your services, how old they are, where they live, or what they do for work or fun.

Choosing the right path for your business is something that takes some careful thought and exploration. Take time to answer the following questions. Consider engaging your staff in this process since they might see things from a different perspective.

1. Are there any specific industries or demographics that we currently serve on a regular basis? If so, what are the future opportunities like there?

2. Do we have a primary service that has special appeal to a certain industry or demographic?

3. Are there specific industries or demographics that sound intriguing? If so, what additional research is required to determine if this track makes sense?

4. What does the competitive landscape look like for the niche we want to focus on? Is the market saturated or is the field wide open?

5. What are our opportunities to make an impact in the chosen niche? What can we do differently from everyone else?

Making the Decision to Shift Your Focus

As you make the transition to focus on a specific niche, know that you don’t have to turn away other business completely. If you’re worried that narrowing your focus could create a cash crunch, then gradually make the change. Begin to focus your marketing efforts on reaching your newly-defined audience while you continue to accept other work. Eventually your marketing should catch up and you will discover how much easier it is to generate business when your target audience is clearly defined and your services align with their needs.

In fact, you might even get to a point where you are too busy with your niche work to even accept other jobs. If this happens, it’s time to expand your business and hire some additional help! Growing pains like this can be a good problem to have, but don’t let high demand have an adverse affect on your ability to deliver great service or accept new clients. Do your best to stay one step ahead of the growth.

Eventually you may want to develop strategic relationships with companies that provide the services you no longer offer. For example, if you’re a consultant who specializes in working with technology companies and you receive an opportunity to work with a retail business, align with someone else who works with retailers and whom you can confidently recommend. Ideally you form an alliance so that you can refer business to each other.

Though marketing does involve testing to figure out what works for your business, there is an important first step that is often missed. You need to know who you are marketing to—and that audience should be narrowly defined. Once you do this, it can change everything about the results you get from your efforts.

Everything about marketing comes down to the audience—your target audience. And the audience is different for every business. Once you identify your audience, every marketing decision you make becomes easier because you gather data that helps you find them and you begin building your service offerings and your marketing campaigns around your focus. More importantly, the more narrow your focus, the better chance you have of standing out.

For example, general contractors are often skilled at doing many tasks. It can be tempting to remain a generalist in order to try to get what you perceive to be the most work possible. When a potential client calls and asks for a bathroom remodel, room addition, flooring installation, or garage make-over, the answer is always, “Yes, sure, we can do that!”

There are several potential downsides to saying yes to everything. First of all, you can’t possibly be an expert in all areas (unless you employ a large team of specialists in each area). Second, your portfolio of work can appear unfocused. If you said yes to everything and then showed photos of your wide variety of jobs to potential clients, they might think, “Gee, he does a lot, but I only see one example of a bathroom remodel. I wish I could see more examples. I wonder if he really has the right experience to do this job.”

On the flip side, if you met with a potential client who wanted her kitchen remodeled and you whipped out a portfolio of photos showing the many dazzling kitchens you created—a bright light would shine around you. You would be the obvious authority in your field—a field that is quite crowded with generalists.

Now you may be thinking that what I’m suggesting sounds crazy because you would be giving up other opportunities and walking away from (gulp!) revenue from other types of jobs. But walking away from that other work frees you up to focus on your target audience: people who want kitchen remodels. And odds will be in your favor that once you narrow your focus and choose a powerful niche, your business will begin to prosper beyond your wildest imagination.

Benefits of Choosing a Niche

• Stand out against the competition, which are usually generalists
• Increase appeal with your niche audience because they will feel confident they are working with an authority who understands their needs
• Referral partners will be easier to find because you can work with those who also work within your niche
• You can become the go-to choice for clients who need what you have to offer
• You may be able to raise your rates due to your specialty area of focus

In Part Two of this series, we will discuss how to identify your niche and make the transition to serving that audience.