“Follow your passion, and the money will come. ” Never was more blasphemous blasphemy said in the world of online marketing and business in general.
Passion is not enough to earn online. You have to offer something that people want to buy. You need to know how to find a profitable niche market.
“Alessandro, can I talk about my days?”, “Can I talk about my favorite TV series?”, “Can I talk about my hobbies?….”
The answer in 90% of cases is no. An online business, by definition, must generate profits, and to do so, you have only 3 possibilities:
- Selling your service
- Selling your product (even non-physical, for example, an online course )
- Selling (promoting) something, not yours (e.g., affiliate marketing )
Consequently, if your idea does not allow you to promote one of these 3 things, you can get likes, comments, and thanks… but no money.
Don’t worry, though, as this article is just for you to understand how to choose a profitable niche.
Everything you will learn shortly must be clear to create a blog, a sales funnel, and any type of online business. Copywriting itself must be niche based!
What is the market niche?
| A market niche is a subset of a market segment, which (in turn) is a subset of
one of the 3 large markets. A niche includes a group of people with common characteristics and common problems. |
It is not clear. Let’s go!
Here are the 3 major markets:
- Health (“Health”)
- Wealth – money (“Wealth”)
- Relations (“Relationship”)
The 3 “big” markets can be separated into smaller and more specific sets, the market segments.
And this information is what you find almost everywhere. Most people believe it’s over here, and they often confuse niches with market segments.
Here’s the important thing to understand: A market niche includes a group of people with common characteristics and common problems.
Below is an example to clarify this difference:
Niche market: exampleLet us consider one of the 3 major markets, the “wealth/money” market. This gigantic market can be divided into several segments, for example:
All these market segments derive from the large “money” market. But here’s what most people miss: These market segments can be further divided into real market niches, i.e. groups of people with very similar characteristics:
Is it clearer now? “Group of people with very similar characteristics”. |
The 2 big doubts relating to the niche market
We have said that to find a niche market, you must first choose a market segment and then identify a specific narrower audience with common characteristics.
And when I start talking about “small audiences,” typically, my (new) readers have two big doubts:
DOUBT 1. “But if I can choose a large market and reach more people, why should I reach fewer by choosing a specific niche?”
I understand you perfectly because it seems logical. The point is that generalized communication doesn’t work. The specialization is able to provide you with the first level of distinction in the market (and soon, we will delve into this thing for good). You don’t have to focus on the size of the niche but on being able to offer something specific that resonates with their problems.
Another thing you need to be clear about from the beginning is that you only need a small audience to create a super-profitable online business. Also, the more you specialize, the more you have the opportunity to offer products and services at a higher price.
DOUBT 2. “Can I base my business on different topics? For example, at the beginning, I would like to talk about A, but also about B”.
No, it’s not possible. It wouldn’t work.
As I explain in this article, the moment you start publishing content online, people who see your content automatically classify you as an expert on that topic.
But if you are starting to understand what a niche is, then you will have guessed that even within a topic, it is essential to focus on specific people:
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Imagine that a personal trainer (Mr. A) talks about training in general, addressing little to everyone: from the 100kg bodybuilder to the forty-year-old who wants to eliminate the belly to the older woman who wants to maintain her motor skills. Now imagine there is another personal trainer (Mr. B) who creates content, services, and products only for pregnant women who want to stay fit. This allows them to use polarized communication, which addresses them directly, leveraging their wishes and problems. Do you think a pregnant woman will be more attracted to Mr. A or Mr. B?
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Do you understand what I mean?
Being specific in choosing the niche allows you to automatically “select” a particular audience. This will enable you to define your products and services according to their needs, guaranteeing better results.
If you choose a specific market niche, people will more easily classify you as an expert
Covering a specific topic will make it easier to position yourself as an expert in that specific market niche. You will appear as a “more experienced” expert than someone who caters to a broader audience.
Here is a final example to clarify this concept too:
Let’s say you are a professional sportsman, and you need to have an operation on your shoulder and get back to competing quickly.
Your doctor tells you about 2 surgeons, both excellent and renowned (both considered “experts”). You will have to choose the one who will take care of you.
The first has performed thousands of orthopedic operations of different types (elbows, shoulders, knees, and so forth). Thousands of operations.
The second, also with experience (thousands of operations) in his career, has only dealt with shoulder operations and specifically has specialized in professional sportsmen who must quickly return to compete.
All things being equal, which would you choose among the 2?
… And even with “unequal” conditions, wouldn’t you choose it anyway if the latter cost you something more?
If you want to learn more about this topic, I suggest you also read this other article of mine: how to do personal branding. But don’t do it right away! Please open it and keep it aside, because there is one more thing to understand.
If you choose a specific market niche, your marketing and communication system will be more effective.
To make money, you have to sell. To sell, you have to do marketing. And to do marketing, you have to create content. This is the basis for selling in a “natural” way: a niche of people to whom you propose an offer through a content system.
Okay?
But now I’m asking you to focus for a moment. Try to think of an offer to propose to a niche that interests you.
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And now tell me, what kind of content would you create to intercept potentially interested people?
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I ask you because almost everyone, once they have chosen a topic, creates a bit of random content. The selection criterion is simple: it is enough that they are contents related to the selected topic.
People think you just need to pick a topic and create an avalanche of content that has to do with that topic.
It is a strategically wrong choice.
In the early days of my business, I consulted a freelancer who had created hundreds of different content and didn’t understand why he was generating so little sales (despite the hefty amount of traffic).
Imagine his face when I showed him that with a simple blog and only 4 articles (and with fewer visitors than him) I was generating 5-6 times his profit. I had 4 contents. He had over 100. How is that possible?
Simple: he had created content for the entire market segment. He had contents that spoke to one niche, contents that spoke to another niche… and he had structured these contents at random, without an underlying logic, and without a linear structure.
My content, on the other hand, was planned in detail, had a logical sequence and spoke to a “small” but super specific audience.
The content you create must have a hell of a lot to do with the specificity of your niche, but at the same time, it must convey your positioning.
You have to generate a double attraction between you and your target market. They must be suitable for you, as you must be suitable for them.
Okay?
But taking into account that theory is not enough to have a result, now I will give you 3 simple, practical indications to define your niche so that you can be sure of generating interest, leads, and customers.
How to find a niche in 3 steps
| STEP 1 – IF YOU CAN START FROM A NICHE THAT FASCINATES YOU,
WHERE YOU ALREADY HAVE A DISCREET EXPERIENCE |
At the beginning of the article, I told you this thing:
” Follow your passion and the money will come “. Never was more blasphemous blasphemy said in the world of marketing and business in general.
So now I may have confused you, but let me explain.
Experienced entrepreneurs and marketers sometimes change niches (yes, you can! Choosing a niche does not mean getting married). I’ll tell you more: sometimes they “jump” quickly into a niche just because they see a good opportunity to make money online. After a market analysis, they notice an opportunity and seize it, even if they do not have the slightest passion for the subject.
They do this for 3 reasons:
- They have already faced the classic problems of those who are preparing to launch an online business
- Consequently, they are prepared and motivated to solve them, and that profit is only the next step
- And they are also not afraid of having to acquire the new skills necessary to serve niches that are still almost unknown to them … while you may now be thinking: “But how can I talk about topic X if I’m not an expert … it seems strange to me … “.
If you start from scratch it is natural that you will encounter some problems on the path that will lead you to success. It is inevitable, problems are part of the game, they must be embraced and overcome.
But here’s the thing:
95% of people who try to start their business give up before they reach a result. Maybe much earlier, perhaps a little earlier (but unfortunately, this makes no difference).
If you don’t know where you are going, you don’t know what awaits you. Consequently, you don’t know the correct feedback to understand if you are doing things right.
It’s as simple as reasoning, isn’t it? Yet I can assure you that most of the people who read this article will give up anyway at the first obstacles and then justify themselves by saying they are not good (or with other similar excuses).
And for this I have thought of 2 tips also suitable for those who have to launch their very first online business:
FIRST TIP: It does not necessarily have to coincide with “your passion,”… but choose a topic you are interested in.
The reason is simple: doing something that you enjoy and stimulate will motivate you not to give up on the first difficulties. You will not only be laying the foundation for your financial self-realization, but you will be doing something that will nurture your emotional fulfillment. Remember: humans justify their actions with logic… but they act out of emotions.
SECOND TIP: Select a topic in which you already have fundamental skills.
If you already have skills that are suitable for solving the problem or granting the desire for a specific niche, you are already one step ahead.
We often forget that others have had totally different life experiences than ours, and therefore we take our skills for granted. But others are different from you!
For example, if you’ve been going to a gym for a few years, then you have more skills on the subject than 99% of other people just starting out, right? Likewise, if you know flowers, Yoga, programming, English, or whatever, you have more skills than someone who has never explored these topics.
Okay?
And if you don’t find a topic:
- Of your interest
- You know relatively well
- It is also profitable (NOTE: we will talk about this last part very soon)
Then you just have to do one thing: delve into a topic.
To get the skills, you need to serve a niche. You just need to read a few books, watch videos on YouTube, and attend a course or seminar.
You DO NOT have to become the master of something to be classified as an expert. You just need t
o have more skills than the people who are part of the niche you have selected (remembering that the niche is not the topic but the people you want to reach).
Remember when I told you that some experienced marketers and entrepreneurs are hopping here and there between niches? How do you think they do?
So okay that I advised you to choose a niche towards which you already have skills, but it was advice aimed only at speeding up the achievement of your goals. Are you interested in a niche that you have no expertise in? You can enter it anyway, just acquire that minimum of skills necessary to solve a certain problem.
And note that the more specific the problem is, the less time it will take to acquire these skills (to learn more about this, remember to access my free Start kit )
STEP 2: FIND “PROFITABLE” MARKET NICHE(PROFITABLE NICHE) |
Wow … what a beautiful word is it? Hear how good it sounds: “profitable market niches”.
How to find them?
The first step is simpler than you might think:
You need to find a niche where people are willing and spend money (indeed, it’s better if the money in that niche is already spending).
Consequently, you have to avoid niches where people are interested in the subject but they are not willing to spend money.
Okay, but how do you know if people spend money in a niche?
My advice is to start with these 3 indicators. They will help you recognize the really profitable market niches:
- Presence of affiliate programs
- Existence of advertisers (advertisers)
- Presence of entrepreneurs/marketers / YouTubers with profitable businesses
3 elements demonstrate one thing: in that market niche, there are euros! Therefore…
STEP 1: The very first thing you need to do is check for some type of affiliate program related to your chosen niche.
And beware, I’m not telling you that you must select an affiliate program. I repeat: this is only an indicator to understand if people are already selling / buying in that market segment.
How to do it? Go to Google and type:
“Best Affiliate Program [market segment of your interest]”
STEP 2: Check for advertisers
There is nothing simpler! It is enough for you:
- Go to Google
- Look for a few phrases related to your niche
- Verify that there are sponsored results (ads in green at the top or in the results sidebar)
PHASE 3: Check the number of competitors
Do you know others who have worked in a niche for some time? Great, then there is work to be done and monetized in that niche.
Competition = profitable market.
Basically, I’m telling you that you have to choose a niche that has already chosen other people.
You don’t have to be the “pioneer”. It is a very serious mistake that hides a huge risk: getting your prediction wrong.
Many tell me:
“I think it’s a good idea; nobody does it.”
And I reply:
“NO! If NO one does, it is not a good idea! “
Don’t be frightened by the competition; if you learn to do personal branding and to distinguish your offer (double uniqueness) your competitors will be irrelevant.
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But even if there are no competitors, no affiliate programs, or advertisers, there is one last chance …
STEP 3 – CHECK OF GROWING MARKET NICHES ANDEMERGING MARKET NICHES |
This third step is not mandatory; I report it only as integration for those who have not been successful with the first two steps but are still convinced that they had a good idea.
You need to know that you can predict market trends. You may be able to find a market niche by anticipating competitors.
In fact, your idea may not have the elements mentioned above just because it is still in a development phase: in this case, we can speak of growing market niches, or rather emerging market niches.
The first basic tool to find out what are the growing market niches is Google Trends. Here’s how to use it:
- Log in to Gooogle Trends (it’s free, you just need a Google account)
- Enter keywords to identify the niche
- Customize the search according to your preferences
Let’s do a research test.
You’ve heard of the “Pokemon Go” video game, I guess. When the application came out there was a collective madness: many people of all ages flocked to the streets in search of the pets in virtual reality.
But now we don’t hear about it anymore …
If I found myself in the situation of NOT knowing whether or not to work on a project that has to do with that video game, first of all, I would have taken a look at Google Trends:
Do you see the trend? Very rapid growth and then free fall. What could I have deduced from this graph?
That I could monetize the niche but only by acting fast
… But also that, in any case, I could not have created a lasting business(Of course in this case the fall was quite predictable as it was a simple pastime, but in other cases this tool can provide you with very useful information).
Lesson:
Even if there is a niche that you consider super-safe, a peek at the trend is always better to give it …
Conclusion: Market niche and marketing
At this point, you have discovered what a niche is, understand the advantages of choosing a specific topic and have the first set of instructions that will help you put into practice what you have learned.
People with little marketing skills think about an offer (THE IDEA), and then think about how to sell that product/service/information to people.
If you want to get a different result than most people, you need to reverse the process:
First you have to think about a group of people with a need (market niche) and then tailor a brand and offer tailored to their specific problems and desires.
Okay?
Optimal!
Remember that it is practically impossible to create something totally new in the world.
But actually, there can be 2 cases …
- You may be a visionary super-genius, and therefore, you may not care to verify that there is a market for your offer because it will give birth to a new market.
- Enter an existing market. Your offer will be similar to other offers…. but the choice of a specific niche and your way of branding will make the difference.
I leave the decision to you! If you think case two is more innovative, remember to access my Start Kit .
See you soon, –
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