Virtual Marketeers

Deciding on a Niche Area for Your Business can be a Really Excellent Marketing Tool!

• It allows for your business to establish credibility in the field of choice through:
  -  Developing knowledge and understanding of the needs of the clientele.
  -  Being able to focus your research and training toward a particular area.

• It increases your ability to provide a quality and timely service.
  -  Good quality and timely services means happy customers.
  -  A happy customer means more referrals.

• It helps in managing expenditure, as your business will direct their purchase choices more towards servicing that area specific.
• If you own a website or blog, then your ranking will likely be higher in the search engines specific to your particular area of expertise.

The Value of Credibility

When making purchases most customers will weigh up the perceived value, or the worth of that item:

The definition of value from define.com is “The property or aggregate properties of a thing by which it is rendered useful or desirable, or the degree of such property or sum of properties; worth; excellence; utility; importance.”

The definition of credibility also from define.com is “The quality of being believable or trustworthy.” On reading these definitions, would you agree that value is very much interrelated and interconnected with credibility?

To illustrate this, if something went extremely wrong with a product, and it was published on the news and the impact of this ‘fault’ spread to the outer ends of the earth, then I would suggest that this company has lost credibility in the customers eyes.

When a business loses credibility it is very difficult for them to gain it back.  The business reputation has most likely lost it’s value… it’s worth… it’s excellence… and in the clients eyes it has lost importance.  In the customers eyes the business might be labeled as unreputable, useless or undesirable – the opposite of ‘value’.

When the Clients Hard Work Does Not Pay Off…

It is so true that many customers work extremely hard for their dollar and do not take kindly to feeling that they have been ripped off.

Being ‘ripped off’ is not solely to do with paying too much money for a product or a service.  It is quite obvious that this thought process in some people might drive some individuals to purchase the cheaper of the two products.  A quality service will out way a ‘cheap’ service or product for many people.  The thought process is extremely varied in what each individual considers to be ‘value’.

A feeling that you have been ‘ripped off’ can also be linked to a product or service being faulty or sub-standard.  There is then a need for either the provider, or their client to invest more to have the problems or errors fixed and it links directly back to the poor service or product delivery of the provider.

…and Quality Fails,

In some industries ‘faulty’ or ’sub-standard’ could have the weight of being detrimental to the provider, the client or the end user.  An example of this would be the work that is done by an electrician.

Would a person not be looking for an expert to complete their electrical work?  The works is likely to be completed to current standards, greatly decreasing the likelihood of things going wrong.

The Client Suffers Big Time.

If something did go wrong either when the work was done, or further down the track and the client had engaged the services of a qualified electrician to do this job, then it is likely the client will be covered by insurance.

If this client had decided at the time that it was much cheaper to get their unqualified, but maybe knowledgeable friend to do this job, then it will be very unlikely that their insurance would cover them if anything were to go wrong.

So Establish a High Quality and Timely Service.

An electrician can establish even more credibility by providing a high quality and timely service.  To improve on their service delivery an electrician might consider focusing his or her expertise to a particular area within the industry.

The electrician completes further studies so that he understands the ins and outs… the workings of the air conditioner and the cabling to the outside box.  He also establishes himself in this line of work and eventually he is installing on average 5 air conditioners per day.

Would your preference be to hire the above electrician who is very highly skilled and trained in the area, or would you hire the electrician who installs maybe on air conditioner every 6 months.

This is just one example.  You can probably think of many other areas that an electrician might be needed for a specific job.

Ensuring Not to Provide a Service that is Counterproductive.

Would a real estate agent looking for a ghostwriter likely engage the services of any old ghostwriter?  I don’t think so!  Would they even consider paying a ghostwriter if it was possible that what the ghostwriter would produce would likely foster a poor image for their real estate business.  This would be counterproductive!

The real estate agent would likely seek out someone who is good at writing and also interested in topic.  The real estate agent would be looking for someone who understands their market, their clients, and also has knowledge of what content is going to help their real estate business to grow and expand.

Build your Reputation by Funneling your Time, Effort and Money to the Right Places.

Say two of the brides friends provide a recommendation for a good photographer to cover their upcoming wedding.

When the bride goes to individually meet these photographers it is obvious that the first of these two photographers dabbles in a bit of everything.  His portfolio is quite impressive and covers all areas.  There is one, maybe two photos included in his portfolio that are of a wedding party.  His portfolio is good, but you can tell that he does not cover a lot of weddings.

When you meet the second photographer it is obvious that they have niched their business to cater specific to wedding photography.  They quite proudly show you their wedding portfolio, which is full of absolutely stunning shots of the wedding party.  The photographer goes out of his way to provide you with possible locations for the wedding shoot, he shows you equipment that he has purchased to cater for a specific wedding need.  There are extras that he provides that the first photographer did not. The wedding photographer offers a package, and the price is fixed and will not change.

It’s possible that the price seems to be higher for the second photographer, who is niched as a wedding photographer.

Even if this is the case I am absolutely certain that this wouldn’t be the only consideration that the bride and groom might take into account.

Actually… when it comes to their wedding I know many many people who have or would look past the price… and would hire the second photographer and not the first, just because of his stunning portfolio, his knowledge, plus the additional and fixed services that he provides.

Make SEO Work for You

The bonus to refining your expertise is that you also have the ability to refine the key words that are attached to your blog and to your website.  If done right then you can greatly increase your chances of attracting customers seeking out your particular skill set.

In refining your key words to suit your niche the chances of your becoming lost amongst your peers (others in your industry) is greatly decreased.

Establishing a Niche Means More Referrals.

You might have noticed that businesses tend to develop a network within their own industry.  Virtual Assistants hang out with Virtual Assistants, same with bookkeepers and accountants, same with speakers… the list goes on.  Can you see how this might be of advantage to you? It means that your target market are much more likely to be around you and to notice you.  Your chances are also increased of receiving referrals to your target market.

A Happy Customer!

Your reputation, your credibility and whether people know you is what will assist you to expand and to grow your business.  To offer that refined knowledge and expertise to your clients means that your competition is reduced.  It also means that you will likely undergo additional training in the appropriate areas and be able to further refine your expertise so that you can service your clients even better.

So again I ask the question “Have You Chosen a Niche Area Yet?”  If not I hope that I have got you thinking!

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