Backend Products
Deep Niche Online Business
Years ago, traditional businesses would set up shop in a physical location, stock shelves with the goods the owner expected to be in demand, and open the doors to customers and hope they would buy what was offered.
The solo information business of today is different. No longer does the owner need to make such an expensive commitment to his guess or hunch about which niche is profitable and which products will sell.
The savvy business owner will first establish exactly what the customer is looking to purchase, then he’ll develop or locate that exact product(s), learn how to contact the waiting customers in that niche, and lastly offer the prospects exactly what they are looking for.
Does this approach sound like it takes most of the guesswork and mystery out of the selling equation?
Could there be a safer or lower risk business model than this one?
This exact strategy (in various forms with twists here and there) owes much of its power to the fact that it reduces the inherent risks associated with traditional business methodologies and it focuses on marketplace demand within a given niche.
Why guess at what your customer wants when he will tell you exactly what it is . . . if you simply ask him?
Why keep a large inventory of products on hand if you can put into place a system to quickly produce those products on demand once they have been paid for?
Why go to the hassle and expense of renting or buying an expensive store front when you can save 98% of the cost of overhead by working from home with a computer and an Internet connection?
Why compete with powerful and well-financed corporations when you can dig down very deeply into a niche and become the market leader and industry expert of a very tightly focused and profitable niche that has few, if any, competitors?
You see, today’s business climate and information focus reward extreme niche specialization. Customers crave and are willing to pay for very specific information that will help them fill a desire, solve a problem, or help them in some way.
The deeper into a niche you go, the fewer competitors you find and the more passionate the customers seem to become. Why?
There are a number of reasons.
Corporations are divesting themselves today of whole departments and all the extraneous sidelights they once pulled under their wing. They are focusing on core competencies and shedding (outsourcing) all the baggage that they’re not so good at operating.
Some have called this trend the “unbundling” of business. Never has there been a better time in history for the solo business owner to find a deep, deep niche and capitalize on the fact that he can make a good living serving the customers of this tiny segment.
Few truly grasp the global nature of the Internet and the size of most niches. Think about this example: you want to set up a local business and earn money from your hobby — “bird watching.” Under the old small business brick and mortar model where the prospects for such a business might number several dozen participants in a medium sized community, such a venture would be nearly impossible as the audience is just too small to keep such a business viable.
Now compare that example with an online site about bird watching where an audience can be gathered from around the globe. Note that this model requires very little overhead and no need to travel to the business location.
Can you see the power of global online small business in a deep niche? The access to the business via the Internet is an incredible advantage to small businesses that focus on a very narrow portion of the marketplace that will most likely be neglected by large box businesses. A very small business can create authority in the niche and become known as the “go to” place for enthusiasts that will spend money on the topic.
Just remember to “go deep” (drill way down into the niche) and focus on the wants of the passionate customers you’ll find there.
To your online business success,
Steve Browne
www.SteveBrowneDirect.com