When it comes to finding a niche market, launching a full scale invasion and establishing a brand right out of the gate is an important strategy. Rest assured, as soon as you find and begin to exploit a niche market, a dozen others will be right on your heels.
There are a few things you can do to ensure that ‘finders keepers’ remains in effect. The idea is that you will be like Google and become a household name so fast that latecomers to the niche will be playing your seconds to the end of time.
1. Carefully plan in advance before launching your takeover of a niche market. You don’t want to tip your hand to soon! Mass your forces to cover all avenues – article directories, linking, advertising, keywords etc – then launch as strongly and aggressively as possible. If you can inundate the market you can corner it.
2. Create a brand, and use it. Refer to it everywhere, and make it synonymous with the niche – like Kleenex, Q-Tip, Band Aid and Kotex (what is it with personal hygiene products??)
3. Don’t forget that the first few months are critical. If you have planned well, you will be able to add content to your site, blog, wiki, directories and ad campaign on a very short interval, regular schedule. This will get you ranking for your keywords on Google in enough force to block any others who try to get a foothold.
4. You will hopefully have thought ahead and planned a full scale social campaign to mirror your ad and content campaign. Consider buying some blog reviews, or spend some time surfing and commenting in active forums. Toss a Press Release or two out there – you might even consider some offline ads, like print and TV or radio media in addition to whatever online ads you run.
5. Think about becoming your own affiliate, and getting others to help market your product for you in exchange for a cut of the profits. This will get your site more exposure as well and increase traffic. You can also write eBooks, offer free tips or advice via auto responder and try out email marketing on a small and non-offensive scale. Many people appreciate newsletters, so you might consider a monthly update to be a good plan.
6. Don’t ignore any complaints. Bad press can kill a rep in less time than a West Nile Virus – phobe can kill a mosquito, so stay abreast of what is being said about you. Make every effort to address qualified complaints, and deal quietly but firmly with whack jobs. If need be, create a massive keyword oriented campaign with multiple pages to shove a bad review off the front page of Google.
Once you have made the necessary preparations, you can sweep through your chosen niche and settle it decisively, taking all the key positions. Hunker down and wait for attack, but rest assured that if you are determined to stay on top of your niche, you can easily upset all comers just by maintaining your armaments and battlements the same way that you built them – with vigilance!
Tags: blog reviews, campaign, marketing, niche market
Great information – a fine recipe for making a delicious niche for ourselves.
By the way, this sounds like hard work! Might be the kind of project where some knowledgeable help is crucial, huh?
~Jim