This may sound a bit naive however I always advise others to cultivate their "God given" talents first because I have learned that those are the talents that most people thrive while doing. I have learned that we often spend a lot of time attempting to learn or master things in order to best accomplish our goals. More often than not we were already in possession of the skills required to soar we simply choose to take the long route. Do what you feel so comfortable doing that it feels natural and you can't go wrong.
Finding a niche is a weird, haphazard activity that sometimes happens totally non-linearly! I use a tool called Magnet2 from Helium10. It's a search volume tool that looks at common keywords searched for on Amazon. This way you can look up something like "organiser" and then it will spit out loads of niche ideas like "make up organiser" "shoe organiser" "car organiser" and it gives you how many people are searching for that thing per month! It's really amazing and has helped me launch successful products on amazon because you have the confidence that people are definitely searching and buying for that product niche before you get started. Hope that helps! Alex
Honestly, at least for me, a lot of trial and error. Also asking people (I have found that people from church see things you or your family don't) what they see as your strengths.
I also joined a social media coaching group through Facebook which really helped a lot. Paid group so tons of value, meeting other women that are there to help you every step of the way!!
It all depends on what you're interested in. Are you interested in creating Software? Applications? Websites? If you're first able to decide what you'd like to program, you'll be better equipped to find your niche. For instance, I have always loved web development, and so I found my niche quite early - HTML/CSS/JavaScript while I was still in High School. In the years since then, while I've been in college, I've expanded that to include other languages like PHP and Ruby.
You have to start small, in an area where you'll be able to see results quickly (not because you should "take the easy way", but because when you're just starting, it's since to have that reassurance, by being able to see something working quickly - you stay interested, motivated and confident that way).
If you're not sure what you'd like to create, start reading some blogs or visiting websites and see if any particular topic catches your eye. If that doesn't work, just dive right in and try out different languages until you find one that really speaks to you - you'll find it! It just takes time sometimes.
I've successfully helped over 150 entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses, and I would be happy to help you. Please send me more information before scheduling a call - so I can give you maximum value for your money. Take a look at the great reviews I’ve received: https://clarity.fm/ripul.chhabra
Leverage Google search data! There are tools such that allow you to see how many people are interested in certain products/categories and how competitive those areas are within SEO. Although it may seem like a narrow view; how people search, the volume at which they search, and what they're searching for can be a great way to identify niche opportunities that are under-served today.
As someone who leads growth marketing at a large e-commerce, I'm constantly looking for new product opportunities that can create value and solve gaps for consumers today. Feel free to schedule a call and I can walk you through how I've found success doing so.
What is it that you can do well and enjoy doing even if you do not get paid for it?
Identify your interests and passions. This may be something you've already done. Identify problems you can solve. With your list of 10 topics in hand, you're ready to start narrowing down your options. Research your competition. Determine the profitability of your niche. Test your idea.
In the HBR article titled ‘Avoid Coaching the Niche’ by Gill Corkindale the writer says. “What’s your niche?” The “correct” answer, it seems, was “top team,” “high potentials,” “leaders,” “women,” or “board members.”
Now this is for the coaching industry what the author is talking about. Finding your own Niche is not that difficult. The first thing that you must determine is that which is the sector you want to start with. Say for instance you are a pharmacist and your niche market is “rural areas” and “senior citizen”, or you may be a designer and your niche can be “baby-wear” and “infants”. To define a niche, you must have the detailed knowledge of the sector and how does it perform.
Let us take the definition of niche- a focused, targetable part of a market for certain products or services that has unmet demand. Understanding the market demand is highly essential when you want to find your niche. The first step towards finding your niche is a grassroot research about your product that you want to target, it is something we all know as PLC or Product Life Cycle. The PLC generally arises from product development from the rich world. Products could initially remain within advanced countries and were exported regionally. This condition allowed products to be conceived, developed, and established in the countries that developed such products. Products could be imported from the home country or original manufacturer but could be either quite costly or not economically viable if the long-term business prospect was considered. In this perspective, products that were less popular domestically and that grew less fashionable over time could be exported elsewhere. In developing economies, the level of industrial and technological was particularly low and such nations could adopt products that had low market value in advanced nations.
Stages of PLC can be defined in the following stages:
1. Stage One: The international product life cycle begins with the product being developed and manufactured in the USA ( or any developed nation) for high-income segments, subsequently being introduced in other markets in the form of exports.
2. Stage Two: The second phase outlines that there is an emergence as technology is developed further and becomes more easily transferable. Companies in other countries then begin to manufacture and, because of lower transportation costs or labour costs, can undercut the US manufacturers in certain markets.
3. Stage Three: In the third phase, the foreign companies or those of the emerging economies compete against the US exports to developing nations. This leads to a further decline in the market for US exports. Consequently, the US companies withdraw themselves from selected markets or they invest in manufacturing capacity overseas to regain sales.
4. Stage Four: In the final stage, foreign companies that get a foothold in the home as well as overseas markets, start exporting to the USA and compete against the products manufactured domestically.
The Stage three is where niches are created, and this is what provides an opportunity to capture the market. But that is not all. In the long run to stabilize your niche you must understand what type of economy you are dealing with. It may be that there is demand in the market today but no demand soon. Take the coaching example I gave you above. You are a class A coach and your niche is “top teams” and you have built all your plans on the that niche. Suddenly the business module changes and “top teams” fall out of favour and in their place “high potentials” come in. Now this is a different ballgame. You have no experience with this niche like you had with previous one and you may suffer a heavy loss. Another thing that might happen is that there is a shift in government and new government favours women empowerment more and want them to participate in businesses on a global scale, but since you were busy coaching “high potentials” you miss out “women” and that could be exploited by another company which may turn out to be your rival. Niche may shift from point A to Point B but you must identify the unmet demand.
Another factor that you must keep in mind is Emerging economies. In this part we will understand the CAGE MODEL. This model brings out four key variables of cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic distances. Let us discuss them one by one:
1. Cultural distance: The term cultural distance includes differences in factors such as religious beliefs, social norms, language, and race. Pankaj Ghemawat states the example of countries that have a common language and that the trade between these countries will be three times greater than between countries that do not share a language.
2. Administrative distance: Another distance that is likely to affect an evaluation of potential markets is administrative distance. This term includes factors such as having a common currency, being part of the same political union or having preferential trading agreements. All these factors can separately increase trade by more than 300 percent each and since these factors obviously facilitate trade, we argue that they would also influence the choice of country to enter. Although, it should be noted that political ties must be of a friendly nature to facilitate trade. If they are not, it will result in an even bigger distance between the respective countries.
3. Geographic distance: Geographic distance is not only the actual distance in kilometres to the host country, but also a matter of e.g. access to waterways, physical size of the country, and communication and transportation infrastructure. The infrastructure of a country can alters its ranking in an evaluation since it affects the cost and speed of transportation of products. Even information infrastructure (e.g. multinational banks and communications) can influence the distance between two countries.
4. Economic distance: Economic distance implies that companies relying on economies of scale, experience, and standardisation should aim their efforts on markets with a similar economic profile. The reason for this is that, in order for the company to exploit their competitive advantage, they need to imitate their existing business model and this can be hard to achieve if the cost and quality of resources, and consumer incomes are very different. On the contrary, there are companies who base their advantage on these differentials (arbitrage) i.e. exploit cost and price differentials between markets.
Not only will the understanding CAGE model help you get a niche but will also help you stay longer as a dominant player in the market. In India one company that has understood the CAGE model and expanded exponentially in India is AMUL.
Amul cooperative was registered on 19 December 1946 as a response to the exploitation of marginal milk producers by traders and agents in small cities. The prices of milk were arbitrarily determined at the time. The government had given Polson an effective monopoly in milk collection from Kaira and its subsequent supply to Mumbai. Angered by the unfair trade practices, the farmers of Kaira approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel under the leadership of local farmer leader Tribhuvandas K. Patel. He advised them to form a cooperative (Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union) and supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson (who did the same but gave them low prices). Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of milk and milk products and is US $5.4 billion company.
The Niche here was “farmers of Kaira” who were suffering due to unfair trade practices.
What can be generally assessed is that all key sectors of the economy of emerging nations might at times perform very well and at other times perform quite moderately. This is principally due to trade taking place with advanced nations where price fluctuations influenced by commodity markets can sometimes imperil such economies. For this reason, developing nations are keen to develop new sectors so that jobs are created, revenue is earned, and a diversified economy allows such countries to avoid ‘putting all eggs in the same basket’. This is a challenge for emerging economies since they must espouse new technologies that demand new technological knowledge with a high need for skilled labour.
Apart from industrial technology, the services sector in emerging economies is also booming. This has come from the development of computer and information technology in emerging economies. Apparently, this is an international phenomenon and such technological progress moves fast across borders because of its quick adaptation and transfer. Incidentally, one can speak of a ‘Silicon Valley’ in Bangalore, India in the same way as an IT sector in Shengzen China. Through information technology, developing economies act as production and back office facilities for already established giants like Microsoft or Apple and at the same time provide services that are outsourced to them.
Understanding the key industries in an emerging economy can help you grip your niche better, as they are the drivers of the growth. For instance, if you coach “high potentials” of Silicon Valley in Bangalore, India, it will result in more profits compared to “high potentials” in textile industry in Bangalore because Silicon Valley is the key industry in Bangalore.
Thus, to find your niche you must:
a. Identify the Niche Market
b. Understand the PLC of that Niche Market
c. Enlist the Key industries that influence the Niche Market.
Besides if you do have any questions contact me: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
When determining your niche the first question one has to ask themselves is what am I passionate about? Your niche is a focused and targeted area that your organization serves particularly well so you'll be spending all your time and money learning about and working throughout that industry. If you're not passionate about an industry it'll be a lot easier for you to quit or put things off so ensuring that you're passionate helps to keep you motivated to run your business.
Once you know what you're passionate about ask yourself what problems can your interest could solve? For example, if you're passionate about the beauty industry maybe you could develop a new shampoo that promotes rapid hair growth with a special formula made just for people suffering from alopecia. Your niche here would be the shampoo product that serves a whole community of people with alopecia, ultimately creating a results yielding solution for this group of individuals.
Next, check out your competition. Things to look out for is the strength of their brand identities, their marketing content and their transparency with patrons. If the competition is weak in any of these areas there's a good chance that you can jump into this market and make a pretty good return on investment. You always want to be as transparent with patrons as possible where as being more corporate can cause trust issues for a company.
After you're sure there's space for you in this industry check to be sure that the actual product or service you're offering is profitable. You can use websites like clickbank.com to search through the products in your niche's category. When doing so you're looking to see if there are similar products to yours. If there are that means there's already a steady market for your niche and it's time to bring your product to the table. If you do not see many products in your niche's category this isn't a good sign and could very well mean that the product you're offering hasn't yet been successfully monetized in that industry. You always want to be sure any investment is worthwhile based on the return on said investment.
Once you've explored this checklist go ahead and test the waters. Put your product out there by creating a website and linking to it through paid advertising. Paid ads will bring in customers and spread awareness of your brand or product/service. Being consistent with ads is the key to sustaining an online business so be sure to have enough room in your budget for marketing your organization.
Good Luck!
