Finding Your Niche In A Crowded Online Market

When you're building an online business, you will most likely be advised to find a hungry niche: a target market consisting of prospects who are able and willing buy what you offer. Most marketers soon realize that customers buy what they want, not what they need. They will often find a way to buy if their desire is strong enough.

I identify two types of a hungry market: the cookbook and the tire store. One market always wants "just one more" and the other wants "just one - right now."

By way of contrast, it's harder to sell "nice to have" novelty products, such as the lavender salad dressing I bought last year.

Cookbook business: Remember the potato chip commercials that teased us about eating just one -- and stopping? This business model targets customers who will always want "just one more."

People who are into cooking rarely own just one cookbook. They have dozens and they're always buying more. They also buy cooking accessories. Their friends give them cooking gadgets for birthdays.

You know you have a cookbook business when your market keeps buying more and more products in the same category. Cookbook businesses include quilting, knitting, teddy bears, dogs (ever meet a dog with just 1 toy? Either zero or too many - and I have 4 dog beds for 1 dog), golf, and yes, Internet marketers.

Tire Store: When was the last time you visited a tire store? I bet you weren't "just looking."

Customers buy tires to replace flat or worn out tires. They rarely browse around a tire store on a lazy Sunday afternoon. They rarely comparison shop. They buy because they're, well, desperate.

Tire store businesses target customers who think their business is failing, seek solutions to embarrassing personal problems, can't seem to lose weight, want to save a failing relationship and/or just received a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes.

Lavender salad dressing: Does anybody search for this product? No. Do food shoppers buy it? You bet.

Every year my favorite upscale food store, Metropolitan Market, holds a lavender special. Last year, waiting at the checkout counter, I bought a jar of lavender salad dressing. I rarely even buy salad dressing: give me olive oil and balsamic vinegar any day. It was delicious.

The problem is, this type of product often doesn't do well on the Internet. It's a "nice to have," not a solution to a problem. If you fit this category, you need to get in front of readers while they're looking for something else.

To take just one example, I have an ebook about intuition for career and business challenges. Not a hot topic on the Internet. But I promote it on web pages related to careers and to business. I offer it as a bonus with other purchases. So readers see my ebook when they're looking for something else.