By Scott Spooner

The folks over at HingeMarketing.com have recently completed a study looking at  the effects of market research on company growth and profitability. The results surprised the study team:

To our surprise, we found a clear — even dramatic — correlation between systematic research and firm growth and profitability. The more frequently you do research, the faster you grow and the more profitable you are.

The following infographic helps to summarize their findings.

In short, the more systematic research a business engages in, the the greater growth and profitability that business is likely to realize. The research team believes that this correlation is straightforward: the more you learn about your customers, the more you'll be able to anticipate their wants and needs, and the sooner you'll be able to react.

As the economy continues to remain soft, this is good advice for niche marketers who are trying to gain a foot hold in their market.

Related articles

• Harvard Business: The Three Questions That Lead to Profitable Growth (blogs.hbr.org)
• Is Market Research For You? (leccoworkshop.com)

Technorati Tags: market research, niche marketing

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[Editor's note: If you are just starting out as an on-line niche marketer then you're first step is to identify the particular niche market where you want to enter and compete. The following four steps will help you identify that niche market and start you off on the right foot. ~Scott]

By Carol Aird

Deciding on the right marketing niche is essential to your online success.

A marketing niche is defined as a targeted segment of a market in which your products are focused specifically to satisfy the needs of that segment. An example of an online marketing niche is a pet store selling only dog products instead of selling product for various types pets, like cats, dogs, and rabbits etc.

The four steps to finding your online niche are: choose an area you have knowledge about; have a passion for the area; discover potential customer’s unmet needs; and think of ways to meet those needs.

1. Choose an area you have knowledge about

It is best to choose an area you are familiar with. This does not mean that you cannot enter an area that you are not acquainted with; in doing so you need to take the time apply yourself to both learning and gaining experience in your chosen field. If you have knowledge, experience and expertise in your target market, potential customers will recognize those qualities – that helps to establish trust.

2. Have a passion for your area

Passion supplies energy to complete the task at hand and makes it more enjoyable. As an online marketer it is vital that your job does not wear you down and leaves you wanting to quit. Yet, passion in an area that is not bringing in revenue does not make sense. You are in this business to earn money, not to enjoy yourself and loose your hard earned money at end of the day. So choose something that is both enjoyable and gives you an income you desire.

3. Discover potential customer’s unmet needs

Fellow marketers may not satisfy all the needs of their customers. It is your duty to find out what those unmet needs are. This is done in a number of ways including, research of the target area, observation of behaviour patterns, and direct questioning of potential buyers. Through thorough research you will establish what kind of product is needed to satisfy your potential customers.

4. Think of ways to meet those needs

This process begins with the generation of an idea through imagination. This idea conceptualizes a specific product or service to solve the problem using the information gained through research. You can source the product if it already exists or you can create your own product or service. The resulting product or service is than marketed with confidence to your potential customers.

Do you want to learn more about internet marketing basics? If so, download my brand new eBook, Newbies Must Know, Newbies Must Know.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Aird

http://EzineArticles.com/?Niche-Marketing—4-Steps-to-Deciding-Your-Online-Niche-Market&id=4794834

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• 3 Reasons to Focus on Your Niche Market (ronmedlin.com)

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, niche market, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy

I have recently read the book, “How to Market to People Not Like You”, by Kelly McDonald. This is not your traditional, ho-hum book on marketing. Rather, it is an eye-opening read that changes the marketing paradigm with an approach that is both fresh and exciting.

McDonald focuses on the importance of identifying the “unlikely” customer – those customers who are not like you – how to tap into those customer segments with confidence and how to avoid mistakes and pitfalls when marketing to new customer groups. She has distilled this process into what she calls the “seven steps for selling to new and unfamiliar customers”.

McDonald asserts that, who you are is not defined by the color of your skin or the shape of your eyes or what generation you belong to; it’s about values. It’s about understanding that different groups have differing values. Traditional marketing approaches focus on demographics like gender, race, age, lifestyle and socio-economic groupings. To these, McDonald offers less conventional examples to the mix, including:

• Rural vs. metro
• Military vs. civilian
• Stay-at-home Moms vs. working Moms
• Home schooled children vs. children who attend public schools
• Foreign-born residents vs. U.S. born residents
• Political views and religious beliefs
• Vegans vs. meat-eaters

Each group has a set of values that is different from their counterparts. As a marketer, if you can recognize and understand these key values, and their differences amongst groups, you can then design effective marketing messages to reach the members of those groups, thus creating the opportunity for expanding both your customer base and market share.

I especially like the discussion about the differing values that each generation (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, etc.) have, and how marketing messages must be tailored to each group in order to be effective.

Using real-world examples from successful business owners and managers, “How to Market to People Not Like You” demonstrates how to create a deep, emotional connection between your products and new customer groups. The book is full of examples of successful – and not so successful – ads and marketing tactics from companies such as Toyota, BMW, Harley Davidson, AT&T, Apple, and many others.

The latest Census numbers are going to show that the U.S. population is the most diverse that is has ever been. As such, thinking about diversity will be more important than ever. Whether you are a niche marketer, a mass marketer, or somewhere in between, this book will provide you with insights into reaching new customer pools by tapping into the values of these consumer groups. By doing so, you’ll reach their hearts and minds and, ultimately, their wallets and purses.

This 209-page book is an easy to read, step by step guide, loaded with tactics that can be implemented just as easily by the owner of a local retail shop or the V.P. of Marketing of a Fortune 500 business.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is responsible for expanding their sales base and attracting customers unlike the ones they already have.

(Please note that the above link is an “affiliate link”. If you purchase the book using the above link, I will receive a commission on that purchase. If that bothers you, do not purchase through the above link. Rather, go straight to your favorite on-line book seller and purchase the book directly).

Technorati Tags: Baby Boom Generation, Generation X, Generation Y, How to Market to People Not Like You, Kelly McDonald, Marketing strategy, niche marketing

It’s been a while since I have posted a “round-up” of niche marketing videos. So, without further ado, here is a short collection of niche marketing videos for your education and enjoyment. The first three are from NicheTrends.net, while the last one is from the Headless Professor.

If you are new to the concept of niche marketing, these short videos will get you up to speed quickly.

Niche Marketing: Finding Hot Markets

NicheTrends.net If you’re stuck trying to find niche ideas for your niche marketing, here are some free tools that I use to find hot trends that may help you as well. You can also download a free report of the hottest niche marketing trends of 2008 a…

Niche Marketing: Finding Traffic

NicheTrends.net Need help with your niche market research? Here’s a nifty tool that can help. Visit our website at http for more ideas and a free report of the hot trends in 2008.

Niche Marketing: Niche Market Research

NicheTrends.net The key to niche market research is finding the needs of your target market. Watch over my shoulder as I dive into market research for a niche. Need more ideas? Download a free report on hot niche trends on http

niche marketing

How to target a niche based upon market segmentation: demographic, psychographic and benefit.

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• 3 Unique Niche Marketing Suggestions To Apply In Your Business … (worldmusiclebanon.org)
• Niche Selection Rules (marketersdaily.com)

Technorati Tags: market research, niche market, niche marketing videos

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Strapped for time and cash, small local businesses are increasingly turning to free and low-cost social media tools for their marketing efforts. Not surprisingly, the world’s biggest social networking site tops of the list of preferred tools.

Seventy percent of local businesses use Facebook for marketing, according to a new report from Merchant Circle, a network of U.S. local business owners. This represents a 20% increase over the previous year.

The report notes that for the first time, Facebook is being used more than Google by local businesses for online marketing.

Facebook also seems to have an advantage in the location check-in space, with 32% of small businesses saying they use the feature, compared with just 9% who have tried Foursquare.

This new data comes just as ChompOn, a group buying site, revealed its own data showing that Facebook updates are three times more effective than tweets when it comes to getting consumers to make purhcases online.

Nearly 40% of respondents in the Merchant Circle survey said they used Twitter for marketing, putting the microblogging site behind Facebook and Google.

The increased use of social marketing by small businesses should come as no surprise, considering the massive popular adoption of social networks and the low – often nonexistent – costs of using them. Web marketing companies in general have also been courting local businesses, about 51% of whom say that they’re cold-called about online marketing services at least once per week.

The Merchant Circle survey is based on a random sample of 8,456 small business business owners in the United States.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
http://www.wholesaleeshop.com.au/laptop-battery/hp-pavilion-dv7.htm

Related articles

• Social Media Marketing Up 40% Among Local Businesses (informationweek.com)
• MerchantCircle Study: Small Businesses Favor Facebook (webpronews.com)
• Facebook Pages – 4 Strategic Marketing Tips to Engage Fans (socialmediatoday.com)

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Foursquare, location-based marketing, MerchantCircle

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[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on the use of headlines for attracting traffic to your website, blog, or sales page.  This is the lifeblood for any niche marketer. Without a steady stream of qualified traffic, you simply won't have the number of sales you need to sustain your business. Following are several good tips for identifying great headline ideas.  ~Scott]

Writing totally original article headlines that get the click can be real tough sometimes. However, thankfully, there are some shortcuts that can help you write powerful headlines for your articles.

The easiest way to start writing great article headlines is to copy the top pros in your niche and adapt their headline to your article. How do you do that? There are several sources of this kind of inspiration:

1. Go to Yahoo News or MSN News or Google News and do a search for the keyword you are targeting in your article. Take some of the headlines from their articles and put in the information for your topic and see how you feel about it. These three do extensive testing to see how much their headlines are being clicked. Their headline writers are real pros. Copy their headlines and substitute their subject with the subject matter of your specific article.

2. Go to YouTube and punch in your keyword. You will find some good ideas there. Look for the video with the most views. People don’t click on videos unless the title attracts their attention. Since these are videos, not articles, you can conceivably use the popular video headline as your article headline and no one will mind.

3. You can also go to Amazon.com, indigo.com and other book selling sites. Look at the titles for the top selling books, ebooks, DVD’s and CD’s. Base your article around the top titles and make a headline out of the title if appropriate.

4. Magazines.com and other magazine sites can be a good source of article headlines that you can get from the covers they show for niche magazines.

5. Magazine directories for Yahoo, MSN, Google and others can be a great source of headline ideas.

6. Then there are specific magazines that are known for their great headline writers like The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, National Enquirer, World News, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and others. Look for the top magazines in your niche and adapt their stories and headlines for them to your article.

7. Be sure to look at niche specific magazines by typing in your niche + directory or niche + magazines into Google and look at the results.

8. Don’t forget about the newsletters in your niche. Do a search for any of the above ideas and replace the word magazines with newsletters. There are many paid and free newsletters that have some really great headlines and article topics.

9. Next, you can look at the Google Adwords ads that you’ll find on the right side of the page of any Google search. These are paid ads so you know people are putting their best into the headlines. Be careful with these ads though. Many people don’t know what they are doing. Watch the top Adwords ads over a span of several days, if not several weeks. If you find an ad being repeated over time it’s probably getting a lot of clicks.

10. Google Adwords ads are another source of some really good inspiration if you click on the ad and look at the headlines they are using in their sales letters, on the website, landing page, menu items, etc. Adwords ads are placed in order of popularity from top to bottom by Google so you know the top ads are the ones people are clicking on the most. Be careful here because it is possible to buy the top position by paying more. On the other hand, if an ad stays at the top for a long period of time, it must be working or they would get tired of paying the big bucks for something that doesn’t sell.

11. The last but certainly not the least source of good ideas are the social networking sites. Look at sites like Digg.com, propeller and others to see what people are rating as the best. Look for which ones get the most views, the ‘likes’ and other ways of expressing popularity. You’ll find some great ideas there!

Hope that helps get your wheels turning and you find some great inspiration to write article headlines that get the click.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
For more ideas on how to write attention getting headlines and articles that help you sell your products click here. You can get a free course on how to make money online here.

Related articles

• Longer AdWords Headlines: Google Blurring The Lines of Paid, Organic Results? (searchenginewatch.com)
• Starting a Niche Site: Where to Find Blog Topics (theworkathomewife.com)
• Subject line inspiration: where to get it (email-marketing-reports.com)

Technorati Tags: AdWords, Google News, National Enquirer, New York Times, niche marketing, Wall Street Journal

[Editor's note: Today's guest article takes us back to the fundamentals of niche marketing. Mastering the fundamentals is the pathway to success. Whether your niche market is on-line, or off-line, it is always a good idea to review the basics from time to time. ~Scott]

By Marketing Knowledge Hub

The world of Internet Marketing is constantly changing. We all have to find out what is working for us to attract visitors to our websites (drive traffic) and keep them coming back for more. What worked for you last year may not necessarily be the best strategy for you to use this year.

Before passing on the secrets, let me just say that it is imperative that you have a good understanding of online and Internet terminology before proceeding. With that said, here are four fundamentals of Internet Marketing.

1. Content: We all need to understand that the best tool in our arsenals is our content. If you are providing your visitors with high quality, original content, you will start to create a buzz. People start talking about you and tell other people about your site, other websites start linking to your site and you will start to see higher search engine rankings. So your content is KEY when you are marketing online and this is especially true if you do not have the resources to engage in massive advertising to build a branding campaign.
2. Stay Consistent In Your Actions: There is no magic bullet. Internet Marketing is something that we have to do on a consistent basis using different methods to see what is working better for us. There are more and more people starting to market online so the competition gets stronger and stronger every day so it’s going to depend on the effort that YOU put in whether or not you are going to see the results that you are looking for.
3. Don’t Be A One Trick Pony: Use different strategies, techniques and split testing to see what is working best for you and how you are generating traffic more effectively than other methods. Even if you are brand new to Internet Marketing, you should still pick 2-3 marketing techniques and stick with them until you start to see some nice results. Track and measure your results and prioritize your Internet Marketing activities. Plus, the more places that people see you on the internet, the more real you become to them.
4. Become A Student: We have all grown up hearing the phrase “Knowledge Is Power” and it’s the truth. Internet Marketing is continually evolving and rapidly changing so we have to continually educate ourselves. What may have worked a couple years ago may no longer work or could be frowned upon now. Google and YouTube are shutting people down every day and their content disappears in the blink of an eye. So read up and pay attention to what techniques others are using to successfully market online and implement them into your business. A true professionals education never stops.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Marketing Knowledge Hub is a network for marketing professionals and decision makers. Check out our library of free marketing research to learn more about online marketing and social media. You can also review additional research and information at the free white papers database.

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Technorati Tags: Marketing strategy, niche marketing

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Today Mashable, and several other blogs, reported on the rumor that Google has just purchased Groupon for $2.5 billion.The acquisition would allow Google to integrate Groupon’s deals with Google’s newly enhanced Google Places.

If the rumors are true, the deal would position Google well against rival Facebook, which recently announced Facebook Places.

The larger question, of course, is: where is all of this heading? As “location-based” marketing continues to merge with “promotion-based” marketing, the industry giants are signaling that the likely trend of the future will be the merging of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses with the technological savvy of the Internet business communities.

What effect will this have on the smaller, niche-oriented businesses? How about the corner bakery? Or the local nightclub?

How can the mom-and-pop business of the future successfully compete? What combination of check-ins, promotions, incentives, and merchandising will work tomorrow? What exactly is the road forward?

Tell me what you think.

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• Google rumored to have bought Groupon for $2.5 billion (downloadsquad.switched.com)

Technorati Tags: Google, Groupon, location-based marketing, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, promotion-based marketing

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By Scott Spooner

The trend over the last year is for location-based marketing beginning to merge with promotion-based marketing. Witness the announcement this week of Coca-Cola teaming up with local malls to create a scavenger hunt of sorts that pays off with real promotions in the form of gift cards and Coke-branded merchandise.

Over the last couple of years, several authors (including myself) have predicted that the first wave of location-based marketing efforts – where consumers “check-in” for virtual badges or “mayorships” – would play out as consumers begin to lose interest.

These predictions seem to have been borne out based on the continuing low percentage of consumers who chase after these virtual payoffs.

Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and similar companies are about to change all that; and maybe in the process, change the rules of promotion marketing as well. These companies, and more like them every day, are realizing that location-based marketing can be a real driver in terms of getting consumers into a store, but it will take the coupling of a strategic promotions campaign to persuade those consumers into making a purchase.

Technology has put the consumer in the driver seat when it comes to selecting (or ignoring) competitors; and in this current economic climate, many are willing to wait on the sidelines and see what incentives show up.

Now it is up to the marketers to use that same technology to not only woo those consumers back into their stores, but also to combine the power of location-based marketing with promotion-based marketing in order to successfully compete in this rapidly changing marketplace.

What do you think? How can your company strategically use a combination of location-based, and promotion-based, marketing to increase both traffic and sales?

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• Foursquare Gets Pepsi, SCVNGR Answers With A Fizzy Partner Of Its Own: Coca-Cola (techcrunch.com)
• Location-Based Cola Wars: Pepsi, Coke, Foursquare and SCVNGR (readwriteweb.com)
• Coke Targets Teens With Black Friday SCVNGR Promotion (mashable.com)

Technorati Tags: coca cola, location-based marketing, Marketing strategy, niche marketing, promotion-based marketing

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[Editor's note: Today's guest article drills into your marketing strategy. Here we will focus on your target market, and the goods and services you sell. This article should get you thinking about how to plan your marketing efforts in order to maximize your marketing dollars. ~Scott]

By Krista Baker

If you have just started a business, you are probably eager to get the word out and start marketing. This is where many small-business owners get stuck. What are the best ways to market your business? How do you get the most bang-for-your-buck?

Before you can answer these questions, you must look internally at your core business strategy. Entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of trying to be “everything to everyone” and the thought of turning away business can seem foolish when you are strapped for cash. Yet the quickest way to burn through your marketing budget is to try to target everyone.

The best marketing plans start with a quick assessment of your core business strategy.

1) What is your business identity? How do you differentiate your business from others like you? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why should customers and clients do business with you instead of your competitors?

2) Who is your target market? To market cost-effectively, you must know and understand the main problems and frustrations of your market. What are their demographics? What do they want? What do they need – and is that different from what they want? What is their decision-making process for purchasing the types of products and services you offer?

3) What products and services do you offer? You can’t be and do everything for all people, so what do you sell? If you try to sell a laundry list of products and services to everyone who contacts you, you will end up confusing your prospects – and confused prospects don’t buy. The best types of products and services to sell involve aligning your core strengths with what your target market desperately wants. How can you use your strengths to solve a major frustration or pain that your market has?

These three questions are interdependent. You must be able to adequately answer all three before you start any marketing campaign.

Conducting Market Research
Once you have a clear idea of what you do best, what your market wants, and the types of solutions you will offer, the next step is to clearly explain your core products and services in a way that communicates why you are the premiere choice for solving your market’s problems over all other options available to them.

The best way to do this is to conduct basic market research. Go out and talk to people in your target market. Ask them if they have ever had the problem your products and services solve. Ask them how they solved their problem. Ask them how they made their purchasing decision and what attracted them to this particular solution.

Don’t assume you know the answers to these questions. Get hard data. Otherwise, you are just guessing.

Many people skip this step because it isn’t as sexy as putting up a website, being #1 in Google or creating a beautiful brochure, but if you try to skip the market research step, you end up with a very hit-or-miss marketing campaign. You try lots of tactics – and some may work – while most result in a lot of money wasted for few results.

Marketing that works is based on psychology. If you understand what your target market wants most, where they go to research potential solutions, and how they decide to purchase a solution, you will know where you should be advertising, what types of marketing tactics will be most effective in attracting new clients, and what your marketing materials should say.

Need help writing your marketing plan? Download your free 45-page strategic marketing plan guide today at http://www.getclientstoday.com. This hands-on workbook covers the 6 steps for creating your marketing strategy and includes a fill-in-the-blank marketing plan template you can use to craft your monthly marketing plan.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Krista_Baker

http://EzineArticles.com/?Marketing-Strategy—3-Key-Questions-to-Dramatically-Increase-the-Number-of-Prospects-You-Attract&id=3758636

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Technorati Tags: market research, Marketing strategy, niche marketing