Too often in business we lose sight of the customer – we forget that we ourselves are customers with wants and needs.
Yesterday I was at a wedding and was talking with the photographer a bit. He was telling me about his business and that he’s taken time over the past year to really focus on the wedding market. When I asked him why, he told me that he spent time understanding what drives brides and grooms-to-be and started testing his ideas for that specific niche. After a few meetings, he realized that he seemed to understand what these customers needed and was able to provide them with a good service.
He also took it a step further and started offering specialized packages for different types of weddings. This approach came from some of the meetings he had with couples and he realized that not all brides and grooms can be grouped into the same category.
Sometimes us business owners want to be everything to everyone. However, bigger isn’t always better – focusing in on a niche and satisfying their specific needs really can pay dividends.
Like the photographer did, the first step in this is really doing the research. Once you get out there and talk to people about what they want, you start to develop an understanding and also build relationships. This can take many forms – surveys, interview or even casual conversations – but the important part is that you take note of what people are saying and common themes.
After you get to know these groups, it’s time to segment. As the photographer did, segmenting the niche as far as you can helps to customize the experience for customers. By doing this, you attract specific clients with specific goals – making the actual work easier as expectations are set early on.
Once you’ve got the business in your defined niche, you need to carry this personalized experience through to implementation. By positioning and delivering a product or service directly at a defined and narrow market, you are likely to reap significant rewards.
When I asked the wedding photographer what the biggest benefit of being a niche player has been to his business, he said two things. Customer satisfaction seemed to go up with all his clients as they felt that he truly understood their needs. The second benefit he mentioned was that he got a lot of referrals to other couples with similar needs.
I don’t know about you, but both sound good to me! Taking the time to understand your market, how your business can address unmet needs and delivering on them can really be a win-win for everyone!
