The ultimate guide on how to Carve that business niche

      

         Not every business idea would serve everybody. As such, some businesses are niche based. In other words, they are focused on a certain group of people. They cater for the needs, desires and tastes of a certain category of people.  It is important for you to know who you are in business to serve. Once you know that, it is less difficult for you to provide your service or product to the right customer. Businesses that are niche based usually focus on a narrow market. Sometimes that market is defined by age, status, education, sex or race, color, language and culture.  Niche business people usually cater for the neglected or the unexpected. Their strategy is to think in an different way from the generality of people who are in marketing and sales. 

Nouhad Kalmoni Chief Executive Officer of Silver Star

 

       Niche is not always rich!  Sometimes when the term is mentioned in business we think of exclusive and expensive items: cars like Jaguar, Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce or expensive champagnes like the ones Alexander Amosu created way back in 2009 which has been touted the most expensive champagne in the world. Amosu asked  Olanike Fagbule "“When I can create one thing and make millions, why will I want to make a hundred substandard ones and make the same amount?” Amosu believes work smart makes up for working hard!

        Nouhad Kalmoni Chief Executive Officer of Silver Star, marketers and repairers of Mercedes Benz in Ghana once told me how he brought  top of the range Mercedes cars in Accra, sold them at a premium and was able to recover all of his money with the profit in couple of weeks. "I knew who would buy the cars!" Was his simple explanation. Such is the business of niche.  Silver Star has one of the best Mercedes Benz workshops in West Africa. 

      

      Sometimes you might find yourself catering for a small not too rich but exclusive group who cannot find certain products in their immediate environment. Foods is a good example. A relative of mine once imported Ghanaian cassava meal to the UK and Ireland for the Ghanaian population that lived there. There were alternatives to that food. But those people preferred their own. In meeting that taste my cousin was able to cut out an exclusive market for himself. 

       In Yaba area of Lagos, there used to be a professional tailor known as Kesse Jabari, Jabari who is presently running his business in the United States used cut suits for celebrities in Nigeria. His style and his cut was so impressive that he was soon able to have a continuous flow of clientele from different business sectors in Nigeria. He had carved a niche for himself on the fashion landscape of the country. He has continued his craft in the US where a large number of celebrities don't really like ready made suits because they do not fit properly. 

 Here five things to note about carving a niche.

1. Simplify and make the product the easiest to use and let it be accessible

2. Use the popular media as carefully as possible to push the product forward

3. Be distinctively relevant in the area that you have chosen

4. Identify with the group you have chosen to serve the product or service.

5. Look for different ways to approach your customers. Be different. Be new try to be exclusive.Niche marketers don't follow the trend.