Internet Marketing for Network Marketers: Find Your Niche
Business → Marketing & Advertising
- Author Scott Simon
- Published April 12, 2009
- Word count 1,209
If you've been in network marketing/MLM for awhile, then you've undoubtedly heard things like the "3-foot rule" (or 30-foot rule!!), "when in doubt blurt it out", or "everyone's a prospect."
You've learned about how to approach people in conversation and ask questions (FORM - Family, Occupation, Recreation, Money) to find some area where they are dissatisfied with their life, then pounce on that as an opportunity to talk about how your business could fix that. All they have to do is sign up!
And many go around practicing this stuff, talking to anyone and everyone who comes within earshot about their business and trying to get them to join.
I've even seen specific training on things like: how to recruit your waitress at a restaurant, how to start conversations about your business in the checkout aisle at the grocery store, how to approach retail clerks at the department store, how to start conversations in an elevator (or at the coffee shop, or the health club, or wherever), and so on. You get the idea.
Is this any way to run a professional business?
Stuff like this is why many people run the other way whenever they hear the term "network marketing." Its why many professional sales people consider us a bunch of small-time, amateurish load-mouths who haven't a clue what they're doing. Its why many business people don't consider this to be a "real" business. And its also one reason why so many in the industry spend extraordinary amounts of time talking and talking to people, yet never earn a dime.
Yet companies continue to train people to do this.
The reason companies teach this type of stuff is simple. Its based on the idea that the more people who see your business or product, the more who will join or purchase.
Problem is, while that logic seems intuitive, it simply is not true.
Why Marketing to a Niche Market Wins Every Time
When you think about how to go about marketing your business or product to people, the very first thing you should consider is figuring out your market niche. What is a market niche? Simply put: its a group or category of people looking for a solution to something. Rather than attempting to talk to everyone, you focus instead on a very specific category of people.
Market niches include things like:
- Real estate professionals
- People with sore knees
- Stay-at-home moms (or dads)
- College students
- Baby boomers over 60 looking to promote their health
You get the idea. In fact, those examples may not even be all that good, because most of them likely aren't specific enough. When it comes to market niches, the narrower the better.
I know that seems counter-intuitive, but just happens to be true. When you market to a specific niche, you will see MORE results from FEWER people than if you try and be everything to everyone.
Why? Because people don't really want your business or your product. What they are looking for is a solution. And, when you go looking for a solution, who are you more likely to trust -- an expert or just anyone? That's what focusing on a niche does. It allows you to establish yourself as an expert in one specific area or topic. Then, people who are looking for that thing will come to you for answers.
Finding Your Market Niche
How do your find your market niche? The best way is to start with yourself: What are your interests? What are you passionate about? What attracted you to your business? What attracted you to your products? What is the number one benefit you received from using your products?
When I first discovered this concept, that is what I was taught. And, then I worked to develop my business around that one particular idea. However, despite the value of the training I got it from, it had two major shortcomings:
-
Simply identifying a niche is not sufficient. There has to be a viable market for it.
-
Even with a good market niche, growing your business by talking to people using face-to-face methods does not "scale."
So, how can you determine whether or not there is a market for your niche? How can you employ methods that allow you to put yourself before hundreds, even thousands, of people in your niche instead of the onesies and twosies you get through personal conversations?
Niche Marketing on the Internet
This is where the Internet comes in. It gives you the way to overcome those two shortcomings.
Better yet, niche marketing is an established (and, in many ways, required) technique for Internet marketers in all types of businesses. So, not only are the tools available online, but they are widely accepted and proven to work.
How do you research your niche? You use simple online tools to see whether other people are searching for it. If they are searching for it in the search engines, then you know there are people looking for a solution. You can also get a pretty good idea of how competitive the market is.
You do this by identifying the detailed keyword terms they are using to search. A "keyword" is nothing more than what a person types into the search engine to try and find something. The search engines track statistics on all the different searches people do, and then make those statistics available to the public. Using a variety of tools, you can identify potential keywords for your niche and determine how many searches were performed (typically over the last month) using those search terms.
I, personally, have about 5 or 6 different tools I use specifically for this task, and I probably spend as much as 50% of my time doing keyword research on any new market niche as I do developing anything for it. You can find such tools in places like Google AdWords, but there are many very good products available that can help you identify where your niche market is.
A full analysis of the available tools and how to use them, however, is beyond the scope of this article.
Ideally, by doing this right, you can find a niche market that is underserved, meaning there are a lot of people searching with relatively few competitors providing any solution. This may take a few tries, as the first niche you research may either have no market or have way too much competition. But, if you keep at it, you will be able to identify an appropriate niche for you. I do recommend you start with only one. Later, you can expand when the first one is well established.
The biggest advantage of using your interests and passions as a starting point is that you get to do your business in an area you really enjoy. Its easy to work on your business when you really enjoy what you're doing.
After you have identified a niche, by far the biggest advantage of doing your business online is that you also have the ability to scale. Through applying the principles of Internet Marketing and Attraction Marketing, you have the ability to put your information in front of potentially a large number of people in your niche.
Doing this will beat out the "talk to everyone" approach hands down.
Scott Simon spent 17 years as a technology and management consultant for Fortune 500 corporations, primarily in the areas of Corporate Finance and Investments. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
Scott is the publisher of Online Network Marketing Today, which teaches Internet marketing to network marketers.
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