Why would you put your business capital and energy into a product or service that not everyone wants?  Is this a prudent business practice?

For most of our lives, we were told that the more people who wanted our product, the better our chances of becoming successful.  We are given examples of mainstream businesses and marketing plans that have worked throughout the ages.  Why would we want to get into something that is a little off center?

One reason is to avoid getting lost in the huge amount of competition in the mainstream marketing place.  Think about real estate investing, for example.  How many ads have you seen throughout the internet and on TV for real estate investors?  If you are like most people, you have seen thousands.  And each real estate investment course, that cost thousands of dollars, is something that you have seen a hundred times before.  It is basically the same old information that has been repackaged.

When you think of it, there are only a few mainstream marketing ideas that have been floating around the internet since time began.   There are many people who have formed businesses with these ideas.  There are thousands of real estate “gurus” out there willing to let you in on secrets that only they (and 1000 other people) seem to know.  All for a few thousand dollars.

Some of the most popular internet businesses involve:

Real estate investing
Self improvement
Attracting a mate
Selling music or DVDs
Selling medication from other countries
Get rich quick schemes

All of these businesses seem to prey on the weaknesses of others and all are very easy to market.  There are even businesses that are solely dedicated to your own online marketing businesses.  They sell services such as publishing your e-books and sending out your electronic ads.  While some of these businesses make decent money with their product, the rest are just a tiny fish in a big sea.  It is better to be a big fish in the big sea…or even a big fish in a small pond if you are going to be able to successfully market your business in today’s internet environment.

The main reason for someone getting into a niche marketing internet business is to have a specialty product or service that is not offered by many other people.  This should be a product or service that people need but cannot get just anywhere.  This gives you the marketing advantage because you have cut down on your marketing competitors considerable.

An example of niche marketing is the old Equal Sugar example.  When Equal sugar came out in the 1980s, it was given a patent for a certain number of years to sell their product.  That product was an artificial sweetener containing aspartame.  This was different than the previous products that contained saccharine, which was known to cause cancer in laboratory rats.

Back in the 1980s, there were only two sugar substitutes on the market.  There were those containing saccharine which left a bad aftertaste in the mount, and Equal Sugar, which held the patent for aspartame.  Because Equal Sugar had something that no other company was able to get (at least for a while) they were the premier sugar substitute in the United States.  As a result, Equal Sugar, in the 1980s, cost about $6 box.  This was an astronomical sum when you compare it to today’s sugar substitutes.

Equal Sugar enjoyed being part of a niche market for quite some time.  Until the patent ran out on aspartame and other companies got their hands on it.  Today, you will pay about $2 or less for a box for Equal, although you have probably moved on to one of the more popular and modern types of artificial sweeteners.

While you cannot rely on a government patent to keep your niche marketing product exclusive, if you begin a business in a field where not too many people are treading, you can build a brand that people know and trust and be that much more ahead of your competition when they eventually invade your territory.

Interested in finding a profitable niche?

If you are then check out ‘Finding Profitable Niches‘