Most brands can’t do everything – nor do they want to. Finding your niche market allows business owners to live their passion, market their skills, and build their brands. Customers love niche markets now more than ever. Small is beautiful.
After all, no one wants their florist to diversify into asset management or a boutique clothing brand to sell out to generic fashion. Doing so would lose the very thing that made them special. They’d become a jack of all trades, master of none. It’s okay to be a specialist.
But it does pose one problem: can a small niche rank well in SEO? Can they be noticed in the crowd of content trying to get ranked?
Want the answer – read on to find out. We’re explaining what niche marketing is, how it applies to SEO, and how to find your niche market.
Get results-driven niche marketing: Schedule your free consultation!
What is Niche Marketing?
A niche market is a slice of a larger market defined by a specific need or preference. Think educational children’s toys, luxury short-term rentals, or organic, handmade bread.
Niche marketing may seem foolhardy. The more specific your brand becomes, the more potential customers you lose. That’s technically true – but it ignores every tenet of marketing.
Here’s the golden rule: if you try to speak to everybody, you’ll speak to nobody. It’s why the biggest corporations have the blandest identities; they’re trying to please everyone. Niche marketing isn’t about eliminating customers; it’s finding your market, your ideal buyer.
Here are some ways you do so:
- Price. Luxury, mid-range, or a bargain.
- Demographics. Young or old. Male or female. Rich, middle, or working class.
- Psychographics. Liberal or conservative. Traditional or modern. Eco-minded or urbanite.
- Geographics. Country, city, or neighborhood.
- Quality. Premium, handmade, or mass-produced.
What is Niche Marketing in SEO?
In search engine optimization (SEO) – the art of ranking on the search engine results page (SERP) – niche marketing is about targeting keywords relevant to your brand. The genius of the internet is that niche businesses can thrive better than ever before.
Formerly, niche businesses were limited by the local interest in their region – no longer! Customers spread all around the world can now access your product or service.
The secret is SEO.
Recommended blog: How to Create a Content Marketing Funnel that Converts & What is Search Intent SEO? How to Find High Intent Keywords.
Can a Small Niche Rank Well in SEO?
Broad businesses face a problem. They need to rank for hundreds, even thousands, of keywords. All these keywords are pertinent to their brand, from the common to the specific. Niche businesses don’t have that problem.
Rather than targeting broad keywords, you need to identify more specific keywords relevant to your brand. That could be adding a location to the keyword, e.g., “flower arranging in Kansas”, or it could be another modifier, e.g., luxury, affordable, traditional, or organic.
Many of the keywords you identify are unlikely to see substantial search volume. Don’t despair. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. As a rule of thumb, the more specific a keyword, the more search intent it has. Search intent is the desire of the user. For example, searching for “hiring a lawyer” has less search intent than “hiring an affordable lawyer in Jackson.”
Furthermore, these keywords have less competition. That means it’s substantially easier to reach the #1 position on the SERP – leading to a substantial uptick in site traffic.
Our services: Local SEO, Enterprise SEO, Content Marketing, Pay Per Click Agency, Google Ad Grants, & eCommerce Marketing Agency.
How to Find a Niche Market
Finding your niche market isn’t difficult. Ask yourself: what am I good at? What’s my unique selling point (USP)?
Go back to the list of ways to define your niche outlined earlier. Use the categories to specify how your business differs from other brands in your industry. Are you cheaper? Better quality? Do you cater to a specific demographic?
Your niche market will help determine everything from:
- Your product features
- Your pricing strategy
- Your digital marketing strategy
- Your branding
- Your product quality
Remember, a niche market isn’t designed to please everyone; it’s marketing solely at your target audience. That gives you a competitive edge over the bland and forgettable. Focusing on a niche market also helps battle against established competition.
Consider: Facebook targeted college students first before becoming a tech empire encompassing the metaverse, AI, and more.
Recommended blog: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Lead Generation Strategies & Top 1,001+ Power Words to Drive Engagement & Boost Sales.
SEO Tips for Niche Markets
Here are a handful of tips for ranking well in a niche market:
- Brainstorm keyword ideas. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help identify keywords, but it needs prompts first. List all the modifiers you can think of relating to each of your product categories, e.g., cruelty-free cosmetics, cruelty-free skincare, not tested on animals, vegan skincare.
- Use Google suggestions. Searching for keywords relating to your brand will list the top ten most searched-for-related queries. That’s a top hack for finding other relevant niche keywords.
- Target existing communities. Find existing communities and sub-cultures relating to your brand and target them with your content and keywords. For food companies, vegans are a key niche market, whereas a sports brand may target a specific hobby.
- Explore keywords. Playing around in Google Keyword Planner can help identify the best results. You can add filters or remove branded keywords. Best of all, it’s 100% free to use. Another popular tool is Keywords Everywhere which displays keyword volume below your searches. There’s no better way to judge the effectiveness of a keyword. Plus, it identifies related keywords and long-tail keywords.
Recommended blogs: Google for Nonprofits: Your Complete Guide to Google Ad Grants, How to Manage Your Google Ads Campaign Like an Expert, & How to Optimize Image Size for Website SEO.
Trust SEO to Boost Your Niche Business
Getting ranked as a niche business is the most important part of your marketing strategy. Not only do you build your brand identity and increase site traffic, but you also expand your reach.
Clicta Digital is experienced in helping niche businesses – from piano sellers to cannabis banks – see skyrocketing site traffic thanks to our SEO services. Schedule a FREE consultation to discuss your options today.
