Take a Niche, Grow a Mile

3. Keep Entry Costs Down

There is another significant advantage to entering niche markets comprised of customers who are already buying something similar to what you provide. The fact is, it's virtually always easier for small businesses to be second (or third, fourth or even later) to enter a market, rather than to be the first. Being first is expensive -- there's an entire educational curve to fund, particularly with new products -- and it can take quite a bit of time to break through.

For example, suppose you wanted to offer a product to engineering firms and law offices, but the engineering firms had never bought anything like it, while the law firms were using something similar with limited results. Your smartest bet would be to tackle the legal office niche first by providing a product with significant enhancements or more attractive offers than what the lawyers were presently buying. You wouldn't need to educate the legal prospects on the way your product would fill their needs and go through the long start-up period that would be required to get results from marketing to the engineering firms.

Niche by niche, growth comes from taking measured risks that start with an assessment of your best potential customers and their needs. And you'll succeed by making valuable offers to carefully targeted, qualified prospects who are prepared to buy.