A common mistake that small business owners make in their marketing is to try to go after too broad a market segment. It’s not unusual, if you ask a local owner who their target market is, to get the reply, “Everyone in the greater Kansas City area”. But that’s a poor marketing strategy – actually, it shows a lack of marketing strategy.
One powerful marketing strategy for small businesses is to go after a very small, very targeted market. In marketing speak, we refer to this as a niche market. A niche market is basically a small group with a very specialized need or want. The beauty is these groups are usually under-served: other businesses just don’t make the exact product or offer the specific service that they need. Further, for big businesses, it’s just not worthwhile to bother with such a ‘small’ market.
But these niche markets can be goldmines for you. With a limited budget, you can’t exactly reach everyone in Olathe and Kansas City and Lee’s Summit and Independence and so on with your marketing. If you narrow your focus to offer a highly specialized product or service to a very specific group and work on connecting with that group, you have a huge chance of success.
Iron Heart Training Center in Shawnee, Kansas, has done just that. Owner, Matt Skogen, trains and sells working dogs, such as police service dogs, narcotics dogs and arson dogs. He didn’t start out with the thought that ‘anyone who wants a dog’ is his target market. Instead, he chose to build his business on working dogs. He started with police dogs – he was a master trainer/handler for the Overland Park Police Department - and then added other categories as he mastered each niche.
Photo courtesy of Matt Skogen, Iron Heart Training Center
His latest niche market is even more fascinating: Bed Bug Detection Dogs! Yes, you read right, Iron Heart sells dogs trained to detect bed bug infestations. “It’s an epidemic,” Mr. Skogen explains, “20/20 has done stories on it. Now it’s made its way out West.” He trained his first bed bug dog 2 years ago and wasn’t sure they would be a big seller but since the fall of 2009, demand has taken off and he can’t keep them in stock.
This is a great example of how a small business is winning big with a niche market. By being very narrow instead of trying to be everything to everyone, Iron Heart Training Center has built up its market share and established itself as the experts in working dogs, one small niche at a time.
Copyright © 2010 by Corner Office Marketing, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.
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