What If Your Business Idea Is More Niche Than Most? Consider This
To sell an idea, the idea needs to be saleable. This is harder the more niche your product is. For example, if you want to sell fishing rods with a hook designed to attract like bait but without the need for it, that has an obvious use. But what about if you want to make a rod with an embedded camera in the tip to record underwater footage? It could be done. Perhaps it could be a good product. But the market reach is going way down.
If your business or product idea is more niche than most, consider this:
Truly Research & Understand Your Highly Specific Audience
The more niche you go, the less customers you and other similar competition are going to be fighting for. As such, you can't afford to make assumptions about who your customers are or what they want, instead, you need to get properly acquainted with these people because your entire business depends on understanding them better than anyone else does.
Thankfully, niche people tend to hang out in niche communities as they want to talk to like-minded people, so you could begin by finding where your potential customers hang out online. That could include more specialized forums, Facebook groups, Reddit communities, or industry publications, which can give you better insights into the problems they face and how much they're willing to spend to solve them. You don’t have to solely lurk, but jump into conversations and ask. They’re usually pretty happy to talk through their opinions, and they may be very strong (a fair warning).
Though this is a good sign, it means they’re passionate about their interests and love talking to others who share them. A fly fisherman will happily spend twenty minutes explaining why certain rod materials matter, as per our above example. It can help, and it’ll also help you avoid making mistakes trying to cater to them.
Set Up A Trusted Platform & Payment Gateway
Niche customers need to trust you, even if they’re finally glad to have some kind of representation for their interests. That means at a minimum, your website needs to look professional and established, not like something thrown together over a weekend or something not worth investing in because of the smaller consumer base.
Payment processing will be even more important when you're dealing with specialized products too, because they might fall into unusual categories. Unfortunately, the usual payment processors sometimes flag niche businesses as higher risk, which can create real frustrations with frozen accounts or delayed payments. You may need to start by finding a payment solution that understands your specific industry.
Even if you’re not dealing with a high-risk option, you may need to use a high risk payment gateway available here, if you’re going to ensure payments can be made, and you don’t scare customers off at the last moment because of your lack of secure payment options.
Test Interest With A Small Launch
Niche ground can be fertile, but you have to toil it gently. Potential customers here tend to want to see something tangible as opposed to just a false promise, so creating a basic version of your product or offering a limited service to test can see whether people will pay for what you're proposing. It’ll also let you refine your offering in real time, based on real customer feedback, before you invest any more serious money.
Pre-orders can work brilliantly for niche products because they let you gauge demand without manufacturing hundreds of units upfront, and word will spread fast. A little exclusivity never hurt even in a small market. You’ll also find that crowdfunding platforms are perfect for this kind of market testing, and especially for products that need some explanation or demonstration to show their value.
Build Partnerships In Your Industry
Niche markets often revolve around established communities, influencers, or industry players who already have the trust and attention of your potential customers, because how can you build social proof in such a small pond without appealing to what’s already there? It might help you with a slight shortcut to building an audience.
Back to our fishing equipment example, a small company might try to develop partnerships with fishing guide services, tackle shops, or outdoor gear retailers, which could help you reach customers who are already engaged with the hobby and spending money on similar products. At the very least, it can provide you with the prestige of like validation.