Every small and medium-sized business has a secret advantage: they can focus on niche market opportunities and create direct connections with customers who value them.  

For example, a food delivery company can specialise in plant-based alternatives for people who want to cut back on meat. A clothing brand can use materials or source clothes from specific places, e.g., a yoga store selling robes made in Nepal. Some company niches can be interest-based, targeting a sport or lifestyle. Even that person selling artisan honey at the weekend market provides a niche product many people would want if they knew about it. 

Yet many SMEs don’t fully benefit from this advantage by failing to market their exclusive offerings to the right people. 

A niche market is defined as being specific, small, in demand, with little competition, and leaning into a business’s advantages. Niche businesses tend to specialise, and their passion for what they offer resonates with their services and products.  

So, how can niche companies show their passion and focus to potential customers? 

Understand Your Niche And UVP 

Before selling in your niche market, understand what it is. Look at what you offer: Is it unique, or are many people in your area offering it? What kind of customer would buy what you offer? Why would they buy from you and not someone else? How do you reach them? Do you have any competitors and what do they offer? Research your market, customers, and competitors. Doing so will help you develop your unique value proposition (UVP). Maybe you offer deliveries, or perhaps you produce custom orders quickly. Once you know what makes your offering special and to whom, you can market and sell more effectively. 

Find Suitable Sales And Marketing Channels 

Your experience and research will show where to market and sell your offerings. For example, you might use social media to market your goods and direct potential customers to an online store. If you don't sell online, use those channels to tell customers where they can reach you. You might find that local WhatsApp community groups or Facebook neighbourhood groups are great places to advertise and connect with potential customers.  

Create Content That Showcases The Niche 

As a niche business, what you offer has specific appeal and is different from other market options. Let's say you help families by training pets and toddlers to get along. That's a valuable service, but how would potential customers know about it or if you are any good? Create content that markets your strengths and UVP. Take photos and videos of training sessions for social media, collect positive testimonials from happy customers, write an article about training tips for your local newspaper, or give demonstrations at community events. What speaks to the people you want to help? Create that content and find ways for them to see it. 

Build Relationships With Customers 

Niche offerings are more than a means to an end. If a customer wants sugar, they can get that anywhere. But if they want a substitute such as fructose and can't get it conveniently, they will happily buy it from you. If they have a good experience they’ll return to buy more and tell others who also want the same product. Don't neglect those relationships. Get to know your customers, find out what they use your product for, and ask them to share their experiences. You'll build loyal customers as well as get valuable market intelligence.  

Join Your Niche Community 

One of the great things about a niche market is that you rarely have direct competition. Your competitors are likely operating in different markets or focus on a particular niche within the niche area you share. There are many benefits to creating closer links with your niche community. You may also share similar struggles and they could refer customers to you whom they’re unable to serve. You might know things that could help them, and vice versa. Tap into your niche community – you have a lot in common with your competitors that can help you grow your business.