In societies where individual thought and action has been suppressed for hundreds of years, individuals might not have experience or capability to go through a rational thought processes. Consequently coming up with a positive and bold action to buy your product may be difficult for them. These people need to have everything explained to them in minute detail every step of way until they are confident in their decision to buy.

Special Considerations in Emerging Markets The Chinese and Indian markets in particular front charge of emerging markets on global business scene and will represent a significant part of world marketing growth for decades to come.

Family structures in China, Japan and other Asian countries differ greatly from those in many other countries. Family considerations command respect in all matters, including investments and individual actions. Collective considerations are often uppermost in minds of people who have lived under such conditions all their lives. Because older family members command so much respect and influence they are logical target audience.

One of most evident factors in dealing with and selling to Asian cultures is avoidance of "loss of face," The Chinese have a business culture based on social standing and reputation of individuals. To do anything Chinese consider as demeaning or reducing their personal standing is tantamount to insulting them profusely, which they see as a loss of face. The use of embarrassing terms or causing any unease on social issues will kill marketing copy stone dead.

On other hand, Chinese highly respect tradition and longevity and as a result react positively to copy that emphasizes history and prestige of any company trying to enter their market.

In India collective cultures have been a way of life for hundreds of years. The caste system of social standing is paramount in Indian society and presents particular challenges to avoid causing offence. In business circles Sindhis, Marwaris and Gujratis dominate business houses, many of which were built on (and are still based on) family values and ideals.

Religious beliefs play a significant role in Indian society. Religion influences every aspect of their lives including their response and reaction to marketing copy. Motivational selling techniques are considered crass to many Indians while educational, emotive and informative data is more readily accepted.

Put Yourself in Your Buyer's Shoes With careful research of cultural differences you can craft right words to maximize your message impact in international market.

Marketing to global community calls for no more thought than marketing anywhere really, you simply have to put yourself in your buyer's shoes.

At other end of spectrum Andrew Williams (Keyword Results Analyzer - Word Tacker Version) looks for niches with 1,000 or less competing sites for each keyword/phrase.

For our example here, I'm going to use Jimmy Brown's criteria : 30,000 - 100,000.

Now go over to http://www.google.com and start entering keywords/phrases from your Overture search, taking note of number of sites which are displayed. (Enclose your keywords/phrases with " for specific results, e.g. "snoring cures").

Here's Google results from list above :

snoring 977,000 stop snoring 121,000 snoring cure 3,850 snoring remedy 24,100 cause of snoring 2,310 snoring treatment 6,660 snoring solution 21,100 snoring problem 18,500 prevent snoring 3,510

So what does this tell us now?

The first keyword "snoring" is a non-starter. The term is well outside our competing sites criteria at 977,000 and far too general.

There are no individual search terms in 30,000 - 100,000 range, but that doesn't rule it out as a viable niche, term "stop snoring" isn't too far out of ball park and we can combine some of other keywords/phrases to meet criteria.

Result - we probably have a viable market niche.

Step Four :

Finally we need to check ratio of "supply" to "demand" for our keywords/phrases to make doubly sure niche is worth pursuing.

Here's how we do it. The formula is :

Google Results(Supply)/Overture Results(Demand)

The lower ratio less competition. Here's an example using our keywords/phrases :

snoring : 977,000/27352 = 35.72 stop snoring : 121,000/8211 = 14.73 snoring cure : 3,850/3308 = 1.16 snoring remedy : 24,100/2366 = 10.19 cause of snoring : 2,310/2186 = 1.06 snoring treatment : 6,660/1233 = 5.40 snoring solution : 21,100/1133 = 18.62 snoring problem : 18,500/800 = 23.13 prevent snoring : 3,510/623 = 5.63

So do we have a viable niche?

Based on figures I would say subject has pretty good potential. The niche is tightly focussed and level of competition is low, so it's worth pursuing.

Will niche make money?

The answer to that question will be down to how effective our marketing is.

One final note : This system has it's limitations. If you're really serious about this Niche Marketing stuff you should invest in some specialist tools which will provide a more comprehensive range of keywords/phrases than Overture returns.

Copyright © 2005, André Anthony Niche Market Know-How