Is it a new concept?

Well on Internet maybe, but if like me, you've been involved in direct response marketing in 'Bricks and Mortar' world then it isn't - that's way we've done things since time immemorial.

So what's this Niche Marketing thing all about?

If you have ever taken Marketing 101 then you'll have heard of old marketing adage : "Find a need and fill it" - that's what "Niche Marketing" is all about. Finding a "focussed" group of people, with a specialized interest, eager to buy (The Niche) and promoting a suitable product or service to all those interested in buying it (Marketing).

Let me give you a few examples of these Niches :

Recipes Golf Fishing Health and Fitness Travel Collectibles Dating Dog Training Satellite TV Beauty Tips Astrology Cats Bartending Alternative Health Hand-poured Candles Gourmet Foods Gambling Mortgages Credit Cards Music Jewellery

...... list just goes on and on and these are just main headings, there are niches within each of these niches ... Think of a subject and there's likely a niche market for it...

But name of game is to find a "tightly focussed" niche. The reason for this that if you target a general market competition is fierce and it's hard, if not impossible, for little guy to get a foothold.

When you narrow down size of market you eradicate most of heavy hitters with bottomless advertising budgets, because these guys aren't interested in making a few thousand bucks a year from these tiny specialized markets, they're after millions from mass markets...

Back in 1983 I started a company offering general Electronics Subcontract Assembly services to just about anyone who made Electronic products.

By 1985 my company was teetering on brink of bankruptcy and I was perilously close to losing my home because of a large overdraft pledged against it.

Why did this happen?

Well Electronics Subcontract Assembly is a huge, highly competitive market place with lots of heavy hitters. Being a little naive at time, I thought that my little three man company could carve out a big enough slice from such a huge market to make a very comfortable living - I was dead wrong.

We did get work, but only jobs big boys didn't want. The work was labour intensive and even with our tiny overhead we couldn't make enough profit to sustain business adequately. We could never get big, lucrative contracts because we weren't considered big enough to handle them.

By December '84 I was desperate. Sales for previous four months had been abysmal and cashflow almost non-existent. My Bank Manager was on my back demanding that I reduce business overdraft or he would call it in. My suppliers were baying at my door to be paid. As if that wasn't bad enough, during first week of 1985 my biggest customer suspended production for six months on a games gizmo we were making for him.

Things were so bad I was seriously considering bankruptcy to get out from under this financial nightmare. Fortunately I'm a bit pig headed about giving in too easily so despite all problems I hung on, and I'm glad I did because fortune suddenly smiled on me.

What happened?

A couple of weeks into 1985 a business acquaintance came to see us with a sample cable and asked if we could make 5 up for him. The cable was for an IBM PC. At time I knew nothing about making cables and even less about PCs, but I had his sample to work from so I took job.