Business Growth – Step One: Where Should I Plant My Business?

Let’s talk a bit about how to find a fertile place to plant your business, also known as your niche. If you are going to be successful in business over the long term, you need to be able to answer the following questions: Who are you going to serve? What business are you really in? Where is there a large enough group of people you can market to that will support your business plan?

Many companies struggle with these answers. A few years ago, while going through a reorganization, we also faced these questions. Our original draft marketing plan contained a statement identifying our primary market as ‘small business owners’. We quickly realized that our statement encompassed too broad a group of people and a market that we could not realistically adequately target.

So it took some time to perfect the message and get really precise about who we are. specifically we wanted to talk and with whom specifically wanted to aim and be effective, you will have to do the same. You can’t be all things to all people, although many entrepreneurs try. In fact, that’s actually the biggest problem entrepreneurs have. We all have so many good ideas that we don’t know which ones to act on, and often we don’t know who we’re really talking to.

This uncertainty affects your ability to market, your ability to craft a message, your ability to find other people you can work with as joint venture partners and the like. So sit back and try to think of your niche. Who do you want to serve based on your skill set and products? Think about who your primary customers are, and then think about who your secondary markets are.

If you are selling a product, think about all the main uses, as well as any optional uses of the product. The answers will lead you to secondary user groups as well as completely different secondary niches. It is not uncommon to discover that what was thought to be a secondary niche can become a larger viable business simply by changing the marketing, color or name.

The more closely you can narrow down and define these niches, the easier it will be to delve into them and create lasting customer relationships that will help you build a strong business.

Making sure you develop strong roots, planted in a fertile niche, early on will create the kind of business success and long-term profitability every business owner craves.