Find your Niche IN Marketing

While the term "niche marketing" refers to focusing on a particular segment of the marketplace (i.e., athletes for sporting equipment, etc.), finding your niche IN marketing addesses the more personal decisions marketers are faced with in their work. The first thing any marketer learns about are the tools at their disposal. For internet marketers these tools include opt-in email lists, banners, links, article placements, forums and joint ventures. Does this mean that a marketer should use all of these tools?

In theory, yes. The ideal marketer writes one clear, sought-after article per week, has a newsletter subscription of active, opt-in readers of 5,000 or more, has at least 100 quality reciprocal links pointing to their site, participates in and contributes to several forums weekly and has at least two joint-venture deals. Plus, they regularly run classified ads, solo ads and FFA ads... they also update their site, their blog and so on and so forth, ad infinitum.

If this "ideal" sounds overwhelming that's because it is. No single human could do all that work in one week, never mind every week. Nor would they want to. What's more, successful marketers never do that much work. But many marketers, especially those new to internet marketing, in an attempt to "be all things to all people" feel compelled to try. Which is the real reason so many marketers work so hard, but fail to make the kind of sales they should.

Because in the process of doing all this work, they are actually scattering their efforts and, as a result, weakening its effects. It is better to focus on using one or two tools -- a much more realistic goal -- than to try to please everyone. Think about it. Of the two, which would YOU choose: To do five things poorly or two well.

But which tools should one choose? Ah, that's the question. Successful marketers know: They have the answer. And the answer is annoying, being at once both complex and simple: Whatever works best for the individual.

Let's face it. Not all of us are natural-born writers. While some marketers seem to churn out articles as easily as cows produce milk, others struggle with simply writing the proverbial "full and complete sentence," never mind putting together an article or, even more so, a whole article campaign. And a few would rather drink bleach mixed with hot coals than write an article.

This is not to say one must have years of writing experience in order to be successful with writing articles. If a marketer has always found writing ideas down as a good way to clarify things; if they find it easy to think of ideas; or even if they just always considered themselves a frustrated writer, then chances are, they will flourish if they focus on articles. For others articles may only prove to be a colossal waste of their time-- time that could be better spent marketing successfully.

And, essentially, that's the key.

The tool that works is the one that appeals to the marketer, the one that they find is easy, natural, and enjoy using. It doesn't even seem like work. Finding those tools, focusing on them and going back to them again and again is why the successful marketers become so. New marketers need only explore the various options and watch their own responses to know what will work for them.

But what about those that can't seem to find ANY tool that works? Are they hopeless? Not at all. One fellow marketer recently said that he didn't feel like he was marketing. All he did was visit forums and place his link in his signature file. That was his only form of advertising and he makes a good income from his site. He hadn't thought of it as marketing because it was something he did anyway-- he loved visiting forums and spent hour upon hour at them, each and every day.

But he wasn't marketing.

Instead, he organically created his own version of marketing. Best of all, he found a successful marketing tool through his individual preferences. For some people that's the answer: Finding an entirely new or little used form of marketing that works and optimizing it. Many gurus start out with just that problem. They end up 'gurus' because they found a solution.

Another important point that needs to be addressed is the "Focus Factor." The Focus Factor is two-fold:

LEARN TO WEAR BLINDERS. So many new marketers lose steam when they see an ad for, this or that "NEW Unbeatable System To Drive Traffic To Your Site..." We've all seen them. Many of us ARE them. And each marketer has followed at least one or two of these at some point early in their careers, until they realize there IS no quick, magical way of side-stepping the basic process.

REPETITION One of the best pieces of advice there is in internet marketing is, "There's Strength in Repetition". That is, if it works, do it again. And again and again and again. The classic line of advertising (and, thus, marketing, too) is, "It's all a numbers game: Create enough traffic and the sales will come." Because the audience is so much bigger, this is even truer with internet marketing. It's all about creating enough links (using whatever method you prefer) to bring enough traffic to create enough sales. And that takes many links, links everywhere. The more links (and the more permanent the links) the better.

So the most important factors to remember are:

1) Find what works and it won't feel like work. 2) Put blinders on rather than be distracted. 3) Strength In Repetition.

So whether it is article writing, creating a newsletter subscription base or some entirely new form of marketing, each marketer can succeed by finding their niche IN marketing and making the most of it.--mo

About the author: Marige O'Brien works as a writer, web designer and Internet Marketer. Visit her Website, Tracker Mo's Den. Other articles by Marige can be found on her blog, Tracker Mo's Finds