Niche Marketing, Revisited

Here's an interesting take on niche Marketing from Cliff Spyker of MKS Learning Centre in Calgary. He spoke at the CAPS conference with me over the weekend.

He says that a niche should be no larger than 100 people! (In a further conversation, he said that a niche can be even better if it is just 10 people!)

Let's take a step back before I go into detail.

Many people who talk about niche marketing use the clever phrase, "the riches are in the niches." They mean that specialists make more money than

generalists. Why? Because they understand the market better. Therefore the market pays them more because their information is much better. Makes sense.

Some people are saying that niches are bad because if your niche dies, so do you!

So what's Cliff's point of view?

Let's say you start a deck building company. Well there's lots of competition there. So why no specialize in $50,000 decks complete with jacuzzis, big screen

TVs and bars. Who would compete with you? No one. Would everyone looking for a deck know about you? Yes Perfect branding, Cliff!

And if you got 10 clients (let alone 100), would you have a handsome business? Sure would.

I think Cliff is on to something here. We are so worried about old marketing terms, like market share that we sometimes lose the focus in thinking in a

targeted fashion.

After the talk Cliff let me in on another secret -- those 10 clients aren't necessarily the home owner. They'd more likely be contractors who would buy your

service and sell it to their clients, the home owners! So your marketing is targeted as well. It is easier to market to the contractors in your area than it

is to market to the homeowners!

Now relate this to your business. What is your real message? Who are your real clients? Who can sell your message for you to the ultimate buyer more

effectively than you can?

What do you think? You can post responses to my blog:
http://www.prleads.blogspot.com

Ageism and the Media

One of my faithful PR LEADS called with a nit to pick.

A freelance writer for a well-known, national publication said they couldn't use his comments because he was over 50. They wanted to appeal to people in their 20's and 30's.

While magazines targeting readers in certain age groups, ethnic groups, geographical groups or other groups is nothing new, having them limit their sources to those groups seems a bit odd.

Why wouldn't people in their 20's or 30's want to learn from someone who has more years of experience? It seems like this magazine is cutting off its nose to spite its face.

I recall several wonderful leads offered by writers for Black Enterprise magazine that were answered by people of every demographic group. BE writers didn't discriminate!

While I can see why my silver-haired client wouldn't be a good cover boy if they are appealing to recent college grads, I can't see why his advice wouldn't be useful.

He also made a good point: Why do they even have to put in people's ages?

Well, that shut me up. I couldn't think of a good reason why. Newspapers and magazines have done it for years as a convention. But TV never has done this (unless age was relevant, like when a 60 year old woman gives birth to twins. At 60, it is news. At 20, it isn't. Makes sense.).

I remember when I was a daily newspaper reporter and my city editor kicked back a story to me because I didn't include the age of the city manager I quoted. When I asked the city manager her age, she was aghast! She immediately blasted me and my city editor (who she assumed was a man!). She was equally surprised when I told her my city editor was a woman.

She never did tell me her age. We ran the story like, " 'blah, blah, blah,' said Jane Smith, city manager, who would not disclose her age."

Sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it?

National Publicity Summit

I spoke at the National Publicity Summit in
NYC recently and I must compliment the Harrison
brothers at Bradley Communications for producing
a stellar event.

You might remember this event as the chance to
meet hundreds of writers, editors, agents and
TV producers over three days in New York City.

You also might remember that it is limited to
just 100 people so everyone can network efficiently.
You also might recall that it costs $5,000.

Well, after I gulped at that last number, I could
certainly see why some people thought twice about
signing up. Well, after attending the Summit, I
can safely and whole-heartedly endorse the event.
It is definitely worth the money. About 10 of
my clients were there and they were very happy
with the networking with reporters -- and
networking with other authors!

Everyone also go extra training in how to find
their hook and their pitch from Steve Harrison, who
is truly brilliant. They also heard from other PR
and Marketing luminaries like Paul Hartunian, Alex
Carroll, Rick Frishman and Tom Antion. This is
definitely a five star event.

If you'd like to be placed on my personal
invitation list for the next event, please
send me an email:
dan@prleads.com?=NPS

You'll be glad you did!

Here's the best Internet Marketer in the world, Tom Antion (r). He spoke at the National Publicity Summit and was mobbed by people who wanted to join his coaching program! 

Amber Alert

Amber Fry hit the talk shows a few weeks ago and caused quite a stir.

Every show that had her promoted her as the "exclusive" cable showing, or primtime showing or day time showing. Very smart marketing by her handlers.

Was she well coached?

She looked like a deer staring at headlights at many times. She painted herself as victim of Scott Peterson who had to take away precious time from her role as single mom in order to help the police snare Peterson and then testify against him. In all, a good effort that created sympathy for her.

The real star, however, was her lawyer, who was with her in all the interviews I saw. Although I can't remember her name (bad PR!) she did a brillant job of spinning Amber and promoting the book -- and keeping her out of legal hot water.

I'm no fashion consultant, but the lawyer's frilly garments were a bit off-putting to me. I guess lawyers have to down play their shark-like image and the choice of clothing went a bit too far in the Mary Poppins direction for my tastes.

What's the next effect?

A month or so later, we don't see Amber on TV any longer. Her 15 minutes of fame has ended. Her book is not exactly scaling the best-seller charts, although it made a strong debut.

What's next?

I hear that Scott Peterson's sister has a book in the wings. Oh boy!