How to use Niche Landscape
First you get a brief explanation of the structure of each niche.
What other names are there for the niche?
Other names for the niche open our eyes to what the particular niche is called by others. The right wording is extremely important. A sale could depend on it. New words open up new universes, new ideas.
Where can I connect to the niche?
How to connect to the niche gives practical ideas of where to go and how to break the ice and start real conversations about pain points and solutions.
Consumers
You get a brief summary of the typical consumers in the niche.
Consumers are crucial because there are many of them. This is where the crowds are and this is where the money is.
Vendors
We list popular vendors in the niche.
Vendors saw the opportunity and have offered products and services. You could be one of these vendors or you could sell to the vendors.
Other players
You can discover other players in the niche.
Other players in the ecosystem are very important as there are many stakeholders in the ecosystem. It is usually much broader than we may think.
Challenges
You will see the challenges of the niche in detail.
The reason we focus on challenges right at the beginning is that we want to set the stage for solutions. We want to have an understanding of what the players of the niche are struggling with. Challenges bring opportunities. Challenges open our eyes to the reality of implementation and the hard work that goes into realizing our goals. This is great news because value can be created and where value is created, new businesses get a legitimate entry into the niche and revenue is generated.
If you are able to address the challenges one by one and offer a legitimate, transparent and believable solution, you have already provided an irresistible offer.
Business Opportunities
You get to examine a number of business opportunities which provide a faster, easier, cheaper solution to players in the niche.
These business opportunities will give you ideas to offer solutions in the given niche or elsewhere. Businesses opportunities help us think out of the box.
It is very powerful to apply cross domain thinking when a variation of a lucrative solution in one niche can be an excellent business in a completely unrelated niche.
At this point you may already get enough inspiration to start a web site or business or marketing campaign, but wait, there’s more. A lot more.
Products & Services
We break down what specific products and services exist in the niche. Products and services are essentially what can be sold. Remember, at the end of the day you basically want to issue an invoice (preferably automatically) and get paid on your bank account. You can basically package anything and call it a product.
Products are designed and produced with the aim of fulfilling a specific need or desire of the consumer, and the success of a product is typically determined by its ability to meet customer expectations and generate revenue for the business.
Unlike a product, a service is not a physical item that can be held or touched, but rather an experience or action that is performed. A service is typically consumed at the point of delivery, meaning that the consumer receives the benefit of the service as it is being provided.
Supply & Demand
You get a description of the supply and demand dynamics of the niche.
It is not enough to have a good idea of what could be bought and sold in a niche, it is important to have an understanding of the size of the market and whether people actually need the products. Is there a demand for it, how much and how often? Is the product available, can people obtain it in large volume and in time? Perhaps an alternative product can fill the gap, in case there is insufficient supply.
SWOT Analysis
We present a SWOT analysis for a typical company serving the niche.
A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that helps businesses evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in relation to a particular market or industry. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
For marketers, conducting a SWOT analysis can provide valuable insights into the workings of a niche. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of their business and their competitors, marketers can identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to differentiate themselves from the competition. Similarly, by assessing the opportunities and threats in the market, marketers can identify potential areas of growth and potential risks that may need to be mitigated.
In general, conducting a SWOT analysis can help marketers make informed decisions about their marketing strategy and ensure that they are well-positioned to succeed in a given market or niche. It is an important tool for both planning and execution of marketing efforts.
Economic Analysis
A more detailed economic analysis gives you insight into how the niche works from an economic perspective. You get an idea of the flow of money, the motivation behind the market players, and ideas about how you could make any product or service more attractive in the niche, essentially carving out a piece for yourself, successfully penetrating the market.
Future
In this section we look into the future.
We are building for tomorrow. Future trends and the realistic market outlook will determine sales. Better not waste time in niches which have no future. Demographic, technological, political, economic changes can be more or less foreseen and there are many very well thought out projections which can predict with reasonable accuracy the success or failure of our attempts at penetrating the niche.
What would niche players pay a premium for?
What are the pain points? What are the areas where niche players would spend more money just to solve the problem, just to get a quick solution? It is very powerful to focus on areas where there is great need, where people are desperate for a solution. Providing a legitimate fix will generate immediate revenue and establish you as an authority.
Pricing & Payment Structures
Knowing how people charge and how products can be packaged for sale is essential for successful marketing and sales. This section will enable you to create the right pricing strategy.
For example, you may not want to sell the product at all, but just rent it. Another idea is to build a service around it and sell the product only to wholesalers, a select group of certified distributors who can build a business around the core product.
Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy is a framework that emphasizes creating new market space rather than competing in existing market spaces. It is important for a marketer to apply Blue Ocean Strategy to analyze a niche because it can help them identify new opportunities that may not be apparent through traditional market analysis.
Here are some reasons why it is important for a marketer to apply Blue Ocean Strategy to analyze a niche:
1. Opportunity identification: By applying Blue Ocean Strategy, a marketer can identify new and untapped market spaces within the niche. This can help them discover new opportunities and create unique value propositions that can differentiate them from competitors.
2. Value innovation: Blue Ocean Strategy emphasizes value innovation, which involves creating products or services that offer new value to customers. By applying this approach, a marketer can create a unique offering that can help them stand out in the niche.
3. Differentiation: Blue Ocean Strategy can help a marketer differentiate their products or services from competitors by identifying key attributes that are important to customers but not currently offered by other players in the niche.
4. Reduced competition: By creating a new market space, a marketer can reduce competition and create a blue ocean, which can help them capture new market share and increase profitability.
5. Long-term success: Blue Ocean Strategy can help a marketer create a long-term sustainable competitive advantage by creating a unique offering that is difficult for competitors to replicate.
Applying Blue Ocean Strategy to analyze a niche can help a marketer identify new opportunities, create unique value propositions, differentiate their offerings, reduce competition, and create long-term sustainable competitive advantage. It is an important tool for marketers looking to break away from traditional market analysis and create new and innovative solutions in the niche.
Bonus Revenue Tips
In this section we list a number of out-of-the-box ideas to generate revenue in the niche.
Once the assets are in place, or meaningful knowledge has been accumulated, this can be utilized in numerous ways to profit from the situation.