5 ways to target a niche market

By Entrepreneur Staff

Oct 11, 2011

Marketing and selling your products can be a tricky trade, especially when you are dealing with a niche market. Thus, we asked Entrepreneur’s Young Millionaire for 2005 Barbi Chan, owner of Salon Paradiso and is Maybelline New York’s official Makeup Artist in Manila, to answer five of the most pressing questions on how to market and create a loyal customer base in a niche market.

1. How does one sell to a niche market?

“First, don’t run the business with a calculator. In our niche, we try to come up with reasonably priced flavors from what we have, but we never compromise based on price. For example, we don’t replace our pistachio with peanuts just because peanuts are cheaper. Second, don’t compete with the big players; they cannot develop products and sell a little like we do because their overheads are big. To survive, differentiate. Develop markets different from the big players’.”

2. How should one behave in the first face-to-face meeting with a prospect?

“Don’t speak, but instead listen as the other person talks. Then give appropriate feedback and comments.”

3. How does one get customers to recommend his business to others?

“Give 100 percent to the job at hand. Make them see that sticking their neck out for you is worth it.”

4. How does one create loyal customers?

“Always make them feel they’re number one and that they’re getting their money’s worth. Treat them as friends, and not as profit sources. In my business, personal touch is very important. I can tell a client’s personality by simply talking with him, and based on this conversation, I determine the look that would best fit him.”

5. How can one adjust to the customers’ changing tastes and preferences?

“Travel abroad once or twice a year to update your skills and to keep abreast of trends. Then set your own trend.”