Finding Niches And Mining For Gold

For ambitious gold miners, it pays to start with geography. There are places where gold is more likely to be, and places it’s less likely to be. As John Dillinger once said, “I rob banks because that’s where the money is.” Gold miners look for gold where the geography is right.

For ambitious niche marketers, it pays to start with demographic and psychographic profiles. People cluster around interests and other commonalities and these are worth recognizing. Don’t prospect millennials in senior centers or expect to find World War II veterans at batting cages (generally speaking of course). Niche markets look at ages, genders, preferences, etc. and develop a composite understanding of where to look for whatever they’re looking for.

Here’s a simple example: A bad place to prospect for gold is in your couch cushions. A good place to prospect for gold is at the gold mine. A bad place to prospect gold miners is at the arcade. A good place to prospect gold miners is at the gold mine.

The power of having a niche is having a well defined profile. It doesn’t even have to be a super-narrow one (but good luck prospecting gold miners if that’s your thing). To develop a niche, ask questions about who they are, where to find them, how to reach them, and why they value our work. If we get it right, it can be like finding our own gold mine.