subject: Niche Markets: Are You Missing Yours? [print this page] BRAND OR BE BUMPED! BRAND OR BE BUMPED!
By Karen Hope, The Marketing Edge
www.marketingedge.ab.ca
Oh where, oh where could Niche Market Be? It might well be where your competitors are not looking.
A niche market can be a segment of the market that is being ignored by your competitors. So in the grocery game, if you are a smaller manufacturer, you can gain a lot from carving out a niche market that is not being pursued by your competitors.
For example, when it comes to food products, there are the masses that dont have allergies or diseases, and then there are those smaller segments of the population that cannot eat certain foods because they are allergic to them or cannot digest them properly, or their religion forbids eating certain ingredients. These groups of people can be considered NICHE MARKETS.
When I was the Managing Partner of Cattle Boyz Foods handling the marketing of our barbecue sauces, I noticed that no one in the barbecue sauce category had targeted the Gluten-free market. Since, I had a friend with Celiac Disease; I learned that 1 in 133 Canadians could not consume products with gluten. There seemed to be an untapped market in this area when it came to barbecue sauces. The very thing that could turn an otherwise bland meal into something tastier was not being advertised as such.
Initially, our sauces had only a small trace of gluten, which pretty much made them gluten-free. However, we decided to totally remove the gluten and advertise it confidently as Gluten-free.
Through my Celiac friend, I learned there was a support group called the Canadian National Celiac Association, as well as several regional chapters that sold advertising in their member newsletters. We started advertising directly to this group creating brand awareness for Cattle Boyz as the Gluten-free barbecue sauce to buy. Cattle Boyz were not the only gluten-free sauces on the shelves by any means. There were sauces on the shelves that could have made the claim on their label, but did not. Likewise, there were sauces that made the claim on the label, but did not advertise it.
After a few years of steady advertising to this market, we developed a dedicated group of Niche users. The best news is that advertising in the Celiac newsletters was not overly expensive. Typically a half page, black and white ad in the Celiac newsletter for a region like Calgary might cost $50-$75 per issue and reach a few thousand people.
If your product is Sugar-free, another niche group is diabetics. The Canadian Diabetic Association has newsletter called Diaglogue that they send out 4 times per year to 42,000 members. If your health dictated that you could not eat sugar, wouldnt you want to hear about a tasty product that would enhance your meals?
You can find out more about advertising to the aforementioned groups by visiting their websites: www.celiac.ca and www.diabetics.ca. Complete information regarding their publication advertising is not actually on the websites, so you will have to contact someone in the organization to obtain details.
Think about your product. Is there a cultural group that might flavors your product because of what it does or does not have in the ingredients? Is your product produced in a nut-free facility? Is it Kosher? Is it organic? Maybe theres a Niche market waiting for you? I would be glad to discuss any of the ideas in this article with you further should you choose to contact me at: 403-452-5808.
