• How can you get the most out of retail marketing and advertising by establishing your brand and your niche?
  •  In other words, find out what you stand for and why you exist.
  • Once you know this, you can then market and advertise to help your customer understand who you are and what you offer, and more importantly to help your business grow, making more sales and more profits.

Definitions:

Your niche or “Sweet Spot” is the area of the market in which you operate. It can be as narrow as ‘Retailing of the best flowers to people who are about to get married’ or ‘Retailing shoes to the city worker’ or as wide as ‘Selling good fruit and vegetables to my local market’.

Your brand is your image and values – it is the way you act, the way you communicate, and the way your business is perceived. It is what your business ‘stands for’ and is reflected in every part of the business – from the name of the company, the colour of the logo, the type of bags, to the way your team interacts with your customers and suppliers.

Find Your Niche or “Sweet Spot” in the Market

Why is your niche or “Sweet Spot” important to find?

A niche allows you to develop a very strong marketing campaign, and enables you to really understand your customer segments – the more defined the niche, the easier it will be to retail to your customers, and the easier it will be to make money.

Finding a niche in the market involves researching the part of the market that interests you and your customers, and breaking that down to a defined section. Understanding what is the USP (Unique selling point/proposition) of your product in the market, and how that translates into a recognisable niche for your customers will help you define this niche.

This part of niche development is focused on the customer side of the equation – you need to look at your chosen product and product range through the eyes of your customers, and establish both what they like about your product and how they would see that as unique in the market.

To find your niche in the market I suggest the following steps:

* Go out and research the market – Walk around your local high street or shopping centre. Find out what gaps there are in the market for your product. How do customers currently see your product and where do they purchase these products from now?

* Use the internet to find where your niche would work. Have a look at where the product is currently sold and what the market looks like. Is there a clear niche that you can see for your product?

* As a customer, think of what your niche would be defined as and what you would need to offer the customers. For example, if you were a florist and said your niche was ‘Selling flowers’ you would find hundreds of companies doing this on every street corner and all over the internet space. If, however, you find your customers are normally people who are attending weddings or parties, you could set your niche as ‘Retail of the best flowers to people who are getting married’. This helps you target very specific people with a high-quality tailored service just for them, at the time they need to use your products.

* Talk to your customers. Ask them what products they would like to see in this market.

Your niche or “Sweet Spot” will evolve over time. The more time you spend with your customers and your products, the clearer this will become. Get out in your market and find out what people think – you will then start to close in on your niche.

Develop Your Brand

Your brand and the values your brand stands for span every part of your company. As such, the brand must be thought through and developed to a very detailed level. This is something that happens over time as you grow and develop your business, but you must start with an understanding of what your values are.

Your brand is in every part of your business, from the culture and ways of working, to your logo and your packaging. It can be seen in all the people in your business and in all the products you sell.

Take time to understand your customer first, and then develop the products for these customers. Once these processes are in progress you can then start to develop the brand around these.

Your brand is ’living and breathing’ and, as such, needs to be treated with care, and allowed to grow and develop as your customers and your team grow and develop.

To Develop Your Brand:

Gather together your team and spend some time brainstorming the following areas:

WHAT the brand means to them; talk about your and your team’s:

* Feelings, images, looks, customers, products, people, colours, emotions, smells, sounds etc.

Then use these words and images to form a visual representation of the brand that shows what it could “look” like in words and images

This could be pages of pictures and words on a vision board on the wall, and a number of statements that come out from the team brain-storming

With the team, talk through your team’s ‘vision’ for the brand and allow them to ask you questions regarding the make-up of the brand in your mind. Again, always remember the customers you are targeting.

You can now develop a couple of logos for yourself and your team which will help to crystallise the vision of the brand – this can be done yourself or there are online companies that will “brand your business” for very reasonable rates.

Review these options and allow the team to ‘feel’ which brand and imagery is the best fit for your business – when you see the possible imagery for your brand (logo, colours and name), one or two will immediately ‘work’ for you and your team; explore these further and understand what you like about them, and why.

Once you have agreed on the brand and imagery (this will no doubt take three or four updates), you can then develop the brand values. The brand values are sets of statements that will help you, your team and your customers ‘feel’ the brand you have created. Once you have established your brand values you should find they will drive your identity and help establish your USP in your niche.

This Article by Antony Welfare first appeared in the Business Owner’s Marketing Brief (the BOMB) and the Smart Bomb, published on the Onnero Platform in conjunction with the 8020 Center in May 2011. Antony Welfare is a Retail Expert and Author of: The Retail Handbook: Helping you achieve your Potential in Retail.  www.retailpotential.com