Knowing how to connect with your niche audience can make or break certain business models. The smaller the pool of people interested in what you offer, the more each customer is going to matter.
That’s why we’re offering tips for how to better establish a niche audience that will stay loyal and interested in your offerings. Even with niche offerings, hard work can still pay big dividends.
We’ve put together our advice on marketing to niche audiences in a helpful, actionable list of tips. If one tip seems difficult or isn’t vibing with your audience, you can always try another! We try to have something for everyone.
While knowing how to find your niche audience can be tough, playing around with these ideas, mixing and matching what works, is a great way to get started. The trick that pulls it all together is experimenting to find what your niche audience most resonates with.
Resonating on an emotional level with people is a great way to build up trust and goodwill. While we don’t always like to admit it, humans can be very emotional animals, and, as such, emotional arguments can be quite effective.
Admittedly, emotional arguments can be easier for some niche audiences than others. The experts we link to above, for example, note that it’s a great idea for animal care businesses since they can show how happy their services make pets. That said, sometimes it’s easier to strike an emotional chord than one might expect. Assuming you believe in your product or services, you also probably believe it makes people happier in some way. Show that!
Since you’re marketing to a niche audience, the odds are a good many people in that niche are excited about some element of it. Another option is to play on that excitement, showing you share that enthusiasm. Showing customers that you revel in sharing happiness or excitement via your business is a good look and a great marketing strategy. Odds are that it isn’t dishonest either; after all, you entered the niche for a reason.
If you want customers to connect with your business, they need to remember you. While businesses in bigger industries can sometimes fill a generic place in the market, that’s a bad place to be in a smaller niche.
The trick is staying distinct. Simply put, it should be obvious to customers in your store and on your website that they’re in your space. Your logo, marketing materials, packaging, and more should all “feel” like your own. At the same time, you still want your distinct identity to appeal to your target niche audience. Unless you’ve got some sharp marketing acumen, it’d be tough to use cartoon characters and bubble letters to market to lawyers, for instance.
First, learn how competitors market themselves and what the “core” of their brand tends to focus on. This is useful information, even if we still intend to stay distinct. Then you can forge your own brand identity, working to stay identifiably different from those brands without straying so far that customers will be confused or pushed away.
It’s a balancing act, but one that pays off. If you can forge a distinct, memorable brand that still appeals to those in your niche, you’ll be better able to attract repeat business (which is essential in small niches).
Customers like to feel seen. The more they feel that their business is appreciated and their complaints met, the stronger they feel a connection to you and your brand. This is where a custom approach comes in handy. If you can adapt the sorts of ads, thank you notes, and other messages sent your customers’ way, they can begin to realize they aren’t just a number to you.
We actually make it our business to help in this regard. Our company specializes in handwritten notes that can be sent consistent, handwritten fonts and on high-quality stationery. To put things into perspective, handwritten notes like ours have an 80% open rate (unlike emails or traditional business letters). Written letters feel special and stand out in the customer’s mind.
We also have tools that help integrate these notes into your marketing strategy automatically. Check out how our direct mail automation tools integrate with Salesforce, Hubspot, and more.
If you receive any kind of concern or complaint, a customer is reaching out to you. There are now basically only two possible outcomes. You either meet their concerns and address them, or you lose a customer. This can be a stressful experience, but responding to concerns is a great way to connect with your customer base. Responding in a timely fashion and meaningfully addressing worries shows you care about your brand and customers.
As a baseline, your company website should have a way for customers to email and call you as needed. You can also have a page dedicated to allowing customers to outline any issues in a quick, easy manner that requires as little of them as possible. However, a line of communication to your company alone won’t resolve complaints. You need to both meaningfully address their concerns and then follow up, making sure they don’t have further concerns or issues.
The good news is that getting good at meeting customer concerns quickly and efficiently pays off. Becoming known in a small niche for having a genuine concern for customers is a great way to build a strong base. In fact, a strong enough showing when a customer has an issue can do wonders for garnering their repeat support. If you’re quick to offer truly amicable solutions, you can turn what was a negative experience into a positive one.
One element of smaller niches that can’t be underestimated is a habit for the community to be more devoted when it comes to that niche. The smaller your niche, the more you can expect regulars to know. This has the added effect of making your business seem a bit superficial if you seem to not be in the know.
In order to stay relevant and give the appearance of a genuine interest in your given niche, prove you’re excited about the space you’re operating in. The way you go about doing this can take many forms. You can host events, post industry news, make sure you offer the latest products, and much more.
Even better is if you can be additive, becoming a part of the latest in your niche. Getting timed exclusive deals on products, landing interviews with big names, and even developing products of your own can all be a great starting place.
Your place as a business in the niche often gives you insight and product access that the average customer doesn’t immediately have; you can leverage that to help build connections with them.
While some of our other tips have tangentially touched on it, one of the best ways to connect with people in your niche is to build a community. This can be done in stages too, depending on the resources you want to devote to it.
At a most basic level, make sure people in your target niche audience have ways to interact with your content. For example, make sure they can comment on your blog and interact with each other. Going a bit deeper, you’re going to want to develop a social media presence. These sites help facilitate communication and a general feeling of camaraderie, while also making for excellent marketing tools too.
To build the strongest communities, host community-driven events and produce interactive content, like video Q&As. This can take work, but it also builds strong bonds between your business and its target audience.
The great part about building a strong community is that it can often pull in outsiders, growing your niche. If you can create a community that is warm and inviting, people with a mild interest in your niche may become more dedicated.
This all said, be wary of toxic community members “poisoning the well.” You want to establish rules meant to encourage a healthy community and should be quick to shut down harmful comments or behaviors. Facilitating healthy niche audience communication between both other members in the community and your own business is great for all involved. You get positive attention and they get a place to discuss their interests.
Knowing how to connect with your niche audience allows your business to survive in far smaller spaces than one might expect. By showing your excitement and love for a niche, you can not only grow your business but might even grow the space itself!
If you’d like help building connections with customers, we invite you to try our services! A handwritten note can be a great way to start showing customers you care. We’re a direct mail marketing approach with a personalized touch!
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