Finding a niche can be a powerful method for succeeding in business. You have less competition and you are better able to capitalize on the leads, referrals, testimonials, and exclusive knowledge you get from working within a niche. I’ve written a book on finding your niche on the internet. The below is something I just learned that I am adding to version 2 of my book: Nichework Marketing.

There are a few methods to finding your niche. A few of the ones I cover in my book are:

• Choosing topics you know something about already.
• Choosing topics you think you want to learn more about.
• Choosing a topic that you think will be a hot topic or controversial topic.

I’ve recently become aware of another method for those of you that already have a business and have had a little success. That method is called LCD or Lowest Common Denominator. The idea is you look at your business and try to figure out what one thing most of your customers or most of your distributors have in common.

Are they male? Are they female? What ethnic group are they? Where do they live? What kinds of jobs do they have? How much money do they make? Where do they shop? What do they like to do?

So for example… My business appeals to realtors. My business does well in the winter when real estate typically slows down. My business also has a product that goes really well with the real estate industry. So for me a niche I might focus on might be realtors. By focusing on this niche I learn how the real estate business works. I learn what language they use when they talk to each other. I learn what software they use. I learn about how transactions work and how the broker takes a big chunk of the sale. I learn why realtors get involved in my business and now I’m better able to go talk to realtors.

So what is your lowest common denominator?

You might think it’s women… but what type of women? Middle aged? Baby Boomers? Gen X? Gen Y? What race? What kinds of jobs do they have? Are they busy? Are they moms? Are they grandmoms? Are they active? Do they participate in clubs or communities? Are they church goers?

You might be surprised at the results. When I was taught about this method of finding your niche it was in regards to a lady who had a window treatment business. It’s sort of like interior design but focused primarily on window treatments, blinds, curtains, etc. She thought her market was “anyone who needs curtains” but WHO needs curtains? Most people you talk to don’t need curtains. When she looked for her lowest common denominator she found that most of her customers were women… that makes sense right? But she also discovered most of them were nurses. She began to talk to them and find out why they wanted to purchase her service. She came up with the following:

• Nurses have good jobs, so they have money.
• Nurses are busy at their jobs, often working long hours, or overtime so they don’t have a lot of time to fix up their house.
• Some nurses work nights and evenings so they sleep during the day and want nice curtains to keep the room dark.

Now she had her niche. She could target nurses and specifically could target nurses who worked the night shift. Imagine how successful her business became after that! Plus she got more and more referrals because the nurses talked to one another!

Are you beginning to see how a niche can help you?

There are some other tricks to finding your niche especially online. If you are wanting to market your business online check out my book on internet network marketing. I teach how to find your niche and build a web site to focus on that niche.

- Ben Fitts

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