Tom answers:

My hubby has a small company that makes software for community corrections agencies (probation/parole etc). We have found that word of mouth marketing works better than printed or web advertising. We haven’t done TV advertising because the market is too small for that.

Tom answers:

You will need to find a market research company specialising in the area you are interested in. They will produce them – but be prepared for large fee – these reports often cost $500 upwards – many in the $1000′s…
Remember the more niche the product/ service the more expensive it will be!
Good luck
Mike
http://www.rapidbi.com/articles/

Tom answers:

Not knowing your industry, I’ll say this: Whatever niche of your particular industry you know best is the niche you’re probably best suited to be in. That would be the niche I’d focus on. It’s about matching your skills to the right opportunity. Before looking at the market, look at yourself – what do you know best? Then try to apply that to a niche and you’ll probably increase your odds of success.

A lot of business ideas pop into my head that I know are good ideas – just not good ideas for me. You still need to be able to execute, so go with what best suits your existing know-how.

Also, as Dale said, know your competitors. If there some existing competition for whatever you’re trying to do — learn as much as you possibly can about them. Try to position yourself away from the areas they’re strong in – as best you can, match up your strengths with the areas where your competitors are weak.

It’s all about finding demand. Your best opportunity will be where there is unmet demand that you are already well-suited to execute on.

Good luck

Tom answers:

It depends… If it is a niche market then none of the above might apply. Advances in technology will not further enhance the “buggy whip” niche market. Right? Throw away B,C,D in a case like that and refocus A to build activity awareness. Long shot because how many more people can you entice into using “buggy whips”? In this case you need to find who they are and where they live and own that space… For more information (if serious) contact me at www.phoenixstrat.com for a consult.

Tom answers:

Niche marketing is when you select a specific segment where you can focus to market your product. Levis jeans for example has different designs that focuses on specific niches. Levis created Dockers that focuses on the working class niche these are the young urban professionals of wall street. Levis also created jeans that focused on the teen market these are the faded pre washed jeans. Marketers will find it easier to measure the success of their brands if they focus on a niche market. All their marketing efforts their ad campaigns, their outlets will be concentrated in that specific niche and the marketing expense will be more effective. Traditional marketing on the other hand is like a shotgun approach to the market this approach is good for generic products. The product is not focused on a specific market segment and it tries to reach all market segments. Expensive, difficult to measure brand success but there are generic products that are successful but it took years and years before it got consumer loyalty