Personal Brand Development
Fortune 500 companies, like Walmart or Nike, have in-depth marketing strategies, seemingly putting them everywhere around the globe. Where these behemoth organizations have the money and staffing to achieve such a large-scale public relations strategy, you may wonder, how do I market myself when I'm highly specialized within my industry?
Fortune 500 companies, like Walmart or Nike, have in-depth marketing strategies, seemingly putting them everywhere around the globe. Where these behemoth organizations have the money and staffing to achieve such a large-scale public relations strategy, you may wonder, how do I market myself when I'm highly specialized within my industry?
You don't have to appeal to everyone everywhere when you create your PR strategy for your business or yourself. Instead, it would help if you appealed to those needing your expertise by providing value to your niche market.
A niche market is a "focused set of people or businesses who are in the market to purchase a product or service you sell. This group of individuals has a specific set of needs that can be met by a targeted product or service that addresses those needs."
By targeting your niche, you can focus on providing high levels of value while differentiating yourself from the competition.
Let's look at three steps to finding PR opportunities in your niche.
Even if you are in a niche industry, you still should spend time on market research. Your research will help you know your industry inside and out while giving insight into needs or concerns.
To understand your customer, you can use market research tools to provide more in-depth, analytical insights. Here, Google is your friend. By entering key terms into Google Search, you can manually explore your market, finding current needs, news stories, and competitors. You can also use Google Trends, allowing you to see what others are "googling."
If you want to dig a bit deeper into consumer data, you can also explore sites such as Market Research, which provides a comprehensive library of market research. By thoroughly understanding your market, you can better develop your PR strategy by honing specific needs and demographics within your niche.
Niche markets can be just as competitive as larger ones. This is why you should create a customer-first strategy when promoting yourself or your business.
When targeting your ideal customer, you should continually assess delivery methods and messages. For example, if your specialty focuses on B2B, LinkedIn may be a better fit for delivering your message. On the other hand, if you focus on B2C, Instagram or Facebook may be your preferred delivery system.
Don't forget to measure your return on investment for different messages through different channels as you continually assess. Doing so will help tailor your PR strategy, knowing what resonates with customers and what doesn't.
Although you operate in a niche environment, you'll still want to know what your competitors are doing. By understanding their offerings, price points, and marketing approaches, you gain insight the customer needs and wants.
To track your competition, you can use Amazon to see what other competitors are selling and at what cost. You can also read customer comments, letting you know what needs are being met by your competitor and which aren't.
Other tools like Adbeat give you competitive intelligence on your competitors' digital advertising efforts, allowing you to create a PR strategy from actionable data.
The more you know, the better your PR strategy will be. The better your PR strategy, well . . . we think you get the picture.
Not sure where to start? For your personal brand and digital marketing, we can help guide you through the above process.
Bell + Ivy offers services such as content research, personal brand websites, and personal brand bios to use across platforms. With our expertise in strategic consulting, personal branding, and digital marketing strategies, we can maximize the reach and authority of your brand, allowing you to focus on your business. For a consultation, contact us today.
