Finding Your Niche

Word-of-mouth advertising is an effective way to market your business, and there’s no better example of word-of-mouth at work than when it comes to maintaining and growing a niche.
Dec 17, 2007

By Steven Batts

There are several ways to market your business. For the embroidery industry, especially for smaller shops, most business comes as a result of word-of-mouth advertising. This is the cheapest yet one of the most effective ways to advertise. It’s cheap in that it costs you nothing and effective in that what better way to get business than a referral from an existing customer?

I can attest to this personally. I have a large clientele of urban motorcycle clubs that I do work for. I have done zero advertising to get this clientele. It all started with one club, three years ago. They told their buddies, who then told their buddies, and so on. Now we have done work for more than 20 different clubs.

Of course, it isn’t actually that easy. No one just shows up at the door and says let me expand your business. You have to do the work.

First, you have to produce a top quality product, something that will make them not only want to come back but also tell their friends and neighbors about it. I call this ‘Oh, my goodness’ embroidery after the desired reaction they will have when they first see the embroidered work.

Next, along with producing quality products, you need to give them top notch service. An important part of this is giving the same service and the same product every time. That way, they know what to expect when dealing with you.

Finally, the key to making word-of-mouth advertising work is finding a niche. A niche market is a narrowly defined group of potential customers. It may be contractors, truckers, schools or a certain type of club. In my case, it is urban bike clubs. Whatever your niche is, you want to tailor your business to that niche. What can you do to stand out in that niche market? Maybe you have more flexible hours. Maybe you have more creative products. But again, the thing you always want to offer is the best product.

So how do you find your niche? There are several ways, but the best place to start is where you are. What are your interests or hobbies? Are you involved in any clubs or associations? These are the first places to put your name out when looking for business. Don’t be shy about telling people what you do. Just simply ask them where they get their stuff done and if there’s any opportunity for you to do it. The best work is work you enjoy doing. If you enjoy embroidery and enjoy, for example, cars, then the most satisfying work you will do would be embroidering stuff for car clubs and enthusiasts.

On the other hand, maybe there is an area you don’t have a hobby or interest in, but there are opportunities around you to get a foot in the door. Sometimes the niche we end up with isn’t the one we were looking for. That’s the lesson I learned with my motorcycle friends. I was working on small businesses, churches, camps and schools, then along came my friends from the bike clubs.

The lesson is to look for opportunities wherever they present themselves. While the first place to look for them is where your interest lies, don’t neglect other avenues that you currently have access to. Then by producing a quality product and quality service that is tailored to your niche, you can not only maintain your existing business but also expand on it.

Steven Batts, a 14-year veteran of the embroidery industry, is a regular speaker at the Imprinted Sportswear Shows. He owns Righteous Threads Embroidery, Greensboro, N.C., which offers digitizing, embroidery, machine maintenance and repair, and consulting. Call him at (336) 379-9380 or e-mail righteousthreads@gmail.com.