People often ask me what is the most important aspect of running a successful marketing campaign. My answer to that has evolved a lot over time. Last year I probably would have told you PPC account structure or something like that. But the more I do this the more it becomes clear. Knowing your niche is the key to success.
You may have limited success jumping into a niche you know nothing about and just copying whatever other people are doing. But if you want to really be the leader in your niche and own it, you need to have the most in depth knowledge of the market. You need to know the vertical as well as the companies and merchants that are running the offer. Actually you need to know more than the merchants about marketing their product on the Internet.
There is just no substitute for being an expert in a certain vertical. One size does not fit all for PPC marketing campaigns, and each niche has its own techniques that work and don’t work. Those techniques won’t become clear until you really start understanding an industry. Then you can leverage those techniques to dominate your field. Remember, 99% of affiliates are doing the minimum to get by and mostly copying each other with worthless junk. But the guy who knows the niche like the back of his hand is making all the money. He is the one trying things that no one else thinks of simply because they don’t understand the market enough.
So how do you become an expert in a given niche? Read everything you can. Subscribe to industry feeds. Find market and demographic data for your buyers. Track seasonal trends. Subscribe to trade publications. Even go to conferences in the industry. Basically start thinking less like a internet marketer, and more like a business person in your niche. Your competition will never know what hit them.
Dead on. I didn’t had much success with affiliate marketing when I started out. I tried the basics of picking a merchant, doing PPC, etc. I’m still not good at that.
However, what I realized was that I didn’t need to. I built a site for a niche that I know really well via a hobby of mine, and discovered eBay actually sold a lot of relevant things for my niche. I combined the two and BAM, my first affiliate success. Just had my first $100 day two days ago actually.
Now I’m working on redesigning the site and find that I am able to give very specific direction to my designer because I know the tastes of the community in my niche. I’m also adding functionality that they will like and since eBay is hurting these days, I’m looking to expand my monetization strategies to include selling ad space to people who are on Etsy (since Etsy STILL doesn’t have an affiliate program!) since my knowledge of the niche led me to discover that thats where many in my niche were moving their businesses to.
Niche knowledge is everything. You can outsource the rest
Great comment Mike, glad to hear you are doing well in your niche!
This is very true and it so much easier and FUN if you’re an expert in the niche. I like golf and I really know my stuff.
Excellent post!
I completely agree with you. I can say that a year ago – I wasn’t dominating ANY markets, whereas NOW I am dominating several, thanks to plenty of learning!
Good stuff!
Great advice! If you are a small business owner, for example, you’re going to want to know every area of that business. The same goes for Internet marketers. You need You’ll need to know your business backward and forward. Basically, you need to be THE authority in your niche. Thanks for posting!
Agree with all above and would add that one of the best ways to get to know the niche is to build a list, then ask that list what it is that they want/need. A properly structured survey will yields tons of information about what people in that niche are thinking and give you some great insight for effective keywords.
Another way to get to know and *own* a niche is to do a successful product launch. If it’s well done, the launch will build your list, increase awareness, build alliances w/ partners and put you in a position of authority. It can also give you insight on who else has authority in that niche based on how effectively they can market your product to their list.
I agree. I found my niche and hopefully it pays that I found a good market to enter into and that I enjoy.