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Letter to the editor

Speaker focuses on business model of find the need, fill it

She'll talk about marketing to different interests.

By PAUL SWIDER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 31, 2007

Before Robyn Oeth and Dawn Nyman started Foodies, they knew there was unmet demand for a dinner-assembly business because they'd heard from friends who wanted but couldn't find one here. Now, 2 1/2 years later, their business is thriving, in large part, because they've tapped into the trend of niche marketing.

"We try different marketing tools all the time," Oeth said of cooking classes, birthday parties, summer camps and singles nights she and Nyman have used to reach out to segments of health-conscious but time-starved consumers. "We just need to get customers to telltheir friends."

The Foodies approach is textbook niche marketing: appealing to specific, small market groups that are lucrative because of their strong desire for particular products and solutions. The broad availability of data and cheap communications makes such niche marketing available and necessary for any size business, experts say.

"You can't treat people as a homogenous group," said Marie Stempinski, president of Strategic Communications, who will make a noon presentation Thursday at Gratzzi Ristorante for a gathering of the St. Petersburg Business and Professional Women's Club. "We're teaching people to break the market down into different niches."

Aiming products at the broadest possible market is rapidly giving way to tailoring products to specific interests. Marketing researchers talk of "the long tail," or the staying power of passionate consumers vs. the masses who buy generic products and then abandon them for the next fad.

Stempinski focuses on categories like "green teens" and "road warriors," people bound to commuting and needing service solutions that fit their schedules and give value to downtime in their cars. She said reaching such sectors requires listening to their pain or passion and meeting their specific needs.

"People are more than willing to give their opinions," she said. "You have to learn from them."

Communication is a vital aspect of niche marketing, said Susan Friedman, author of Riches in Niches: How to Make It Big in a Small Market. Instead of pushing a product, marketers have to tailor the business and message so consumers pull it.

"Instead of marketing to the masses by throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, you market to people who you know have a need," she said.

Friedman recommends reaching the target market by becoming a resource to them, giving away expertise and information. She said many business people bristle at the idea of "free" but it shows returns.

Some real estate agents conduct free seminars for first-time home buyers, teaching them the ropes of the buying process. Sometimes, just being available to the right group can be enough.

Cory Adler used to arrange for Keller-Williams agents to mix with like-minded people to extend the Realtors' reach as part of that firm's community relations.

"We'd send dog people to dog walks because they have the same interests," she said. "We'd send people to events that match their passion because they would connect to people with the same passion."

Blogging is also a popular niche technique, said Ali Pincus, digital account supervisor at Aspen Marketing's St. Petersburg office. Any size business can start an expert blog like the one Aspen runs for Gevalia Kaffe sharing coffee tips.

"It has to be a conversation, a dialogue with the consumer," Pincus said. "People feel like they have an immediate contact with the company."

Sometimes that conversation is a customer complaint, which most businesses hate. Friedman said complaints are the best part of the dialogue because it shows what the market wants.

"Hug those complaints," she said. "They tell you what isn't right."

Stempinski also stresses communication to relate to a targeted niche.

"More and more, good marketing is building relationships," she said. "But you have to have something of substance to say."

Paul Swider can be reached at pswider@sptimes.com or 892-2271.

[Last modified October 30, 2007, 23:08:09]