I have always been a fan of niches and believe they are the best target for marketing efforts. I define niches as a group of people who are incredibly passionate about an experience they share or have shared. Sometimes that experience can be created by a product or service. (Niche = Geek. Wine Geek. Lego Geek. etc) Â I have recently become aware of several emerging niches and thought I share them.
eSports – This one has been around for a while but it’s new to me. eSports is a niche that has video game players (e-athletes) competing in tournaments and streaming live events. (As many as 32 million fans watch these tournaments and Twitch, a streaming service that allows fans to watch others play games, sold for $970 million in cash to Amazon in August of last year. This is an extremely passionate niche with young males spending an incredible amount of time playing games and watching others play. There is a ton of opportunity around this niche but as with most, make sure you’re a SME before entering the fray. Posers will be first-person shot on site!
Fangirls – There are a group of young women that are obsessed with specific television series, comics, etc. For television, there are three shows (the “big three”) that fangirls share the most passion for, Sherlock, Doctor Who and Supernatural. Of course there are many others and many of these young women create a metric ton of what is called Fan Fiction. Fans take the characters of one or more of their favorite storylines and create new stories and then share them with other fans. (Some of these pieces are over 200,000 pages!) There is also cosplay (example below) where women dress up as their favorite characters. Some of these costumes take months to complete. Again, these young women are obsessed and can spend 60 hours a week embracing their love for their favorite stories. (Think Comi-Con!)
Marijuana snobs - Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock for the past couple of years, marijuana is legal in Colorado, Oregon and more states to come. When buyers enter a dispensary, they are presented with a myriad of different options. The person behind the counter will literally ask you; “What kind of high do you want?” This is because there are hundreds of strains, each providing a different type of feeling for the user. Any time you have a product with this level of complexity and the potential emotional impact – literally this time – you have the rise of a very powerful niche.
Before entering any of these emerging markets/niches, you must have a SME on your team. Posers are not welcome.
