Niches Suck And Other Heresies

Many copywriters often talk about targeting a niche… getting to know them so you talk their language and describe your solution for them as though you were one of them.

I’d like to take a contrarian view.

I think it’s silly to worry about targeting a “niche.”

I propose that all people are the same at their core and if you are actually working a true market… targeting is as silly as pretending that some people don’t eat or sleep or have sex or breathe.

I’m writing this from Costa Rica where my family and I are spending a couple of months. Some would say that Costa Rica and Costa Ricans are about as different as you can get from America and Americans.

Are they?

Certainly it is difficult to imagine being able to sell them something without speaking Spanish. Certainly it would be difficult to get them to purchase drought insurance (it rains daily this time of year).

But, as I was eating dinner tonight deep within a Tico (i.e., a Costa Rican) neighborhood at a soda (small restaurant) that had no other foreigners in attendance other than my family, I watched my two year old playing with the other children.

He had no idea that they didn’t speak English. They had no idea that he didn’t speak Spanish. They communicated just fine… mostly with screams and giggles and smiles… with the occasional shove and pointing.

Us parents also communicated just fine with smiles and talking to our own children when they got a little too aggressive. All of us were having a great time.

Everyone in the restaurant was enjoying the food… some the beer… most the socialization… most the music.

Was there any difference between this scene and similar scenes across Europe, Asia, Africa or science stations near the south pole? Of course there were, but the root drivers of human activity are all the same.

I’ve long been a hater of the word “niche” and how many in the industry teach folks to try out tiny little niche markets.

I think that’s hogwash.

First of all, those teachers are hypocrites. Are they working a tiny little “niche” or are they working the huge “make more money” market?

Secondly, anyone can take a look at the 10 richest people in the world and see that they worked in huge markets that apply to nearly every human on earth… not tiny little niches.

Bill Gates works the software market… the more generic and widely applicable, the better. His most profitable products are Windows and Microsoft Office which apply to a vast number of potential customers around earth.

Warren Buffet works the huge “investment” or “make money with money” market. Who doesn’t want to make more money? It’s hardly a niche.

The Walton family (i.e., Walmart) works in the “everything” market and promises lower prices. Who doesn’t want lower prices?

The list goes on. Niches are for those who want to replace a job with their own business that becomes a job. The rich and the free work in huge markets.

Huge markets need very little or no targeting. They apply to everyone or at least a large percentage of the population.

Almost everyone wants to live longer. Almost everyone wants to make more money, be more beautiful, have a closer relationship with their spouse, have loving, wonderful children, be stronger, more attractive, etc.

On the Internet, the world is your play place.

You can choose to follow the liars and hypocrites and try to make the four people who are into zebra hockey in New Orleans on Tuesday nights happy… or you can try to make the billions of earth inhabitants who want to live longer happy.

Have you ever tried to play darts?

If your target is that tiny little dot in the center, then you will only hit it sometimes. But if all four walls, the ceiling and the floor are all your target, then you actually have a fairly tough time not hitting your target.

Douglas Adams once wrote that it’s easy to fly. Just jump off anything and miss the ground. That’s why niches suck… and I’m a confirmed heretic.

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