To ensure the success of a local marketing agency, choosing a profitable niche should a priority and a key part of your marketing strategy.
This is because everyone wants to work with an expert who specializes in their industry. It’s also a core part of building a profitable business model that is easier to promote and scale.
This article will explain the importance of picking a niche and offering them a marketing service which specifically addresses their problems. Let’s also explore some factors to consider when choosing the type of local businesses that you should work with.
Why choose local businesses for your marketing agency?
They need help!
Most local businesses were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. And there’s been an extra push for them to market their services online.
Local business owners realize the need for digital marketing but don’t necessarily have the knowledge to do so. This is where you as a local marketing agency owner comes in!
Easier to scale
You might have the resources to serve one or two clients in a niche. You can then power on and serve four or five clients in that niche, leveraging on the resources you have available.
Once you see the need to scale, you’ll just go on to serve another city where there’s more potential. If you do this, you will scale with ease.
Develop a personal connection
If you’re looking at businesses in your local area, it’s much easier for you to develop a personal connection with them as opposed to large-scale traditional marketing agencies. This can go a long way to reach out to the owner and offer your agency’s services.
How to choose a niche for local lead generation
Now that we’ve established the need to choose local businesses, we should set certain criteria to choosing a profitable niche. The diagram lists some examples that you could potentially target.
Below are some questions you could ask yourself:
Are they inclined to spend on marketing?
Not all local businesses are likely to spend on online marketing. Even though they have 7-figure businesses, some are likely to rely on word of mouth for instance (eg: real estate agents, insurance agents etc.)
Spending some research on this can go a long way. Here are some things you could find out:
- Search on Google with the phrase {niche} in {your location}. Eg: roofers in Los Angeles. This will show businesses that spend on Google Ads which is an indicator that they spend on PPC campaigns. Alternatively, use tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush to identify how much paid competition there is for niche specific keywords etc.
- Are the businesses in the niche serving end consumers or businesses? If it’s the former, they are more likely to spend on online marketing as consumers tend to search on Google and spend more time on social media.
- Do they rely more on word of mouth, directory listings (like Yellow Pages) or online campaigns?
There are certain criteria that you can also use to determine profitable niches for local lead generation.
Can they be identified as a particular group of common interest?
The audience is in the niche that you should be able to identify themselves as being specifically targeted to. And this group should have common goals/interests that can benefit from what you have to offer.
For example, if you develop a program that offers lead generation for fitness trainers, a sizeable group of fitness trainers would say, “Yup, that’s for me! That’s exactly what I need”.
However, if you say you generate leads for trainers, this could still be generic because you will now have corporate trainers, consultants, teachers and instructors falling into the category too.
For instance, Fitness Marketing Agency has its messaging that directly targets gym owners, fitness trainers to help them generate leads and sign new members.
The idea is to ensure that you’re not going too broad. One simple way to check if your niche is specific enough is to find out if you’re able to create content that resonates well with the niche that you choose.
Market size
You need to ensure there are enough local businesses operating in the niche that you choose. There’s no point being very specific when there are simply not enough businesses that you can reach out to.
To run a successful marketing agency, you need to have at least 10,000 companies in your niche of various sizes that you can go after. This will ensure that you have a sizeable pool of businesses that you can convert enough to become a dominant marketing agency.
Access to niche-specific industry associations/groups
This is important to identify at the beginning as it can be a powerful way to get in front of your audience.
It will be a good idea to join some of these associations/groups as you will have access to their member database. You can then run various campaigns to them offering your program.
They are more likely to convert as they are very specific to the niche that you are targeting.
Depending on your niche, this strategy could also work by partnering up with affiliates and influencers in the niche that you choose as they will likely have a similar audience that you would want to reach out to.
For instance, if you are offering a program to fitness trainers in the USA, you could consider joining the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Similarly, if you’re targeting roofers in the USA, you could sign up with the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA).
A simple Google search can give you a list of associations that you sign up for your specific niche. Eg: {niche} associations in {location}
Why you should consider choosing a profitable niche for your marketing agency
Easier access to market
Picking a niche may seem daunting initially as you’d want to serve as many local businesses as possible.
In reality, though, choosing a niche is like working with a compass. It guides you forward by showing you where there is opportunity and identifies exactly the market that you need to target.
Choosing a niche is the first step in building your business because it lays out your marketing strategy for you in advance.
It also lets you easily build case studies that clients within the niche can easily relate to. Since you’ll be engaging with clients that have similar interests, you’ll find it easier to network as well.
Higher potential for growth
Choosing to specialize in one sector allows you to offer a level of expertise that is simply not possible with other agencies. This leaves room for more opportunities to grow as a marketing agency.
By focusing on one area, you’re able to perfect your processes and become an expert in the field. In turn, you can improve client satisfaction by providing excellent customer service and building better relationships.
Develop a process that works
Running a niche marketing agency means that you have one core offering that directly addresses a specific problem faced by local businesses.
This allows for easily developing a set of systems and processes that can streamline your agency’s business operations. Many agencies get caught up in trying to offer everything they can think of, which results in inefficiencies and eventually providing a subpar service.
Becoming the ‘go-to’ within your market
As a credible marketing agency, you need to have case studies that demonstrate what you can do for the target audience. And you need to present them in a way that is both compelling and professional.
By choosing a niche, it’s going to make it easier for you to show off what you can do, and what results you have produced for other similar businesses. You need to portray yourself as THE marketing expert in the niche which makes selling your services a lot easier.
Stand out from the crowd
Marketing agencies that offer experience and proof of working with clients in your industry or sector are the most appealing.
When local business owners look for an agency to help with their marketing, they are likely to research how well you understand their industry.
As such, by choosing a niche, it not only shows that they have experience but also a deep understanding of your clients and the services/tasks you provide them. Which in turn, makes it easier for you to stand out from the crowd.
Should you choose a niche for your marketing agency?
If you’re just getting started, yes, it’s highly recommended that you choose a niche.
It will make it easier to get clients and build smoother processes for service delivery.
Hopefully, you are now convinced of the need for picking a niche when developing the core program for your agency. Once this is done, the next step would be to identify the pain points of the businesses in your niche and create an irresistible offer that they cannot afford to ignore.
This will form the foundation for your niche marketing agency which you can eventually grow and scale into a 7-figure business.
