Being a business owner means you have the opportunity to offer your customers a broad range of products and services. However, that doesn’t mean you’re the only business offering those same products and services.
You can be facing some stiff competition in your industry, whether you sell Braud parts for a grape harvester, high-quality footwear, or grocery goods.
You can’t avoid having competition, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stand out from that competition. Sometimes, you just have to think outside the square and identify untapped niches in your field. We’ve included some helpful tips for doing that below:
Start Researching Trends
Untapped niches can sometimes be ‘untapped’ because they don’t make business or economic sense. That’s why researching potential trends can be so important. Something can seem like a good idea but likely won’t be in practice.
Start researching industry trends, consumer behaviors, and even emerging technologies. Then, you can make data-driven decisions about whether to explore new products and services to help your business stand out. You may save a significant sum of money by researching before going full steam ahead.
Keep An Eye On Your Competition
Usually, you might pay little attention to your competition. However, now might be the right time to start. Begin paying attention to their strengths, weaknesses, and where they might be underperforming. Understanding your competition in great detail may enable you to capitalize on their weaknesses and start plugging the gaps.
For example, if you’ve noticed that your competition sells shoes but not socks or laces, you might start selling shoe accessories to provide a full shoe service. As you start researching your competition, you might also take the opportunity to improve on their failings, such as poor customer service or no online presence.
Ask Customers for Feedback
Where better to get information about your business than from the customers who shop in it? Ask your customers for feedback about the products and services they’d like to see in your store. Their feedback can be invaluable when you’re unsure how to take your business to new heights.
You can request feedback in many ways, such as via online surveys delivered to their emails, in-store survey forms, social media, and in-person conversations. You can then use customer feedback to refine and enhance your business. You can also create surveys using an AI survey generator for example.
Perform Keyword Research
It’s generally easy to ask customers in person what they want to see in your business. However, you can also turn to the internet for the answers you seek. More specifically, you can use keyword search tools like Google Keyword Planner to learn what people are searching for but not necessarily finding.
These results can sometimes tell you about interest in particular products and services but a lack of competition for getting them. You can capitalize on what you find.
Think About the Future
Identifying untapped niches can sometimes be challenging when you’re only thinking about the ‘here and now.’ For example, asphalt services would be much more untapped than SaaS SEO. The more unique your niche is, the less competitive it will be. Start thinking about the future. You can then see where your imagination takes you.
Anticipate future trends, cultural shifts, and new industry regulations that have the potential to cause upset. You can futureproof your business while enjoying more customers, popularity, and profit at the same time.
Identifying untapped niches in your field can be a recipe for business success. You can stand out from the competition and attract customers looking for the complete package! If you need a helping hand identifying those untapped niches, take note of these helpful tips above. It might be as easy as asking for customer feedback, performing keyword research, and noticing your competition’s weaknesses.
