Find your niche

There's an old saying: "To lead, find out where people want to go and then hustle yourself around in front of them." The man who started the McDonald's restaurant chain did this. So did the woman who founded Mary Kay Cosmetics. You can do this, too. But you have to keep your eyes and ears open, and a little luck now and then won't hurt. In marketing their products, managers in the corporate world realize one important truth — to get the edge on the competition, one must have a product that is perceived as different from all the others and one that fulfills the wants and needs of customers better than any other product. In technical terms this is called product differentiation. If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. But if you build the same one everybody else does, you'll be locked into a nonproductive battle with your competition. You must give customers a reason to buy your product over any others. You have to find ways to make them as enthusiastic about the product as you are. There are several ways to make your product distinctive. Common strategies are lower price, superior quality, greater convenience or faster service. What techniques you use depend on your product and your market. Trends play a role in this too. If your product is a craft, you have to be extremely conscious of trends. One craft person said it's important to read the craft magazines. But by the time a craft or style of craft hits the magazines, it may already be on its way out. So you have to go to shows, talk to people, look and listen to figure out what will be "in" this year. One potter said she prefers earth tones for her jars. But products with blue in them sell better. So she now does more blue pieces.