How Do Printed Materials Help A Business’s Niche Market?

Marketing is to a large degree about perceptions. Creating perceptions, countering perceptions and molding perceptions in the mind of the customer is a vital action for you take if you want to build a vital brand. All to often, a business wants to create a niche market but has trouble because they get pigeonholed by the consumer.

The pigeonhole effect is often created because of what the customer sees and hears about a business does not match the niche market the business is trying to occupy. Does your customer’s perception of your business match the niche you are trying to occupy in the market place? Nothing can help you shape perceptions of your customers better than professionally designed and printed marketing materials, such as full color brochures or custom booklets for a business.

Let’s take a shoe store for example, if I were to ask 10 different women where to find the lowest price shoes, the best quality shoes or the store with the best selection of women’s shoes, I would get 10 different answers from each person.

Now each woman I asked might have a different perception of what the low price or highest quality means to her, but each woman will usually only have one answer per niche market (see niche markets descriptions below). Each woman asked would also have a perception of each store on the list that would be based on her experience with each store, including the printed advertising and printed promotional materials she has seen from each shoe store.

So what does this mean to your business? Basically, it means that in order to occupy a specific niche market, it takes a lot of work and planning. Your printed promotional items need to match and support the niche you are trying to occupy.

Some common niche markets are as follows:

1. The low price provider: If the niche you want to occupy is low price you can talk quality all you want, but you are going to have a hard time convincing the customer your quality is as good as brand X. The low price provider business model usually works best on a high volume model. You would not necessarily want to have really posh printed materials on fancy linen paper, as it would not match the low cost-no frills provider image.

2. The high quality/high priced provider: Mercedes, BMW, Rolls Royce, Rolex. Top of the line products not only have a perception of high quality but are also perceived to be prestigious. Depending on the product the high priced niche market can carry the perception that the product is overpriced. You should work to build the perception of quality, dependability and service. With this one, having cheap full color brochure would not match the niche. You would want the high quality full color brochures and booklet printed on nice paper.

3. Large selection provider: Big department stores have battled to occupy this niche market. Do your customers demand selection? If so, how does your selection compare to your competition? Keep in mind selection doesn’t mean inventory. By selection, I mean choices – does your business provide many different products that give your customers a choice when they do business with you. With the large selection provider, the quality of printed materials needs to support the image. You might have a nice full color product catalog showing the selection. By the way, with the advent of digital color printing the cost of catalog printing has come way down.

4. The best service—among the big retail chains—who is best known for customer service: Chances are you said Nordstrom’s or Macy’s. The best service provider niche is probably one of the most difficult perceptions to mold because it is a constant endeavor. One customer who has a bad experience or a customer who was not handled properly will tell about 20 people how bad you and your company is, thus making it difficult to keep this perception among customers and potential customers.

5. Convenient niche market: Today we want what we want, when we want it, and we usually want it now. Customers will seldom go out of their way to go to a specific business if another is more convenient.

There was a wise man that once said that there are three things a buyer wants: price, quality and service. You can have any of the two, but not all three.

When molding perception, nothing helps you do that better than with your printed materials. Your printed marketing materials and literature will go a long way to building your brand and how the public perceives your company. What your customers see and hold regarding your business goes a long way to support your niche market by helping to create a perception about your business, which will influence their decision to either do business with you or go to your competition.

If you are trying to position your company as a low cost provider and your printed materials is printed on high quality, UV coated paper that looks super slick and nice, that printed material may not contribute to the low price perception you are going for. Or on the flip side, you want to be seen as the high quality-high priced-high prestige product and you are printing your brochure off on you office printer, what does that say to your customers about your business?

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We can help you build your corporate identity with materials that are designed and printed to match the niche market you are trying to occupy.

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