Impressions - August 2015 - 43

a lot on Amazon and I actually appreciate
the recommendations.
Another way you can differentiate yourself is by creating three tiers of products:
good, better and best. The good is the low
end of the market. Most people will pick the
middle grade (better). The best grade usually costs twice as much as the better grade.
For example, the middle grade might
be a 6.1-ounce, heavyweight cotton shirt
priced at $4. The best grade might be a
4.8-ounce, 100% polyester moisturewicking technical shirt. The client might
purchase 80% of the better shirt and only
20% of the best grade. If your gross margin
as a percentage of sales is the same for one
of each, you'll have picked up extra revenue with this approach.

DOMINATING YOUR NICHE
All of this is aimed at setting you up
as the go-to source in your niche. You easily can dominate because you know the
language and behavior of the niche, have
researched what they're buying and have

made it easy to do business with you.
Even with all of that, there are still several
things you need to do to own the market.
The first is to get ahead of the game.
This means determining when your customers will be buying. It may be a specific event date or seasonal purchasing.
Whatever the timeframe, back up two
months from the need date and start
making your calls and contacts. Send an
initial "heads-up" email a couple of weeks
before you call. Get in early and lock out
your competition.
Second, find the influencers and get
close to them. This may be a frequent
poster on social media or in a forum. It
could be a legendary old-timer who has
been around for 25 years or more. Every
group has these recognized authorities or
personalities. Reach out and ask for their
help and advice to shape your program for
the most value to the community.
By doing it this way, they'll have ownership by contribution. The natural egos
of these influencers will serve to promote

you because they had a part in making this
happen. It is a powerful approach, but you
have to be careful not to ever let them
down or make them look bad.
Finally, you need to discover where to
be seen. You should be everywhere the
people in your niche are. It may mean advertising on a blog or forum, or in a local
newsletter. Take part in community discussions in forums and Facebook groups.
The focus should be on contributing, not
selling. You want to establish yourself as
part of the community.
Finding and dominating a niche requires
work and time, but it's one of the most
powerful things you can do to increase
you business profitably and establish loyal,
quality-driven clients.
Mark A. Coudray has been an active
member of the Academy of Screen Printing
and Digital Technology since 1989, and
has written for Impressions since 1978. For
more information or to contact Mark, email
him at coudray@coudray.com.

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