Niche Marketing
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7
March, 2014
The word “niche” comes from a French word that means to nest. Niche marketing is
targeting a product or service to a small portion of a market that is not being readily
served by the mainstream product or service marketers.
Rural Entrepreneurship &
Business Development Update
ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL, LIFE AND NATURAL SCIENCES
Getting started and establishing a strong business requires certain steps:

Identify the specific niche market you want to serve, and all its characteristics.
These could be demographic (types and characteristics of the people in the
market), geographic area, pricing structure, costs of servicing the niche, expected
obstacles, and required fees or licenses.

Write down your goals for your family and your occupation. Then decide if
becoming a niche marketer is compatible with your long-term family and
occupational goals.

Decide what resources, capital, land, labor, knowledge, special skills or talents you
have for undertaking niche marketing.

Determine any resources you lack, and how you will make up for them.

Develop a business/marketing plan.
Getting the Help You Need
You will likely need advice and help to plan and establish your niche marketing
business. One of the best sources of help is people who are doing something similar.
Find out who is doing what you hope to do and learn from them. Seek reference
material from libraries, the Internet, teachers, Extension agents and specialists, and the
news media.
There are risk in beginning any new business venture, but with planning you can be
successful. There are many opportunities in niche marketing.
List of products/services that fill a niche:
 Bottled milk and ice cream

Hay for horses

Homestead cheese

Pastured pork

Free-range chickens

Grassfed beef and lamb

Organic vegetables

Truffles

Freshwater prawns

In-tank (live) tilapia

Horse boarding
Niche marketing can be done in any business even beyond farm related businesses.
Small Farms Research Center, Alabama A&M University
4900 Meridian Street
James I. Dawson Building, Room 219
Normal, AL
35762
Small Farms Research Center Background. The Small Farms Research Center was developed to assist small farmers with limited resources in Alabama’s underserved communities. The center was first
developed in 2000 to assist minorities, especially women, African
Americans and underserved individuals improve their farm management practices, given ones condition and resources. The mission of
the Center and the Small Farmers Outreach program is to assist all
small and limited resources farms effectively deal with risk management and food safety issues and provide them with informational sessions. The Center has also expanded its outreach efforts to meet the
needs of entrepreneurs and businessman. The center is located at Alabama A&M University in the Dawson Building. The center specializes
in following areas
Marketing and Business Plans
-Record keeping and Loan Application
-Identify alternative enterprises
-Personal Management
-Legal Issues
-Finances
-International Business and Procurement
-Accounting Issues
-Taxes
-Business Development
-Conducting seminars on Government programs and other issues
For more information about us give us a call at (256) 372-4970 and
1-866-858-4970.
Website: www.aamu.edu/smallfarmers