Marketers traditionally have wanted to go after the largest markets they can find. However, taking advantage of niche markets, despite their smaller numbers, can be surprisingly profitable, especially if you do it right. This has become particularly true with mobile marketing. If you take the time to develop the proper niche mobile marketing strategy and corner a niche market, not only will you be exceptionally profitable, but you will face virtually ZERO competition and will be able to enjoy the advantages of having an extremely loyal group of customers.

There are essentially 5 steps to developing a successful niche mobile marketing strategy. Follow them and you will be rewarded grandly.

Know Your Customers

This is probably the most important step of developing ANY marketing strategy. You need to know your market in and out. Study your market, speak and discuss with members of your target demographic, and follow and learn their activities. Make sure to read as much as you can into what their primary problems, issues, and worries are. If they want to do something better, learn how you can solve that problem for them. Be willing to stop and talk with them at any time, gather as much information as you can about them, and generally immerse yourself into their worlds so you can better understand them and how they operate.

Once you’ve become an expert on your target demographic, you should be able to satisfy their wants and needs quickly and efficiently. If you do not do any of this, you will effectively become an “outsider” to your targets and they will not be able to relate or identify with you. Make sure you know your target demographic to a tee and you’ll be off to a great start.

Learn Customers’ App Wants and Needs and Create a Customized Offering

Now that you’re an expert on your targets, you can start to figure out exactly what it is that they want on their mobile apps. Keeping it simple will usually give you the best results, so focus on sticking with what is proven to work, then add more features as you see necessary as you go along. Realize that you don’t always have to add more. Sometimes just sticking with the original simple idea with minimal features on the app will give you better results than if the app becomes cluttered with unnecessary add-ons.

For example, if you are working with a restaurant that does take-out, then you will probably want to add a feature that allows consumers to place orders through the app. However, if you’re working with a high-end restaurant, then you would have no use for that feature on the app.

You want to be creative, but you don’t want to overdo it. NEVER take the one-size fits all approach. Treat each client and company as an individual entity, because they are. Research and find out what it is that makes each company special, then tailor your marketing to reflect that.

Figure Out Where Their “Homes” Are

DON’T use the same mediums and channels for your niche market that you would use for other markets. Niche markets are special, so you need to treat them as such. You’ll want to start by finding out where their favorite hangout and meeting spots are. They might like a particular internet forum, so go find them there, chat with them, and find out what’s important to them and what’s not. They may host events like conventions, online webinars, conferences, or seminars; so go to them and interact with your targets. When you show your customers that you are willing to adapt to them, instead of the other way around, they will notice and you will be accepted with open arms. Once you’ve gotten to this point, working with them to make an ideal app will be easy.

Get the Ball Rolling With Freebies

Once you’ve established connections within the niche market you are targeting, you’ll want to get them to try and test out your app. The best way to do this is to simply offer it to them for free. Everyone loves free stuff and the best way to get feedback on anything is to have people test it out for free. The feedback you get back will be honest and straightforward, and may even be a little more positive since you let them try it without having to pay. Make sure you are listening intently to everything they say to you about the app, good or bad. This stage of the app development process is critical because it will ultimately determine the overall quality and usefulness of the app. If you are getting positive feedback, be sure to gather these as testimonials. You can use these testimonials in the future when you are launching the product publicly.

Realize that niche markets are ultra-connected communities of people. So if you get one good referral, that one referral could be the key to your app catching on like wildfire. Never underestimate any of the referrals you are getting. Knowing this, it is never a bad idea to add extra incentive on top of the free app so that more people will be willing to give you feedback.

Adapt, React, and Respond

Just because you’ve launched your app and gotten plenty of feedback does not mean that you are done. App development is a never ending process, and if you don’t learn to adapt, react, and respond to your customers’ ongoing feedback for your app, it will become destined for failure. The most important thing to remember when designing an app is that it should directly reflect the wants, needs, and feedback of your users. If you do this, your success is all but guaranteed.