Entrepreneurship (Walking the Talk)

It has been a couple of months since I have written a blog. I have been busy with my new venture, GreenRides - a waterless car wash and wax (www.greenridesasia.com).

In my previous blog posts, I have asked readers and those who want to put up a business to create a niche where they can differentiate themselves from their competitors; to become innovative and open to new business ideas instead of following the current business trends. I am now walking the talk.

From now on, you will be updated about the challenges, victories and other stories of being a trailblazer in a creating a new segment of the market.

Why did I choose to compete directly with traditional car washes that offer their services for lot less? Simply because car owners deserve more. Cars are the second most valuable investment anyone makes, following only their houses. It is very important that cars are properly taken care of so that it will last for a long time (giving its owner a reasonable rate of return).

Some car washes use detergents that are harmful to the car paint. Furthermore, when sprayed with water and later cleaned with a sponge, the grit isn't removed from the car surface - it just rubs the surface. This is the reason why you see swirl or 'spider' marks on the paint work of a new car.

Not a lot of people know this that is why we have to go on an educational campaign to convince people that using the traditional method is actually harmful to the car paint.

As I go along, I will be writing more about my experiences so that any student of entrepreneurship can learn something from me.

As I have said, I am advocating for people to go into niche markets where it is very profitable and they can deliver excellent service. IT AIN'T GOING TO BE EASY BUT IT WILL BE WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Why Branding Is Important

Let me see if you can name the companies associated with the taglines below:

“Sheer driving pleasure.”

“A diamond is forever.”

“Finger-lickin’ good!”

“Just do it!”

If you have guessed BMW, DeBeers, KFC and Nike you’re right! It just goes to show how powerful a brand is and how people remember a particular brand.

If these companies are using taglines to be able to communicate their brand clearly and what they stand for, why do certain companies hesitate in investing in strengthening their corporate or brand identity. Most companies are just following the leader. They are content to compete on price.

Developing your brand is important if you want to create a connection between your company and your target market. It develops a deeper relationship that can result in higher sales over time.

Companies use taglines to differentiate their brands and companies over their competitors. Customers are able to create a mental picture of how using a particular product or service will affect them. Companies use taglines as their personal identity.

If you can also notice, these taglines are short, emotive and create a clear mental picture to anyone who reads or hears them.

Succes Stories Exposed

I recently attended the Success Secrets Exposed book launch held at National Bookstore of Glorietta 5 in Makati City. The Success Secrets is already the second book written by Mr. Thomas Fernandez and Mr. Sant Qui. Their first book, Secrets to Dominating Your Niche, is already a best-seller and is considered as one of the best marketing and management books written.

Secrets to Dominating Your Niche was introduced to me by my sister who works for Mr. Fernandez in PestBusters. PestBusters dominates 95% of the highly competitive premium pest control market in Singapore. He differentiates his company by focusing on the highly sensitive hospitality and healthcare industries. He just recently expanded here in the Philippines, his clients include the Shangri-La hotels group and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Meanwhile, Sant Qui is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and highly sought after Profit Strategist. He specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses radically increase their profits, using strategic positioning, branding and direct response marketing. Aside from the two books that I mentioned, Secrets to Dominate Your Niche and Success Secrets Exposed, he has written “THRIVE: Ordinary Enterprises, Extraordinary Entrepreneurs.”

I have read the two books that they have co-authored and I can say that their practical advice, insightful suggestions and real life experience will greatly help any entrepreneur or any person who wants to have his own business. The books are easy to read, uses simple and direct language and at the same time, you can actually apply the lessons that the authors impart.

You may read more about Sant’s stories and advice through his websites, www.santqui.com and www.maneurvermarketing.com.

I would suggest that you grab a copy and learn from their practical, down-to-earth advice.

Identifying A Niche

In marketing, a niche is defined as particular (often small) segment of a market which a specific product or service often serves.

How can we identify a niche?

First of all, let me start by saying that not all specialized market segments are profitable or offer great returns in investment. The key is to identify which specialized market segments offer great rewards in return for answering a particular need.

Secondly, when you decide to focus on a certain niche there will become a time when you will become the “industry expert”. Continually researching, studying and learning about the subject are very important. People will turn to you for advice and ask your opinion because of the expertise you have gained.

Lastly, never hesitate to ask the opinion of other “experts” and challenge the prevailing assumptions regarding the market needs you have decided to solve. Innovation and improving the products and services you have can keep and increase your loyal customers.

So, let’s us go back to the question; how can we identify a niche?

The important thing you should determine is to find out which customers you would like to serve. There are so many sport shops or sports gear and apparel stores in the Philippines. However, there is only one store focused on serving runners. The store is aptly called; Runnr.

Runnr houses various running gears and equipment from different brands.

If you are still not sure the market you want to serve, just walk around the neighborhood and find a need that you think you can fill in.

Heavenly Chocolates is a café and dessert place located in close proximity of other restaurants, bistros and cafes in Tomas Morato. What sets this apart from the other cafes in the area is that it specializes in chocolates. They serve chocolates from their country of origin such as Ecuador, Ivory Coast and Madagascar. They also conduct Chocolate Appreciation workshops, which is one their unique selling points.

If you are providing a service, you can find your niche by highlighting your expertise in a particular field. This is what the Unleash Team did. They conduct training programs “unleashing the highest potential in people towards success, happiness and significance” formed and created with the Filipino culture in mind.

There are other ways of identifying and profiting from niche marketing. The important thing are being able to identify with our prospective customers and knowing that we can deliver our promises.

Why Serve a Niche

In today’s challenging economy, jobseekers are finding it hard to look for a job that suits their qualifications with the salary they want. Limited numbers of opportunities are available to countless people looking for jobs.

Career counselors are advising jobseekers to separate themselves from the pack. They are asked to highlight their strengths and the possible contributions they can give their prospective employers during the interview process. These career counselors are also saying that jobseekers need to stick to a certain position where their technical skills and behavioral strengths can be most utilized. Jobseekers will have greater chances of success of being hired by simply doing this.

Why would it be any different for companies who are marketing their products to the public?

In order to increase their profitability, companies must need to focus on a certain niche; to solve a particular problem for a specific set of customers. Focusing on the mainstream market forces companies to lower prices to effectively compete with others. However, chances of gaining market share and brand recognition are mostly slim since there are well entrenched brands that have stuck to the minds of people.

When I was growing up, we used to buy our bread in local bakeries. They served freshly baked pan de sal (literally, salted bread) which is slightly larger than a golf ball. People from our community bought pan de sal from that bakery. People were forming queues to be able to buy freshly baked pan de sal every morning, until 8am.

After a couple months, Pan de Manila, opened a shop outside of the village. The shop was few minutes drive from the entrance of our community. However, people who used to buy bread from the local baker were now buying from Pan de Manila. It didn’t matter that the price of pan de sal was almost three times the cost of the bread from the local bakery.

What Pan de Manila did was to separate itself from the local bakers and target a different niche. If you notice, the local bakery and Pan de Manila are both serving pan de sal. The local bakery, however, stopped selling pan de sal at around 8am. Pan de Manila serves fresh from the oven pan de sal 24/7.

Pan de Manila differentiated itself from local bakeries by focusing on two things; fresh from the oven hot pan de sal any time, any day and by using wood to bake pan de sal. The result is that they are able to charge a premium and people will go out of their way to buy different kinds of bread from them.

They have maintained a loyal customer base that keeps on buying bread from them. Pan de Manila has impressed upon them what they are buying a fresh quality breads.