I’m perched, birdlike, on the balcony of my hotel in Barbados. My attention is drawn to what is clearly a welcome and orientation briefing for a group of birdwatchers by the pool. I had spotted some of them arriving the previous day. Only a serious twitcher would show up at breakfast with binoculars around their neck. Now about ten of them, most looking like retirees and dressed in khaki pants and long sleave shirts despite the heat, are listening carefully to an animated presentation by their guide, similarly attired. From what I gather, they are starting a multi-day trip in the Caribbean, beginning with an outing at 6:15 the next morning. Curious, I do a little googling. It must be Birding the Islands. I have been thinking about marketing a niche business and this clearly is one. So how did Birding the Islands attract ten birders from North America and Europe to Barbados?

Lots of experts advise creating a niche product for the purposes of marketing. Or looking at your array of existing or potential products and focussing on the speciality item. In our case with Rowing The World, niche marketing is required because our passion IS a niche and our business needs marketing. Same with Ancient Odysseys, a company that offers archaeology and paleontology dig opportunities that benefit scientists. I wanted to hear more and directly from other adventure travel tour operators, who must live by the consequences of the decisions they make in marketing their niche business.

Advantages of a niche business

All the businesses that I contacted confirmed that they were 100% niche. There are distinct opportunities. You really, really know your customer. Forget imagining avatars or creating customers profiles. I just think about the people I talk to on the dock, or even better I might ask them while washing the boats or maybe when taking a break on the water when I am rowing a double. Birds of a feather flock together, so do people with a shared passion. Most rowers do not own their own boat or if they do, they need a place to store it. You find rowers at boathouses, at regattas and a few other places. If you can reach your niche audience, they will likely be receptive to your message.

Pitfalls to watch out for

Sometimes what is good about being niche is also a disadvantage. Jennifer Hoddevik is the founder of The Travel Yogi, which she describes as an amalgamation of two distinct types of travel: adventure travel and yoga retreats.

The very best part of being a niche business is not having to roll the boulder uphill to differentiate ourselves. And, in not having to differentiate ourselves, the biggest negative is then working to educate people on exactly who we are (ha).  For adventure travelers it is about explaining that our itineraries are full adventure trips with yoga to enhance each day’s experiences.  For retreat goers, it is about conveying that our trips allow them to experience the culture, nature, cuisine, etc of a destination with yoga, not a yoga-focused retreat without cultural immersion.

Having to explain what you do came up frequently in the discussions with tour operators. Skyler Mason created SKYIN out of passion for the people and communities of Kenya. He must appeal to a small group within the broad market for African safaris and cultural experiences – those who want to support local communities and want a more authentic and immersive experience when they travel to Kenya. There can be significant barriers in getting the marketing message across for transformative travel. He says that it is essential to understand the guests’ fears and concerns and know what might steer them away from buying. His marketing clearly addresses safety and how his experiences make a difference and are not exploitative.

Niche business owners might think that they have no competitors but of course they do. My competition is a cruise to Antarctica or taking the grandkids to Disney World or going to the World Rowing Masters Regatta. Richard Mitsoda of Maduro Dive agrees. He would know. The company has been in business for over 40 years. “As with any travel, you are competing with many factors for a client’s discretionary spending. However, those pursuing a favorable recreational activity and if you target correctly will prioritize spending to support it. This gives those in niche markets an advantage if the economy downturns as well as how you spend marketing dollars.”

Niche businesses are often small businesses, even micro businesses. Being stretched too thin and confronted with insufficient resources of time, money and people is a challenge for niche businesses, including in marketing. Lumi Experiences offers cross-country ski packages, especially linked to ski loppet events. Garrott Kuzzy, Lumi’s founder, was keen to help out with this post but could not. It is their highest possible season right now and all attention is focussed on delivering the tours.

Tips for marketing a niche business

Books have been written on marketing, the internet overflows with information presented in a multitude of ways. Niche business owners often do not have the time to review. Here are six distilled tips for niche marketing, whether for adventure travel or any product.

1. Being niche does not make you special. The basics of business still apply.
2. Content really makes a difference. This is sometimes lumped with becoming a thought leader. I believe that the latter is not required and may be a red herring, drawing your attention away from what is actually important. By sharing quality, useful information and ideas, you and your business may become a thought leader. Or not. In the meantime, you will have generated interest, loyal customers, and done some good niche marketing. Ryan Chenery, founder and head guide of Birding the Islands wrote a book Birds of the Lesser Antilles. That would do it.
3. Talk the talk. Doug Mayer of Run the Alps advises “Make sure you are in the niche personally, and live and breathe the activity, so you can speak with authenticity and from the heart.”.
4. Invest heavily in repeat business and word of mouth, balanced with growing your database. At Rowing The World 83% of our annual sales are from people who have travelled with us previously or have heard about us from someone who has. We work to ensure that our marketing investment, in terms of both time and money, honours that remarkable loyalty.
5. You still need to find new people. Maximize SEO and especially for search phrases that are used by your target market, even if not directly related to your product. Test digital marketing, carefully. Through working with Liquid Spark, we have learnt that Pay Per Click or PPC ads may not work if few people are searching for something like “rowing vacation”. Google display ads may be a better choice, combined with stellar SEO so those few specifically searching find you organically.
6. Go to where your niche is. This might be visiting rowing clubs in my case, or specialist publications, websites and social media for Run the Alps. Bryce Albright of the Dude Ranch Association says “stay in your lane and focus on what you are good at and what is unique about your industry/experience. Many niche marketing outlets try to do too much in too many spaces in attempts to reach a larger audience. But if you focus in on your specific target audience and market the highlights of what you offer that appeals to them, your marketing dollars will go much further.”

Passion for marketing a niche business and finding birdwatchers

In the midst of the conversation with Skyler of SKYIN, I have an epiphany: a niche business does not necessarily start from a passion, but a niche business survives because of passion. Ryan of Birding the Islands agrees. When I asked him how he finds his birdwatchers his answer was:

They mostly find me after learning about my website from their friends who’ve been on my tours or coming across my website via a specific search of the Internet for specifically what they’ve been looking for for a long time – a tour of these islands in search of the endemic species to be found on each of the 10 islands I take them to.

It’s a lot of hard work getting started with a new company and you can wonder if you’re doing the right thing investing all the time and money needed to get your business off the ground. I think it definitely helps if it’s something you’re passionate about, because it can be a big leap jumping into starting a company and offering a service that isn’t really out there yet. You can get worried about whether anyone out there wants your product and whether your dream will actually become a reality and whether it’ll be successful. But you won’t ever know unless you try 🙂