In Part 1 of this article series we covered how narrowing your niche can speed up the process of achieving market leadership as a luxury real estate marketing professional. Selecting the right niche is essential. Reigning in the scope of your target market to a potentially lucrative niche is the key.
Recently, Google announced that it will discontinue several of its products as the Internet behemoth narrows its focus. Google’s mantra, under Chief Executive Larry Page, is “Focus Drives Results”.
Once you have clearly defined your focus your world becomes “black and white”: you are either on your brand signal or off. Sometimes you have to give up things to get what you ultimately want.
The way this translates into running a leading luxury real estate marketing practice often comes down to out-sourcing business that is not within your narrow range of focus. If you get a referral to list a home in a neighborhood that is beyond your sharply defined niche, you are better off referring it to a trusted colleague who specializes in that area. This frees up your time and resources so that you can “double down” on getting more listing within your niche. It can also generate passive income for you in the process.
The only time you should even consider expanding to an additional niche is when you have solidified your position as either the #1 or #2 player within your current niche. Then, when you select a new niche to conquer you are doing so from a strong power base. And, remember, when you expand, you are no longer the market leader in the new niche. You become the challenger, unless you have chosen an uncontested market niche.
Google originally challenged a company called Overture, the market leading search engine that Yahoo eventually acquired. Overture was actually the first to monetize search with pay-per-click advertising. Google’s strategy was to develop superior search algorithms before they commercialized their product. As soon as they added search advertising it was all over for Overture. Google dominates search with 64% market share. Yahoo has 18%.
Then, Google challenged Apple by acquiring Android the software that runs smart phones. They now own the lion’s share of the smart phone market in terms of the software (not the hardware). Apple is the #1 in hardware and no other smart phone manufacturer uses its proprietary software.
Today, with Google+ they are taking on Facebook in the social media space where they have become the #2 player, virtually overnight. It was not clear when Google+ was first launched (by invitation only), that they had the vision or the focus to become a market leader in this category. But, with this announcement that they are discarding some of their non-revenue producing “experiments”, it appears that they have the grit, to give Facebook a run of its money. In a blog post a senior Google executive wrote that the closure of more peripheral products means "we can devote more resources to high impact products—the ones that improve the lives of billions of people." Translation: Products that can generate billions more dollars for Google.
Narrow your focus. Stay focused. Do not expand into new markets or niches until you have solidified your powerbase in your current niche. Take on only those new market niches that you can be either #1 or #2. But, be sure that the niche you select has the potential to generate the dollars your seek.
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