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Going from Amateur to Pro Woodworker? What's Your Niche?

comments (1) April 21st, 2011 in blogs

CustomMade CustomMade Staff, contributor
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Talented woodworkers serve what the business world calls 'The Long Tail', a term first coined by Chris Anderson in 2004.  What this means is that your woodworking business is naturally a niche market.  You don't provide for the mass-produced market at large; you service a smaller market made up of varied individuals with discerning taste.

Before the advent of many internet-based services, serving a niche market was a very difficult thing.  Woodworkers in particular were limited geographically and by cost.  In other words, it simply was not cost-effective to advertise in more than a limited range of venues, which might or might not bring in the customers one looked for.  As a result, makers of custom goods faced high hurdles in order to reach their full potential client base. 


However, reaching the long tail is much easier now, thanks of course to the internet.  But that doesn't mean that you can just build a website and adopt the "Build it and they will come" mentality. While easier than before, reaching a niche market still requires some know-how and self analysis.

Here are some tips for reaching your niche market:

Define your niche
When you define your niche for your customers, simply saying that you do "woodworking" might not be enough.  That's like saying Lance Armstrong "rides bicycles" or the U.S. President "works in government". 

You must be specific with your language. Perhaps you wish people to know that you are a custom built-in cabinet-maker, or that you specialize in tradtional fine woodcarving.  Either way, using language to specify and proclaim what you do best will provide a better return on your self-marketing efforts.

If you do not know your niche, or you are curious as to what your customers view as your niche, review your past projects, what has sold most in the past, and what you've been making the most of lately and why.  You probably emphasize a certain area automatically - it's just "you", so you don't even think about it; the trends of your past projects will provide clues.

Focus on and reach out to your niche market
Why must you define your niche?  Because knowing what you do best allows you to more efficiently market to those customsers looking for your speciality. 

For example, if you create dining room tables from recycled and salvaged surfboards for your table tops, advertising generally about dining room tables may be a reasonable place to start, but not a place to stop.  Consider also advertising your products in venues and mediums frequented by current and former surfers, like surf shops or surfing publications and websites.

If the nature of your work still limits you geographically (e.g., a built-in cabinet maker), then focusing on your niche becomes much easier.  Now, you can limit your precious advertising dollars to a service that reaches both your target customers AND your target geographic demographic.  In some cases this service might be as simple as your local Craigslist; just be specific about what you offer.

Consider outsourcing your marketing
Finally, sometimes it is worth it to pay experts a fee to help market your business for you. You derive the majority of your value (and all of your revenue) from the actual works you produce.  Rarely does a writer market her own book; she outsources that to a publishing company or posts it on a service like Amazon.  The writer's time would be better spent writing her next novel.

Much like Amazon has done for sellers of books, there exist specific services to market your woodworking business, bring the right customers to you, and leave you more time for your work. 

Remember, knowing what you do and who buys your goods is the key to increasing your business.

Growing up, CustomMade.com contributing writer Scott spent time in his grandfather’s carpentry shop in Tennessee, learning the basics of building his local hardware store. Scott has since left Tennessee to finish his MBA and law degree in Boston, but every time he goes back to Tennessee he always returns to his grandfather’s shop and reconnects with the joy of woodworking.
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Comments (1)

saschafer saschafer writes: With due respect to Chris Anderson and Yet Another Buzzphrase, this is a misstatement of the principle of the "long tail."

All probability distributions have tails; the mere existence of the tail (i.e., niche markets in the discussion above) is never in question and never an example of a long tail. To qualify as a long-tailed distribution, the tail must contain a DISPROPORTIONATE fraction of the distribution. In other words, the tail must, in some marketing sense, be more "valuable" than the head.

Unless you can demonstrate that your particular distribution is in fact long-tailed, targeting the tail over the head isn't likely to result in a net positive.

None of this means that you shouldn't target niche markets, of course (there are many reasons to do so), but presenting the long tail as an argument in favor of targeting a niche market is, in the absence of evidence of a long tail in that market, specious.

-Steve

Posted: 3:18 pm on April 21st

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