What defines the members of a niche market is not the market
size, but some unique characteristic shared by all members of that
niche market. Marketers then use that to inform decision-making
about marketing strategy and develop tactics to understand the
consumer needs of that group then create marketing plans to target
that niche group. Niche marketing is the resulting tactic of
implementing marketing strategies specifically for targeting a
niche market segment, often by capitalizing on the presence of a
unique characteristic of that market. For example, the market for
people aged over 55 is one example of a 'niche market'. Similarly
the African-American market is a 'niche' market, even though it is
a large group of consumers. The gay market is another niche market
group of millions of consumers around the world. So-called 'grey'
marketing, African- American marketing and gay marketing are
examples of the resulting marketing strategies that result from
defining segments by way of niche market approaches. Niche
marketing has been shown to be a very effective means for mass
market brands to seek to better position their products and
services to appeal to niche market consumers.
