Hello Kitty, a very popular brand with young girls worldwide, is a stellar example of the power of niches. It demonstrates why it’s far better to focus on a single niche and go deep within that niche rather than trying to appeal to a broad range of customers with vastly different needs and behaviors.
Say Hello to the brand that is Hello Kitty
Hello Kitty, as you might imagine, is a two-dimensional cat character. What makes the brand so successful is the availability of Hello Kitty merchandise. From Hello Kitty tissues to lip balm to erasers to lunchboxes to clothing, Hello Kitty has everything their target audience wants (and more)!
A hypothetical Hello Kitty day in the life of my daughter starts with her waking up in her Hello Kitty pajamas and hugging her favorite Hello Kitty doll. While she brushes her teeth with her Hello Kitty toothpaste and puts on her favorite Hello Kitty hoodie, mommy packs her lunch into her Hello Kitty lunchbox. At school, she pulls out her Hello Kitty pencil set.
You get the point. There is not a single moment of her day left untouched by the Hello Kitty brand. Hello Kitty begets more Hello Kitty as one turns into many and of course, the many turns into a collection.
5 Lessons in the Power of Niches from Hello Kitty
#1: Go deep, not wide – Too broad a target market and you lose the focus that makes your brand marketing truly effective. With Hello Kitty, it’s all things pretty and pink and girly and that’s offers endless possibilities within that niche. No need to create a Hello Doggy for boys.
#2: Know your target customer! – Know who they are and what they do. Know their style and preferences down to the smallest detail – that they like lip balm in heart-shaped containers, stickers with sparkles and mini anything.
#3: Fulfill their needs – ALL of them! – Want to grow your business? Expand your services within that niche. If you sell your customers a Hello Kitty doll, would they also like a Hello Kitty backpack? Does the backpack need Hello Kitty pens, paper, a ruler and a pencil sharpener?
#4: Maintain your brand integrity – It almost seems like there is Hello Kitty everything, but if you look closer, you’ll see that it is all in line with the Hello Kitty brand. Hello Kitty pink tissues, mini books, stamp kits, and ice cream treats, but not Hello Kitty beef jerky, toy dump trucks, or laundry soap.
You don’t need to be a global brand like Hello Kitty to benefit from their brand lessons. Just focus on expanding within your niche one logical step at a time. Soon enough you’ll have your own branded ice cream bar too!
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