Flawed niches galore

Last week a new report released by FDIM on the habits of the Danish internet users suggested that niche sites haven’t really picked up yet despite several media companies betting rather heavily on them.

I have been thinking about this ever since, and I’ve reached the conclusion that one of the reasons for the lack of niche successes may be the flawed nature of the general model behind them.

When developing a niche media companies often focus on what the advertisers want. This is not wrong in itself - but it flaws the model.

Why? Because when you design stuff based on advertising needs you forget about the needs of the end user. At the very least you put it towards the back. As a consequence you make sites that are unfocused, even though they should be super focused, without the deep, compelling content that should drive end users to the site. Result? Failure. Or modest success at best.

But how should one approach a niche then? By looking at the end user, his or her needs and pain points and working hard to address these through great content and useful services. In the process one should break down all the segmentation barriers that media people, media agencies and advertisers all seem so fond of. Because they are the real evil.

How come? Because by focusing on segments you’re creating something on the back of what’s essentially an artificial invention: The segmentation model. And that means that from the off, your focus is…well…off.

What happens if you focus on end users is that it gets much easier and much more intuitive to deliver the goods to them. As a consequence they will flock to your site. And show me a site with quality content that advertisers won’t be keen on advertising on? That way everything adds up - for great results.