The Columbus Dispatch

July 15, 2007

A small business needs a niche

By Jan Norman
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Small businesses exist because big corporations ignore whole groups of customers. Successful small-business owners recognize this fact and focus like a laser on one specific underserved or purposely ignored group.

The unsuccessful ones try to be all things to all markets. So says marketing expert and author John Bradley Jackson.

Jackson, owner of a marketing and sales consultancy, has been teaching entrepreneurial marketing at Cal State Fullerton since 2002. One of his tasks has been guiding student teams in consulting with smaller, growing companies through the campus Small Business Institute.

"Our clients are at various stages of development. Some need help writing a business plan. Others are family-owned, in business 15 years," Jackson said. "But I noticed when the students and I sat down with the owners, they had the same problems."

That revelation led him to write the book, First, Best or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing.

The title comes from country singer Loretta Lynn on what it takes to succeed in the music business, but Jackson said it applies equally to small businesses. Being different may be the best path for most small businesses, he said.

Good to Great author Jim Collins agrees. He concludes that only about a dozen companies are really great. "Small businesses need to do different things or do things differently" in order to have a sustainable competitive advantage, he said.

Owners need to clarify their values, then define a vision and mission. Why does the business exist? "If you have the proper vision of what you want to obtain, all the little decisions become easier," Jackson said.