Now That’s Niche Marketing!

I’m heading out of town tomorrow morning – going to Pennsylvania for a family wedding and I’m not bringing my laptop.  I could use a 4 day break to recharge my batteries.

I was just reading an article about a company called Mascot Books.  They write and publish kids books about sports team mascots.  It started in 2002 when Aimee, Naren, and their 2 year old daughter, Anna Aryai, went to a college football game.  Afterwards, little Anna requested a book about the mascot so they visited the college bookstore.  They couldn’t find such a book anywhere.  Lots of people would say, “Gosh darn, sorry honey,” but Aimee Aryai decided to go ahead and write one for her. 

Aimee and Naren’s entreprenerial wheels started turning as they realized they had found an undiscovered niche!  They started writing books about other college mascots and then branched into the pros.  They didn’t stop at football, but hit other sports too.  One strategy they’ve used is to get retired baseball players and even a professional basketball team owner to write some of these books.  That’s like Yanik Silver sharing his list with me!  Great strategy!

So far they’ve sold over 500,000 books and expect to hit up to $12 million annually by 2010.  All that came from fixing a tiny problem! 

It’s time for me to start looking at tiny problems and try to figure out solutions, instead of whining about them.  It’s a whole different way of thinking, isn’t it?

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1. Hitting Internet Marketing Goals… Or Not