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Posts Tagged ‘marketing niches’

I recently grabbed this book and just want to say: Wow and Cool. My niche ideas are going to get exploded.

This book talks about nearly 75 trends that the author sees. The author, Mark Penn is the man who identified “Soccer Moms” as a crucial constituency in Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign. He is known for his ability to detect relatively small patterns of behaviour in American culture. He also serves as advisers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, numerous corporations, and 25 foreign heads of state.

Mark defined microtrend as an intense identity group, that is growing, which has needs and wants unmet by the current crop of companies, marketers, policymakers, and others who would influence the society’s behavior. His way of trend spotting, through polls, is to find groups that are pursuing common activities and desires, and that have either started to come together or can be brought together by the right appeal that crystallizes their needs.

Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes

Few of the interesting ideas that Mark shared in this book:

“Office Romancers” – 60 percent of employees in one survey reported having been involved in an office romance in 2006, and that number is increasing. Many are getting married to office-mates.

“Working Retired” – People love to work, and are likely to retire later and later in life. That means you might not be facing as big a worker shortage as you think. And it means that your younger workers may be frustrated because we older folks just never seem to leave and open up the plumb positions.

“Stay-at-home Workers” – More people want to work on their own from home. Stay at home workers enjoy the flexibility and control they have and not having to commute. And studies apparently show they are more productive than in-office workers. And because they don’t commute, they are good for the environment. And you don’t need as much office space if some or many of your workers tele-commute.

“30-Winkers” – People are not getting enough sleep. Among many things, this can mean lower productivity. How can you help?

Other ideas that I found worthy enough to check explore more include:

• Sun haters
• Pet parents
• Pampering parents
• Caffein Crazies
• Shy Millionaires
• Surgery Lovers
• Archery Moms
• Black Teen Idols

In short, this book is not only about telling you stuff but it makes you think about things in your own way.  I’m sure the information in this book will intrigue any society watcher, especially if you’re in niche marketing. The Washington Post even described Mark Penn as “the most powerful man in Washington you’ve never heard of “. Click here to read more about the book. But before that, why not take your time and watch Mark Penn spoke at Google event at the video below.