How to Find a Fantastic Niche

Niche marketing is the practice of targeting a group based on a shared trait, need, or interest. This can be anything from single parents to wine lovers, and each month we'll uncover a new niche to help you learn to identify, target, and market to different niches to attract buyers and sellers with specific needs.

Pet Parents

Niches don't have to be large to be effective, and 1 percent of all home buyers listed a "desire for better home for pets" as their primary reason for purchasing a home, according to the NAR 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Additionally, a whole 15 percent of buyers cited convenience to a vet/outdoor space for their pets as an important factor when choosing their neighborhood, making it more important than public transportation, convenience to the airport, planned communities, and human health facilities. If you want to break into this niche, here's what you need to know.

Who They Are

A 2017 survey conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of SunTrust Mortgage found that 33 percent of millennials bought their first home out of a desire to provide a better space or yard for their dog. That's a larger percentage than those who bought because of marriage (25 percent) or a new child (19 percent). The large amount of millennials whose buying decisions are influenced by their pets may be correlated to their decision to delay getting married and having children.

How to Find Them

People who are passionate enough about their pets to buy a home for them are often the same ones who bring their pets with them around town. Bring your own pet with you to the local dog park, pet store, and other pet-friendly places. Find or start a group to get together and take your pets on outings. Advertise your group with apps like Meetup to help other pet parents find you. You'll likely find yourself running into the same people over and over again. Start forming friendships with them, learning about their pet (this topic will be very dear to them), and find out what problems they have with their current housing. When the time is right, give them your card and let them know about some low down payment loans you could help them apply for.

How to Market to Them

One of the best ways to market to anyone is to solve one of their problems. As a renter, pet parents may struggle to find homes that accept their companions, and places that do allow pets often have breed and size restrictions. On top of that, renters have to worry about costly expenses such as pet deposits, non-refundable pet fees, and pet rent. Pet safety can be a concern too. Many homes have fences that aren't suitable for keeping dogs in the yard or have maintenance personnel who stop by at the landlord's request and accidentally let the cat out. Let pet parents know how owning their home can solve all of these problems.

Additionally, pet parents often want more than a yard with a good fence, but most housing only offers the most basic pet amenities. Create and curate plenty of content on creating your own dog wash station, cat rope bridge mazes, pet pools, and other projects that you can't install in a rental unit.

Fun, pet-related quizzes, like Homes.com's Dogs Digs test, are another great marketing tool. Use this quiz as a fun way to get your potential clients thinking about what kind of home would best suit their companion!

To view the original article, visit the Homes.com blog.