OWN YOUR NICHE BY BUILDING A NICHE COMMUNITY

by: Steven Van Yoder

In 1997, David Steele was making the transition from a professional therapist to relationship coach. Part of his strategy was to become a center of influence and THE Relationship Coach for his community. David decided to launch his own virtual community as a weekly "Friday Night Social" singles gathering. After a one-month pilot program and some market research, he designed a community for the singles in his area, unlike any other setting available, that would meet their need to meet other singles in a safe, fun setting.

The community also furthered David's mission to provide relationship education and position his firm prominently within his target market. Almost seven years later, his Friday Night Social continues to be a vibrant singles community that supports the practices of the four coaches who collaborated to make it happen. "It is a lot of fun, and the time and effort needed to make it happen is minimal," says David.

"We feature a guest speaker each week, a local professional who is usually a good referral source. We've become well-known in our community and have a loyal following of singles who sometimes continue to attend with their partners when no longer single!"

From Therapist to Singles Guru of Silicon Valley


Slightly Famous entrepreneurs are learning that in today's world, given that most of us have an unmet need for community, one of the greatest services you can offer your clients and prospects is simply to get them together.


The goodwill, contacts and status David has developed as a leader of a niche community has boosted his business. It has minimized the need to aggressively market his services by transforming into a guru and center of influence and trusted advisor to his target market.

Why does this work? There is a basic human need for community. We survive and thrive in relationships. We are social beings and cannot be fully successful or happy alone. Ever since we lived in caves our social environment largely determines our fate.


In today's world, given that most of us have an unmet need for community, one of the greatest services we can offer the clients and prospects in our niche is simply to get them together.
Think about it. A niche is a group of people that share common situations, needs, and goals. When these people get together, they immediately feel a common bond; they understand each other and can easily provide mutual support.

Targeting The Right Niche with the Message

Like David, you too can establish yourself as a trustworthy resource whose reputation and work is beyond scrutiny. The secret to success is targeting a group of people with specific interests. And that group of people can be your target market!

Examples of groups that would be attracted to, and benefit from, participating in a niche community include :

• Fortune 500 CEO's


• Real Estate Investors


• Singles Over 50


• Tai Chi Practitioners


• Small Business Owners


• Unemployed/Laid Off Tech Workers


• Ph.D. Candidates Working On Their Dissertation


• Stay-At-Home Dads


• Women in Transition


• New Moms

You get the idea... any niche you can think of for your practice is a candidate for a niche community.

How a Niche Community Can Benefit Your Business

Once you establish a niche community around your business, you can enjoy the following benefits :

1. Increased visibility. Community participation is a low cost marketing strategy that can yield enormous exposure for your business. Virtual communities provide free or low-cost gatherings that attract more people and create more prospects.


2. Increased credibility. The success of your niche community reflects upon your abilities as a service professional. It provides a chance for you to "show your stuff" and impress prospects who don't feel like they need to ward off a sales pitch.


3. Word of mouth. Virtual communities stimulate conversation. They get people talking. Participants tell their friends more readily about your business as a "community resource" than a private service.


4. Transform a "practice" into a "business". By reaching more people through your virtual community, you will develop a platform to sell more products and services. Your community can open the door to multiple income streams through group mentor programs, information products and other passive revenue streams.
   

Getting Started

The first consideration is how you will structure your community and bring people together. You have two choices: create a "live" community that meets in a physical location; or establish an online community that meets virtually through telephone and the Internet. Live communities are straightforward. Taking David's cue, develop a statement of purpose for the group. Then, market the group to niche market prospects within reasonable physical proximity to one another, choose meeting times and a location, and bring them together around a structured agenda.

Whereas live communities are more limited by location, virtual communities offer the possibility of attracting members from all over the world. Online or virtual communities gather people in an online 'space' where they come, communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time. The idea is to bring members of your niche together virtually where you combine on-line interaction (e-mail, web forums) with telephone conference calls and classes, as well as information and support services.

Online group interactions do not always 'happen' spontaneously. They require care, nurturing and facilitation. The core of facilitation and hosting is to serve the group and assist it in reaching its goals or purpose. Some describe this role as a gardener, a conductor, the distributed leadership of jazz improvisers, a teacher, or an innkeeper. It can be this and more.

If you take the plunge, be patient. Online communities don't happen overnight. Often they take time to coalesce and form themselves into something valuable and sustainable. It's crucial that patience is exercised, since it WILL take time for momentum and a critical mass to develop whereby the community becomes solid and established.

Choosing the Best Name for Business

by: Sean M. Lyden

Understand the elements of a great name before you commit to one.

Q : I have been in the income tax business for 18 years, and this year I have just stepped out on my own. Now I need a name for my tax service business. Can you give me any ideas?

A : Choosing the right name for your business is a daunting task for many new entrepreneurs because there is so much at stake. Does your name stand out to prospects and customers? Or does your business get lost in the crowd? Does your name communicate the right message? Or does it inadvertently keep prospects from calling you?

To simplify the process of generating a name for your new venture, begin with a brainstorming session, asking yourself the following questions. This exercise will help you get ideas on paper so you have something to work with.

1. Who exactly are my target customers?


2. What problems do I help solve for them?


3. What words or phrases appeal to them?


4. What are the three to five most attractive benefits my business brings to customers?


5. Are there word pictures or metaphors that communicate what I do that would be relevant to my customers?


6. What names do my competitors go by? What kind of name would differentiate me in the marketplace?

Your answers to these questions serve as "raw data" from which you begin to formulate a list of five to 10 possible names.

Evaluating Your Names

1. Does the name appeal to my target customers?
   Get feedback from customers or potential customers. What names appeal to them the most?


2. Does the name give me room to expand, or is it limiting?
   For example, the name "Press Release Services" would be confusing to prospects if the owner were looking to expand services to include Web site copywriting, bylined articles or any form of writing beyond press releases. The assumption is that this company only does press releases.


3. Does the name distinguish me in the marketplace?
   An example here is a high-tech attorney firm in Atlanta. Most attorney firms are named according to their partners' last names, such as "Brock & Clay." But when Evelyn Ashley launched her law firm, she came up with something very different. She named her firm "The Red Hot Law Group of Ashley." This name has become a highly recognizable brand throughout the Southeast and has helped generate dozens of PR opportunities.


4. Is the name "too cute"?
   You want to avoid using cute puns or phrases in your name, which may be confusing to customers if they don't understand what you mean. This is especially important to avoid if you want to project a highly professional image.


5. Is the name simple to spell?
   If it's not, people will be much less inclined to send you referrals or log on to your Web site. Make things as easy as possible for your customers, prospects and referral sources.


6. Does the name elicit pride and enthusiasm within me?
   Choose a name that makes you beam with excitement when you talk about your business. Prospects will notice your enthusiasm and want to do business with you.

Making Sure It's Available

After you've shortened your list to one or two "winners," how do you find out whether the name is available? One of the first places to start is the US Patent and Trademark Office. To check out available Web site domain names, log on to http://www.networksolutions.com/ or http://www.icann.org/.

BUSINESS NAME PROTECTION

by: Carlotta Roberts

http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/startupbasics/namingyourbusiness/article31156.html

Think you have a clever name for your business? Good! But you also need to make sure that name isn't being used by someone else and that you protect it once you're sure it's yours to keep.

Choosing a business name can be one of the most gratifying tasks in the startup phase, but naming your business is unfortunately more complicated than simply picking a clever name for your startup. The issues surrounding the choice of a name generally fall into two categories: mandatory government requirements for registration of business names and optional registrations that provide more comprehensive name protection.

Required Registrations

• Trade or Fictitious Name

If you'll be using a name for your business other than your personal name, you'll want to register it to ensure that other businesses can't use the name you've chosen. This registration process will also help you avoid legal problems with competitors by keeping you from choosing a name that's confusingly similar to that of another business. Registration of an assumed or fictitious name is also referred to as a "doing business as" or dba. In most states, this registration is done at the county level by filling out a short form and paying a small fee.Usually a sole proprietorship or a partnership requires such a registration, but it may also be required of a corporation if the company will be operating under both the corporate name and a dba. For example, if you've incorporated your business as the XYZ Corporation but will be operating as the Sunshine Bakery, you'll need to register the Sunshine Bakery as a dba unless, of course, your first name is Sunshine and your last name is Bakery.

• Incorporating

As part of the process of incorporating, you'll be registering your corporate name with the secretary of state in the state you'll be doing business. This registration process will reveal whether any other business has a confusingly similar corporate name. Following the filing of your corporate papers, you have the right and the obligation to use the corporate name throughout the state in which you filed.

However, you don't have the exclusive right to the name because other unincorporated businesses may already be using it as a trade name, and other businesses may be using the name as a trade or service mark. In other words, your registration has provided you with the exclusive right to use XYZ Inc. That is, your corporate name with the corporate designation such as Incorporated or Inc., Corporation or Corp., Company or Co., Limited or Ltd. is protected.
However, depending on the situation, prior use of the name as a dba, trade or service mark by another business may prevent your use of the corporate name if use of the name will confuse customers. Therefore, it's always wise to conduct a name search using governmental and nongovernmental sources such as telephone books, city directories and industry trade publications for your industry.

Optional Registrations

Whether you seek additional name protection beyond what's required for your business or your products or services depends for the most part on the size of your business and whether you might operate beyond your local geographic area. It's a good idea to conduct a wider name search before choosing a name for your business if you anticipate operating regionally or nationally in the future. To do so, you should conduct a search of the federal register of trade and service marks. You may refer to http://www.uspto.gov/ for the patent and trademark office information. If you conclude that the name you've chosen is available, you should look into registering the name as a business trademark or service mark. Although there's a cost attached to these registrations, it's far more costly to have to change a business, product or service name in "midstream" because you've infringed on someone else's name.

Trademarks or service marks consist of two parts: the noun that tells what kind of product or service you're talking about (for example tissues), and the descriptive word or words that identify it as being different from all others (Kleenex). The best trademarks or service marks are those such as Kleenex that are coined words because they're distinctive, and you can keep others from using them. If you're using a mark, be sure to:

• Capitalize the first letter.


• State on your packaging and/or advertising that your company owns the mark.


• If you've registered the mark, use an R with a circle around it to indicate this.


• If you've registered the mark only within your state or not at all, use the letters TM for trademark or SM service mark to indicate your ownership.


• Enforce your rights by notifying other businesses or the media if they're improperly using your mark.

Like every other business decision, the issues surrounding business names can be complicated, and it's always wise to seek information and assistance. In addition to books and websites, you may want to visit your local Small Business Development Center for individualized consulting assistance at no charge.