Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success

Wasaga Beach BumsI spent the last week or so helping two good friends of mine, Mickey and Alistair, move from their recently sold condo to a cozy apartment in the trendy Bloor West area of Toronto – I absolutely hate moving, but that’s another post on a whole other blog!  Anyways, Mickey and myself have always shared a passion for computers and technology, and whenever we get together for 37 beers and a bottle of scotch the conversation usually leans towards business ideas and world domination tactics.  3-5 times per year a whole crew of us travel north of the city to a very popular cottage town called Wasaga Beach, where Mickey’s father John lives and plays.  This is usually our time to relax, build a fire, eat awesome food and spend some quality time together, as most of us don’t hang out as often as we’d like now that we’re all getting older – and more consumed in our individual careers.

This past summer we stumbled upon the realization that there isn’t a central location on the Internet for our demographic (male/female aged 19-30, future alcoholic millionaires) relating to what’s going on in Wasaga Beach.  This discovery lead to the obvious discussion of building a web 2.0 social network style community, that would utilize our individual skills (Mickey is a Computer Programming Ninja, and Alistair is Night Club Manager/Promotion Sniper) and provide the Wasaga Beach party people with a go-to spot for events, contests, and intoxicated gatherings.

A Moment Of Genius…

A huge factor with pulling this off would be the ability to make the concept “sticky” and branded – because with our age group branding is everything.  If we can come up with a catchy name, tag line and logo that people will recognize all the way from the strip to the line up in front of the keg, not only will the idea explode but word of mouth will take effect – and that my friends is what viral marketing dreams are made of.

All we have to do is funnel that viral buzz towards a fully interactive, multimedia driven social community where people can upload videos of their friend streaking across a beach volleyball court with a Roman Candle hanging out of his ass, and we’ll be in business!  We can combine this with a Profile system, a vibrant choice of locally themed forum threads, photo galleries with tagging capabilities, and an up to date events section providing the inside scoop to everything Wasaga Beach Bums deem important.

We have all winter to get the foundation of the site complete, as well as the necessary traffic generation and link building methods – which is where I come in – and as summer roles around next year we’ll be more than prepared to start spreading the word and claiming our authority within the party scene of Wasaga Beach.  Here’s a few ways I think we can create the viral power we need:

  • Take the entire crew down to the beach at least once every long weekend, all wearing branded t-shirts with the website address and logo on it while being loud and vibrant as usual.
  • Get branded bottle openers and condoms on a stick to give away while we’re out partying.  Making people do ridiculous shit for free stuff and recording it to compile in an online video release at the end of each cottage season.
  • Host a free karaoke party at the beginning of cottage season – with more filming and condoms.
  • Every year in August Mickey has a pig roast for his birthday.  We can charge people $20 a head for a Keg Party Pig Roast – all you can eat and drink with contests and prizes.
  • Once established we can cross over into the winter season and host events at the surrounding ski resorts –  milking the snowboarding crowd.

I’m sure the wheels are all spinning in your heads right now – how can I find a profitable market locally and use the power of the Internet to support it?  Take a look around you.  What do people enjoy doing in your town or city?  What’s popular based by season, or even year round?  How can you position yourself between a trendy tourist spot and it’s visitors to capitalize and provide a resource or service to enhance their experience?

Spend a Sunday walking around your downtown core and keep your eyes open – the opportunities are everywhere! Thinking locally might not be as profitable compared to a global online launch, but on the flip side local niche targeting makes it much easier to establish authority and dust what little competition there might be – especially if you know a thing or two about Internet marketing!

Cheers,

Elijah

11 thoughts on “Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success”

  1. Well considering there are more mexicans in my town then white people I can’t really even make a local site because I don’t know spanish!!! haha 😉

    But it sounds like you have a great plan and already have most of it figured out. You should easily be able to get people interested in it especially if you are going to be out and about and in their faces so to speak.

    Jarrets last blog post..Should You Or Do You Link To Your About Page?

  2. Good stuff, Elijah!

    You know you got the support of the Hood, Son! That is a great idea and you are right about getting some viral marketing going.

    I love the idea of getting t-shirts, bottle openers, condoms and what not to pass out for free. Love the getting people to do crazy shit for the free products, filming them, then putting it into the site. Sweet!

    Good luck, keep us posted, and let us know when we can sign up and contribute!

  3. Yeah, my friend Mickey is always brainstorming on different business ideas and opportunities.. and I’m usually right there to jump in when he does – I can see great things happening with this plan. I might get him to do a guest post maybe – he’s not much of a blogger, but he’s got a hell of a personality.

    Elijahs last blog post..Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success

  4. Dude, i would get kicked out of “mayberry” if i did something like that! Sounds like a sweet idea! Hmmm, maybe i can do something for the Andy Griffith Rerun Watchers Clubs hahah

    Thanks for the tips and ideas!

    JeffLefts last blog post..Unbutton Your Beast

  5. Got it:

    37 beers + 1 bottle scotch = world domination

    I think that’s doable!

    I’ve actually been planning a local site for a while now as a result of my SERPs on local posts I’ve done on another blog. When I realized that I not only outrank the local movie theater on Google for the name of the theater but the name of its owner as well? Yeah… I figured it would be a good idea.

    And the competition? Beyond pathetic (more on that at the Hood, later).

    Yanno, if you make the Roman Candle streaking video yourself… Talk about taking one for the team! 😀

    WordVixens last blog post..Funny, But True

  6. lol@ Wordvixen.
    Elijah – great idea man!. I remember the old story of the guys from Alice in Chains, before they were Alice in Chains, called their band “Fuck”, just so they could hand out condoms with the slogan “Fuck The Band” written on them 🙂

    Underdogbloggers last blog post..Enchanté

  7. @ JeffLeft – lol@kicked out of mayberry!

    @ WordVixen – You know that roman candle reference has some truth to it, it wasn’t me though (not saying I wouldn’t be that guy for a night). It is fairly easy to beat out local SE competition.. even locally for somewhere you don’t live! I have a friend who lives here in Toronto and targeted some local keywords in Italy and built a nice list!

    @ Underdogblogger – Alice In Chains is one of my favorite bands of that era and the fact that you felt comfortable enough to say FUCK on our blog makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Your a good man.

    Elijahs last blog post..Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success

  8. Yeah boyeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I was just reading a site from Jack Humphrey where that sum bee is taking over “local search directories” people are moving more towards local search sites.

    They want to search for stuff locally, weather it’s in their own location, or a spot they are going to. I think you got a good idea on your hands man….

    I really don’t know what I could do like that in Topeka, Kansas….. lol, but that’s a good opportunity.

    Normal Joes last blog post..Optimize Your Time Online By Using A Schedule

  9. Dude- if you do the roman candle vid to promote your site? I will make you a Squidoo lens (for the vid and/or site) for free. Promise, and double dog dare ya!

  10. @ Joe – I totally know what your saying man. I’m really going to think about having a local campaign as my main for Christmas, with a few side promotions running. I’m sure there’s loads of opportunity in Topeka.

    @ WordVixen – Went for the dreaded double dog dare… If we were in the move A Christmas Story, and my name was Fitz, I’d be getting ready to stick my tongue to the light post…

    Elijahs last blog post..Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success

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