Building a compelling scientific story with key stakeholders to prime and grow a niche market

Niche marketing has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly in the health care space. While the approach offers significant opportunities for companies as they introduce new products or work to expand market share, niche marketing requires a unique strategy to be fruitful.

At the crux of niche marketing is creating a tailored approach to target a small, specific audience. While this seems simple enough in theory, it’s important to recognize that niche markets are created, they do not naturally exist, so companies need to do a significant amount of work to build a strong foundation and narrative before a product can be successfully introduced.

Understanding what motivates your target audience is not enough to effectively prime and grow a niche health care market. Companies must take this a step further to identify how existing unmet needs impact the individual as a whole – medically, socially, emotionally – and then build a compelling story backed by science that addresses all of these needs to drive action. The secret to accomplishing this lies in stakeholder involvement.

Involve stakeholders early on

Many companies recognize the value of integrating stakeholders into the marketing process, but this often happens once plans have been created and are in the execution phase. However, when looking at niche marketing, nuances in messaging are important so partnering with and integrating key stakeholders into the initial development process is beneficial.

Key stakeholders have a vested interest in the target community, and as such often possess valuable insights on scientific priorities, challenges that must be overcome and how to best speak to the audience, all of which will be critical when crafting a compelling story. Engaging KOLs with different roles – health care professionals, public health organizations, patient advocacy groups and other relevant third-parties – will also ensure that the scientific narrative is comprehensive in terms of addressing the data, medical needs and social/emotional aspects of the target audience.

Build communitywide consensus

Working with key stakeholders at the onset also helps to build consensus, which will be important for larger outreach efforts. Having alignment and support from major medical, public health and patient advocacy organizations ensures consistent messaging, builds trust within the community, motivates action and provides the foundation needed for both successful short- and long-term marketing efforts.

Look toward future growth

While initial development of a strong scientific story is critical, equally important is adapting that story to support long-term growth of the market. Continued collaboration with community stakeholders can help identify shifts in priorities and how the narrative should be adjusted to maintain market share. These same stakeholders will also be essential in carrying any new messages crafted to the target audience, and supporting community-wide adoption of the company’s call to action.

Strategic engagement with key stakeholders can make the difference between an effective niche marketing campaign and an unsuccessful one. Executed efficiently, niche marketing can be a cost-effective, productive marketing strategy for both new and existing products.

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