As someone who has worked a decade in the game industry, I have practiced the unique strategy of carving out a niche in the gaming market. While carving out a niche is important in other businesses, like TV, social media, specialty products or specialty services, the gaming industry is an industry that has an interesting angle in this approach.
What’s a Niche?
A niche is a distinct segment of a market, having specific appeal. An example would be Casual Games. This term is mostly used behind-the-scenes by the developers, but it represents quick-to-play, light gaming, often on mobile devices but also are on computers and console gaming (this being the least). Party games could be described as casual, too. While a lot of people like casual games, such as 3-match, hidden objects, tower defense games, time management, and more, a developer could niche down even more, and with purpose.
A more specific example is the Mystery-Adventure games crowd. People who were kids in the 1990s and early 2000s played many computer games of this very unique point-and-click, story-driven style of game. This particular game genre has faded away, leaving the best of these games to remain nostalgic memories. Yet some companies found a way to bring some games back from the time vault, like Cyan Studios who recently remastered their Myst series, making it available on newer operating systems and on store platforms such as Steam, where their niche crowd may be found today.
Who’s the Specific Audience?
It is an ambitious and noble goal to reach as many people and audiences for the game, but niching down to a more specific audience can really pull in more of the right people. It creates the right community of like-minded players, sharing the game with each other, sharing discussions, art, recipes, memes, jokes, and anything else that can be thought up and shared. This leads to a rich environment that can exceed the game space, and potentially draw others into the appeal.
Would you host a book club at a noisy bar? No, that environment is not best for that crowd. But you would consider a bookshop-coffee house for the book club to meet, or even a room in the local library.
If you understand the audience of your product or service, you can better accommodate them and this particular niche. Not only accommodate them but create an environment for that audience to grow and thrive. An established place for them to return to.
Carving Out a Niche – Unique Elements
One of the great things about a niche is its uniqueness to the audience and/or the product. These identifiers really take on a life of their own. A fun catchphrase that is so perfect to the product will be memorable and just might make its way in household conversations.
A joke from a unique area of a game will become an inside joke once repeated across multiple gaming channels, among the same audiences. Memes shared of unique game instances spiral around gaming circles, even in new circles, exposing new groups to the hilarity of that instance.
Commitment to the Niche
Once the right niche is carved out anew (or found if already existing), and the niche is understood and cultivated, it is important to remain committed to what works for that game, product, or service. Not to say that only one way works and all other ideas are out of the question. There are ways for new methods and strategies to be introduced to a niche.
Consider a formula or a template for your niche’s strategy, communications, style, branding, and other things you do for your niche product or niche audience. If the color green is quintessential to the brand, ask yourself if changing to a different color would poorly affect the brand effectiveness. Perhaps consider adding complementary colors, or changing the green to a different shade.
Is the humor style in your communications a sarcastic, dry type of humor that your readers enjoy and appreciate? Maybe it would be best to NOT shift to a comedic, slapstick style of humor.
While it can be tempting to adopt new strategies and ideas for your niche, it takes some special care to alter what has been working already. In order to move your niche into the future, into new changes, into different things, it would be wise to do this slowly, thoughtfully, and over time.
I knew a company (actually, a few), who, when an event happened in history, the company wanted to make a statement, which was great! It is encouraging to hear that the company had an interest in the event, and for a moment paused the promotion of themselves. However, one company went even further and started writing on topics as a continuing discussion of the event’s themes. However, the content they started promoting had nothing to do with the product. Or if it did, it was such a stretch to make the connection, and the audience had mixed reactions. Some members were passionate and agreed with the company and had a vested interest in what the company had to say. Most audience members didn’t care, and some more so were angered, because they preferred to hear only about the company’s products or news. They didn’t subscribe to the newsletter for statements on the company’s opinion.
Going off-brand, or reaching out of the niche could harm the brand, service, or product. While it is best to draw connections between a message and the service (or product), it may take some strategy and creative, careful tact to extend to outside of the niche.
Your Niche is your Treasure
Compare your niche to a garden filled with beautiful, unique, exotic, and even endangered plants for a real perspective, and ask yourself if making a new move is worth it to your niche, or as a shift for your business. Cultivate and protect your niche. It is unique to you, and takes a long time to grow and maintain. Or perhaps imagine it as the diamond in the rough, a beautiful piece hiding behind stone that just needs careful extraction. Your niche is your home! Once you carve it out, it would be wise to care for it.
