Finding new segments in large markets

Since WhyHire.Me got underway, several initial users have come forward and congratulated us on our unique perspective on the market and underlying capabilities. We have learned a lot about additional requirements and expectations students have as they progress through college. People outside the realm of our target market look at other solutions such as Blogger, Linkedin or resume building tools and suggest these products can fit the bill. When I hear this, I quietly think of my father’s expression “if what you say is true, you may be right…”.

We are maintaining our focus on the total product offering and will continue to deliver on our main focus – helping students present their potential by teaching them personal branding techniques. Our tools, techniques and underlying software provide a platform to profile experiences gained through post-secondary education and demonstrate engagement with online subject matter. Seth Godin pointed out another truism about marketing on the web these days. Find your first 10 customers,  get them happy, then they will tell your next 10, and so on and so on.

From a comparative stand point, one could look at the online dating space as hugely saturated, hyper-competitive and not a great place to start another online service. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction, because someone came up with Seekingarrangement.com, an online match making service where “older moneyed men and cute young women engage in brutally frank transactions“. Is this another inside out, kitchen table idea not validated by the market? I doubt it. According to the New York Times story, it has built up a user base of 300,000 members…or 20% of the match.com user base. I can’t say I condone the underlying spirit of this form of dating, but it does make for a case in point about market segmentation.

Large, established offerings be they dating services, real-estate listings, online business networks, or ecommerce for small business can’t possibly serve each segment that is yearning for something different. Marketers take note – look for the underserved and make your case. Its something we are doing at WhyHire.Me. Stay tuned for the next 10!