In a recent thread, LS mentioned something he called a long tail niche opportunity. It made me think…
For quite some time I have been toying with the idea of opening a Libertarian leaning bookstore. One of the biggest sticking points for me has been a lack of confidence that there would be enough profit opportunity to devote myself full time to this type of business. I’ve spent so much time concentrating on books and coffee that I didn’t even consider other avenues of potential profit.
Now I’m thinking maybe it would be possible to also offer some private educational services for parents, meeting space for groups (say a startup Militia?) etc…
Does anyone have any insights about Long Tail marketing?
Any ideas of tie-ins with a book business?
Would you go to a Libertarian bookstore to purchase Vs. a Barnes & Nobel or other local stores?
You could start small then build from there.
There are a lot of longtail opportunities available. The trick is determining which have profit potential and which do not. Obviously you can narrow down your choices, do some market research, but my suggestion to you is that if you are going to offer a brick and mortar business, you have to be very selective. Online, you can cheaply try a lot of things to see what sticks. In the real world, it can be very expensive to test, which means it has to be well thought out.
Meeting space is a good idea, study/office space rental could help pay the rent. With the contraction of the debt economy, we basically have two retail targets with serious purchasing power. Old money, and producers. Bubba consumers with endless credit are a thing of the past.
Research, research, research. Dig until your fingers bleed. You can never know enough about an investment before you make a move.