Jack of all or a Master of one?

When our class at the B-School was asked, what we’ll choose between a ‘Jack of all’ and a ‘Master of one’, the Master was what most of us picked. “That would make us the authority in our field. We’ll always have the last word”, the intellectuals of the class said. And that was how the professor started the IT class. Following is how I related the same with my understanding. I generally refrain from writing so but such a fete occurs rarely. i couldn't miss an opportunity to advertise my business brains..

Being true to the above example, among the Generalists and the Niche portals, the latter become the Master of One. It is becoming increasingly difficult on the internet to reach the right audience, acquire the right visitors, convert them into your customers and retain those customers. That niche portal can effectively build lasting relationships through what we have studied in marketing- consumers’ lifecycles. The majority of Internet users with spending power look beyond the major internet portals in search of more dedicated content from specialist niche sites.

'Vertical', or 'Niche', Web Portals as they are called focus on specialized audiences and topics, and provide features like search engines, discussions, and directories. The key reason for this preference for niche websites appears to lie in a desire for quality content. The niche portal approach capitalises on specialised interactivity. It also defines the theme that attracts potential users and customers: the portal provides access to a wide range of resources, information links thus focusing on smaller domains. While horizontal portals try to provide a user with information on dozens of topics, vertical niche portals provide great depth in a tiny area. There are three strategic practices that the niche portals use to enhance customer retention. These are community building, customisation and streamlined browsing.

- Community building creates an environment of information exchange among experts in a niche arena.

- Customisation works for personalisation and user-friendliness of the portal.

- Streamlined browsing helps minimise unproductive time spent searching the whole web for information.

These vertical or niche portals have been generating good business. A few examples I could relate to are naukri.com, shiksha.com, healthcaremagic.com. The best however would be foodiebay.com, I being biased to my own baby. Well, all of us at Foodiebay treat the site and the food blog like our baby.

As against the generalists, most of the vertical portals are just few years old and have been build on the seed money provided by venture capitalists and private equities. They are on the growth curve which is closely following the maturity of the Indian Internet market. A reason why the Indian vertical job web sites like Naukri is relatively more successful compared to foreign sites like Monster is the ability to tap the target audience with local content with understanding of the market.

With rising inflation resulting in an economic slowdown, the first thing in an organization that gets cut is the marketing budget. In a recession it’s vital that advertisers avoid the traditional omnipresent approach but ensure that their advertising is speaking in a relevant way to the consumers with the greatest purchasing power. Niche portals in particular are an especially viable option for growing, online businesses. They provide direct access to local consumers wanting to do business locally.

Kudos to the professor to have explained the topic so well…. Even to the NPAs as he often jokingly rebukes them by.. :-)

One shouldn't take the eulogies that one gets too seriously nor should one take the worst of the denigration, the truth is somewhere betwixt and between and you can only do the best you can.

...Vikram Seth