The term “evergreen” is derived from evergreen trees. Their foliage has leaves that are green/functional throughout a growing season, regardless of factors like ambient temperature or climate.
In terms of business, being described as “evergreen” means to be continually relevant. These niches and their associated products have everlasting appeal regardless of the current economic climate or season.
However, being described as evergreen can apply to several disciplines: writing, marketing, etc.
What are Evergreen Products?
As described above, being evergreen means that the product will have everlasting appeal. Products that are considered evergreen are things that people inherently need or desire and they have no peak or off-season.
For example, people will always have a need for:
- Clothing
- Furniture
- Food
- Bathing/Toiletries
To illustrate from the “Food” category:
An example of an evergreen product from the “Food” category is a cook-book. My Grandmother passed down several cook-books to my Mother. My mom still uses the cook-books (with some modifications) to this day.
Essentially, an evergreen product will always be popular no matter how well or poor the economy is doing or how big or small the market is.
What Makes a Product Evergreen
When qualifying a product or service as evergreen, it important to ask yourself a few questions. Typically an evergreen niche/product will:
- Have everlasting appeal
- Address an intrinsic issue, problem, or interest
- Be able to make money
The cookbook meets the aforementioned criteria.
Evergreen Niches Explained
People often associate being “evergreen” with the following niches: health, wealth, and relationships. These niches are considered to be inherent basic human desires that will exist so long as the human race exists.
People will always be concerned with their health. They will always be looking for ways to increase their wealth. People will always be getting into, working on, or exiting a relationship.
These niches also have several sub-niches that encompass them:
Health
- Fitness
- Weight Loss/Dieting
- Beauty
- Disease/Ailments
Wealth
- Investing
- Debt
- Internet Marketing
- Jobs/Employment
Relationships
- Dating
- Sex
- Divorce
As you start to narrow these categories down, you can start to see the product angles associated with them.
People will always be looking for ways to lose weight. Products related to weight loss are supplements, exercise equipment, and even clothing.
Market Research for Your Evergreen Niche
Before working with an evergreen niche or service, it’s important to conduct market research to help determine if the idea is going to work or not.
The three main things to consider are:
- The size of the market
- Target audience
- Competition
Let’s take a closer look at these aspects of market research.
Market Size
Estimating the size of your market is a very important first step. It’s also important to be able to forecast the trend of your market over time.
These days, analytical data is available on demand. For instance, census and labor bureau contain a lot of information and several industries have associations that curate, compile, and track this data. You could also commission the research and analysis or purchase the studies.
Trend analysis is rather straightforward. A tool like Google Trends can help to illustrate interest in a particular topic over time.
Target Audience
People who are in evergreen niches tend to have a basic understanding of their target audience. However, data backed analysis is always better than assumptions.
You should look to identify the following:
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Interests
This information can be gathered from surveys, social media campaigns, and even analytical tracking data.
Competition
No matter the market you enter into, you are bound to have competition. Having competitors in an evergreen niche isn’t necessarily a bad sign either.
By going back to the size of the market, you can determine if the niche is saturated and if your company will be able to compete with existing brands in the space.
Evergreen Niche/Product Example
To align with the above, we’ll go with the niche: Home Improvement.
Home Improvement is an evergreen niche because people will always have a need for homes.
Home improvement is a rather large niche and to further niche down we’ll go with “home pest control.” Most people either buy products to combat pests or hire a pest control service to eliminate the problem.
Based on our check-list above:
- Have everlasting appeal – Pest control has existed as a product or service for as long as people have owned homes.
- Address an intrinsic issue, problem, or interest – Pest control products and services work to remove pests from the home.
- Be able to make money – Depends on the pest control product being sourced and the manufacturer. However, at volume, margins should allow for profit regardless.
- Gender – Home improvement isn’t necessarily gender specific. However, it might be best to determine which gender is more apt to perform pest control.
- Age – Determine average age range for home owners, private renters, etc.
- Location – Determine location that is most prone to a particular pest.
- Interests – Home improvement is a good starting point. However, someone who gardens may also have an interest in a pest control product to help eliminate moles from their garden.
Final Thoughts
As detailed above, an evergreen niche/product is something that will have everlasting appeal regardless of the economic climate and season. These are products or services that someone inherently needs and they have no peak or off-season.
The three most common evergreen niches are health, wealth, and relationships. However, through market research you can ask yourself the questions listed above to see if your niche is evergreen. Based on the analysis above, home pest control might be an evergreen niche worth considering.
