“When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.” — Meredith Hill
Become Niche Notorious in your industry.
There are riches in the niches!
WTF is a niche?
I get asked about niches a lot. Should you? Shouldn’t you? The answer is YES. You should absolutely niche down. In fact, niching down is one of the pillars of my DRAGONS Formula (the N stands for niche).
Unless you’re a huge brand like Coca Cola or Apple, you can’t afford to target everyone. You have to think: what is the smallest group of people you can serve and give value to? Seth Godin calls this the smallest viable audience (SVA). Start with serving no more than 250 people and work on providing the most excellent service you can.
Solve a specific problem for a specific person. This is what niching down is all about!
Why niche down?
There are so many pros that come from diving in headfirst and serving one very specific audience.
Better relationships with your customers
First, you get to really know your customers. Because your offering is so specific, you’ll be able to speak to your audience more authentically. By creating the perfect buyer persona, you’ll be able to have a better and more personalized relationship with your customers. Once you have a loyal following, they will become your spokespeople, your cheerleaders, your FREE marketing. Focusing results on your niche can create powerful word of mouth marketing.
It’s easier to become an expert
When you focus on a very small group, it’s easier to become an expert in that field. Because you’re working in a specific area, you can learn about it much more quickly than building a general knowledge base. This will help you gain credibility as well. When people have a specific problem they want to solve, they care more about expertise than a big name or a huge following. They want to know that you can deliver results. If you think about the medical industry, when you have a problem with your heart you see and pay the big bucks for a cardiologist, not a general practitioner. You’ve got to be be able to solve a very specific problem for a very specific person.
Less competition
You might also find that there’s less competition in a particular niche. There will only be a handful or companies that offer exactly what you do. Think about it. Instead of starting a general “health blog” what if you got more specific? Are you doing health recipes, kettlebell workouts or mindfulness? What if you took it a step further? A healthy recipe blog for expecting mothers who suffer from lactose intolerance? Or maybe you’re a web designer who designs websites for law firms?
Joy in your content creation process
Listen, if pick a niche you love you’ll never work a day in your life! Read below on how you can find your niche. (My advice is to pick something you really really love and let it kill you)
How do you find your niche?
It’s a popular question. There are a few things you can ask to get yourself started. Zuzunaga’s Venn Diagram of Purpose is a great way to look at it. If you can find a crossroads for all these answers, THAT’S where your niche is:
- What do you LOVE? #passion
What’s your passion? What do you love to do? If you had to prepare a 30-minute talk with zero preparation, what would it be about? Start becoming aware of the spark that ignites when you talk about something you’re passionate about. A trip to Japan, social media, how to find a bargain, whatever. Think about what lights you up when the topic comes up.
- What are you good at? #vocation
What do your friends come to you for advice about? It can be ANYTHING. Relationships, training pets, selling stuff on amazon, how to improve your writing, making the best coffee. Think about what you’re already good at so you can combine it with what you love and what the world needs.
- What does the world need? #mission
This is another great way to find your niche. Thinking about what’s missing. Maybe there aren’t enough pet products that are all-natural and environmentally responsible. Or, might notice that there’s a lack of services for connecting homeowners with gardeners. There’s your niche. It doesn’t matter if only a handful of people would benefit (you might actually find the audience is bigger than you initially imagined.)
- What can you be paid for? #profession
How will you put all of these together? Think about the experience you already have making money. How can you use what you already know to serve your 250 people?
Some other considerationS:
You may have noticed that there are a lot of trends in certain categories, so you need to make sure that your niche is:
- UNIQUE. What sets you apart from larger audiences? How can you be sure to target the right people?
- IDENTIFIABLE. How will you pick those people out of a crowd? Having a specific niche is good, but you still have to be able to search or learn from them.
- SCALABLE. It’s great that you have a very specific audience, but if it’s too small, you may have to reposition your business eventually. But that’s also up to you.
It’s not always easy to find your niche. It takes some deep reflection and a proper look at your experience and skills. It may not come right away but eventually everything will click. Good luck and let me know what niche you’re planning on getting into!
