For many of us, defining your niche can be extremely difficult. It feels like you’re cutting off a limb or that you’ll always feel limited in some shape or form. What helped me personally was changing my mindset + changing how a ‘niche’ was defined. Here are 4 ways you can niche your business.
Redefining a ‘niche’:
Let’s start by simply redefining what a niche even means + how to approach creating one. Often times, a niche is defined by an ideal client or an industry. For example, a web designer for photographers, a corporate caterer, a wedding cake designer, a dog photographer. Ultimately, I think this is where a lot of people get stuck – I know I did!
I kept feeling like I had to choose an industry or a specific person to only ever work with and I couldn’t make it clear who that even was. I mean, as a web designer, clients could really be anyone! How was I supposed to choose!
Rather than thinking of a niche as a singular choice (solely being defined by who/what industry you’re serving) it’s more about layering all the decisions you have to make within your business to then define your niche.
Meaning, it wasn’t just about answering who, it was about answering what, how, how much, etc.
If you can’t define your niche by a who, start unraveling and making other decisions about your business that will ultimately lead you to your who. Through a combination of target market, pricing, branding, tools and offering, your business will narrow down to create a specific niche.
Now I am honestly never sure if I’m explaining things well or not, but I’m going to keep going to expalin further what I mean.
By going through each of these categories and making decisions based on them, you’ll be able to not only understand more about your business but also end up creating your niche.
- Target Market/Industry
Defining the target market or industry you most wish to serve can be a great first step. If you know that you only want to work with a specific industry or specific market, it’ll allow you to become an expert within that field.
I always suggest at least starting here. Each industry whether it’s real estate or artists or photography has different needs. If you can understand them, you’ll be better fit to serve them.
If you aren’t really sure who you want to serve, start with some basics. Do you want to serve men + women? Only men? Only women? Is it a service based business? Product based business? Direct to consumers? Even getting a general sense will help you start narrowing down.
- Branding
Branding is much more than a logo, it’s more about the overall experience you give to your consumers. Through colors, messaging, personality + other visuals.
For example: let’s say you’re a painter + a lover of bright, bold colors + love changing your hair color every other day. (You’re super cool by the way). You create super colorful paintings + artwork. You’re naturally going to attract people who appreciate that aesthetic and feel, while repeling people who stick to more neutrals in their artwork.
Another way to think about it, is think of the style house you like and look for. Let’s say you love modern style, you’re not going to be looking for a vintage cottage house.
Now this is a great time to point out what you may be thinking.. But I like both neutrals AND bold… I’m not too separate people.!? You’re right! But that reason is precisely why you shouldn’t be afraid to niche down. People are complex creatures and like a multitude of different things. Which means, you may still attract outliers that don’t feel ‘in niche’ but that still love your brand.
Again, the goal here is to have an alignment between your ideal customer & your overall business so do a quick check and make sure it works.
3. Pricing:
Pricing will be one of the main differentiators. There will always be people on both ends of the spectrum of who can afford your product or who can’t. As well as those who see the value or don’t. And ones that think you’re too expensive or too cheap. Your pricing will naturally weed out some people, again both high & low prices will do that. So ultimately you’ll add pricing as a way to ‘niche down’ your business once again.
Also, note that just like the above – there will be people that will find your product valuable and some that won’t. Some will save up to buy and some will already have the money – don’t think that your pricing will ever leave anyone out or from actually wanting your product or service. Even if people don’t have the money now, maybe they aspire to one day work with you or buy from you one day.
4. Offering:
Maybe you sell one on one services or sell products or sell a course… there is something for everyone out there… but not everything is for everyone. What you offer and how you’re offering works as a whole will naturally repel & attract some people. Maybe you only sell design templates, that will appeal to a certain group of people (most likely DIYers), while offering 1-on-1 services will appeal to another group of people, possibly different stage of business.
Other examples could include dairy free ice-cream & gluten free desserts vs not dairy free ice cream or gluten filled desserts, interior design for small spaces vs large spaces, 1-on-1 online design consulting vs full service, DIY services vs hands-on. The list really goes on depending on your particular industry.
At the end of the day, you’re creating a business that is meant to fit your passions, your joys, your lifestyle & your financial goals. Personally, I think it’s beneficial to try different things when you’re starting out – but once you reach the point where you’re ready to grow, it’s important to really identify what makes you stand out as a whole and how you’re going to attract your ideal client by doing so.
LEAVE A COMMENT! How did this help you create your niche? What’s the main factor that’s defining your niche?
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