Find your niche

When you start a business, everyone talks about the importance of client profiling and finding your ideal client. What people don’t always know is that niching is also important. In fact, it’s even more beneficial than identifying your ideal client: if you niche, your ideal client is far more likely to come and find you! I’ve had a couple of conversations recently with people who are finding it difficult to find customers and I explain immediately why niching is good for business. 

In order to niche, you not only need to be very specific about the clients you work with, but you also need to be specific with the problems you solve for them. Most people starting out in business think they can serve many different kinds of people. However, if you specialise in a particular area, you are more likely to attract more of ‘those’ people to your door. 

If you were an accountant for example looking to work with a business coach, would you search for a coach who helped everyone or would you be more likely to trust a coach who specifically worked within the finance sector? Or better still, would you search for a business coach who worked solely with accountants? 

Being vague about who you serve can damage your business. You want people to find you and therefore you need to be clear about who you work with and if possible, really niche down. 

So, if you’re still not persuaded that niching is important for you and your business, here are some more benefits.

1. It makes marketing easier

You need to be clear about what you are offering and the problems you solve. When you niche, you are better placed to get to the heart of the exact problem your ideal client is facing and explain how to solve it.

You are more likely to be trusted too as people will quickly recognise you understand them and when people feel understood, they trust. Eventually, when you have a bank of wonderful testimonials from your niche, other people experiencing the same problem will come directly to you because they no longer simply have to guess or hope for the best. They can immediately read about the success others have experienced from your product or service and want to work with you.

2. People will find you

When you niche, and are specific about the problems you solve, people will be able to find you through Google and LinkedIn search engines using key words.

People will also her about you via word-of-mouth, all because previous clients or people you have networked with, will know exactly what you do.

You’ll be the: 

• Virtual assistant who works with business coaches
• Accountant who works with freelancers only
• Artist who does pet portraits
• Designer who turns wedding bouquets into jewellery

Being ‘that’ person who does ‘that’ thing, is much easier to find than someone who might do that but also does this and occasionally other things too.

3. It’s easier for you to become the expert

By niching into a specific area, it will be easier for you to identify areas you need to up skill in or elements you need to learn so that you truly are the expert.

Even if you are not the number one specialist in the area when you start your business, learning more and more about your niche will mean it won’t be long before you are.

4. Niching gives you limits, and limits are good

You can’t possibly work with everyone anyway so why put that pressure on yourself? Even global companies such as Coca-Cola haven’t got a 100% share of the fizzy drinks market so why would you possibly try and sell your product to every single person who might possibly show interest?

By niching you’re limiting yourself to those people you ideally want to work with. Because let’s face it, you will of course choose a niche that you like! 

5. It makes selling easier

If people come to you because they know you and your area of expertise, they have already made up their mind that you are an expert.

After all, people research their solutions before they get in touch. In fact, by the time they approach you, they are almost 80% of the way down the sales process line if not further.

By being crystal clear about what you do and who you do it for, you haven’t got to sell to them or convince them that you have the solution. They will already be convinced of that, particularly if the content you have been putting out has shown the value you can add to your particular niche. 

The main thing to remember in all of this, is that as a business, there are three things you should be doing for your client. You should be: 

1. Helping them to make money
2. Helping them save money
3. Making their life easier or improved in some way 

If you try and do everything for everyone, you risk becoming mediocre. Niching allows you to become crystal clear about who you help and ensures you are brilliant at it. 

If you need help niching your business and would like to discuss how you could narrow your focus, get in touch today.