4 ways to niche down
The term niche is thrown around a lot in business. A lot of people know they should do it but haven't...yet or refuse to believe that niching down is good for biz. It does sound counterintuitive to eliminate customers to gain more customers. Let me tell you how this works and why you should niche down.
First, let us go over the different ways you can niche down.
Demographics
Industry
Values
Services
By demographics.
This means you work with a certain type of client.
Ex: I only work with women, I only work with latinx, I only work with people in New York, etc.
The more in-depth you get about these target demographics the more success you will have because your brand and all your marketing materials will speak to that person. They will feel heard and become fans faster. This also helps you eliminate potential people you don't want to work with.
By Industry.
This means you are targeting specific industries.
Ex: Hospitality, Health care, Service-based, Creatives, etc.
By niching down in industry you become an expert in your field for that industry. This is beneficial because the businesses in those industries will more likely trust an expert in their field rather than a Jack of all trades sort of person.
By Values.
This means you and your client will align on values.
Ex: Diversity, Spiritual, Edgy, Conservative, etc.
When you niche down by values you attract people who align with you much more than people from demographics or industries. This is because you both are striving to solve the same problem and value the same thing.
By Service.
This means you only offer a handful of services that you are known for.
Ex: If you are a copywriter you could write copy for websites, social media, email, bios, sales pages, etc. However, if you only focus on 1-3 of these services that you are amazing at you become a master and not a jack of all trades.
A lot of businesses like to be the problem solver to a lot of problems... however, this usually ends up making you look all over the place and not an expert. The problem of the jack of all trades is you are a master of none.
So why should you niche down? So many businesses think that if they eliminate demographics it will negatively impact their business. This is false. When you try to appease all demographics you end up being very forgettable.
You may already see the common thread:
Niche down = You are THE expert
Try to work with everyone = Jack of all trades.
"But I like working with all sorts of people in all sorts of fields!"
Then niche down by service and value
"I want to do all sorts of things"
Then niche down by demographic, value, and/or industry.
I get it. Niching down is hard and a bit scary that you will be saying no to certain people.. but you will be getting a "Hell Yeah" from the right people!
When you are THE expert you get to charge THE premium.
