Tips For Developing and Finding Your Niche
Have you ever heard the saying “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything”? The same can be said for your business. If you try to service everyone, you might not be able to serve anyone! The saying “the riches are in the niches”, is 100% true and I am a prime example of this. Today we are going to talk about tips for developing and finding your niche!
Have you ever heard the saying “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything”? The same can be said for your business.
If you try to service everyone, you might not be able to serve anyone!
The saying “the riches are in the niches”, is 100% true and I am a prime example of this.
Have you heard the phrase, “Niches make riches?”
It’s true. In professional services in just about any industry, if you put yourself out there as a generalist, you’ve got a ton of competition. As a generalist, you have to spread your marketing efforts and budget really thin to expose all the possible services you could offer and capture all categories of clients out there. You might think that by creating a niche, you will be losing too many opportunities. You won’t.
By doing a good job in your niche, you will end up capturing business that is outside of it.
On the other hand, if you try to relate to everybody, you won’t capture anybody. When I wrote my first book aimed at Realtors, my editor kept reminding me that if I try to write a book for everybody, it won’t be very useful. The raw beginners won’t understand it, it will be too simple for very experienced readers, and real estate hobbyists will think it’s too much effort. By honing my message down to a specific type of real estate agent—someone who really wanted to get the most out of their real estate business—I could give clear and valuable information.
When I wrote my second book, I honed in on people who wanted to stop being employees or who were newly retired and who wanted to become entrepreneurs.
Now I am geared towards local businesses and professionals in the service industry. Even though many of my strategies would work for things like retail or direct sales, the issues and challenges of local businesses and professionals who provide a service are different. So, the examples and illustrations I use are targeted to that niche.
Creating a niche is also going to save you thousands of dollars in marketing.
You won’t keep throwing away marketing dollars trying to attract everyone. Instead, you’ll focus your efforts and money on attracting the client that you want to work with. If your focus is millennials and first-time home buyers, you won’t waste money on an ad in AARP or posters in a senior housing community. You’ll focus on text messaging, social media, and apps like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik Tok, and Snapchat.
If you’re focused on yoga classes for older people, you won’t rely solely on text blasts or mobile phone compatible landing pages or social media sites. You’ll use snail mail and email, even hand deliver flyers to seniors’ community centers or advertise in their monthly newsletter.
When you narrow in on who your perfect client is, you know exactly who to market to, how to market, whether it’s on blogs, social media, any of your landing pages, your lead pages— whatever you’re doing, you know who you’re focusing on.
Have you ever watched an ad on TV and had absolutely no idea what the ad was about? That’s because you are not the person the ad is trying to attract, and the advertiser doesn’t care if you get it. They’ve designed that ad to hit home with the specific market who does understand it. Remember, you don’t have to make an impact on the entire world. You just have to reach a few.
Let’s put this into perspective.
If, as an architect, you had three clients a month last year, and your goal is five per month this year, that’s only twenty-four more clients that you need to reach this year. It’s not a million. If your goal is to fill one more dance class of twenty students, that’s just twenty more families you need to find. If your goal is to close fifty more loans than you did last year, that’s fifty clients or about four per month you need to attract.
Who do you want those new clients or students to be?
I encourage my students to come up with their “client avatars” who are representations of your perfect client. I learned about this from one of my mentors, Russell Brunson, and many other highly successful marketers teach it as well. You may already be thinking about the people you want to work with. By creating some avatars, you begin to understand what makes them tick.
Tips For Developing and Finding Your Niche
For example, when I started my coaching business, I wrote down that I wanted to work with people who are go-getters, who love learning, who are high achievers, who want to serve people, and who want to be at the top of their game. Then I thought about people I already know who are like that and asked myself: Where do they get their information? Where do they shop? What do they enjoy doing? What do they read? What issues or challenges do they face? What is most important to them? What are their priorities? What are their hobbies? What stage of life are they in? Who do they follow on social media? How old are they? Are they married or single? One of the most important questions you can ask to help define your avatar is, “What keeps them up at night?”
In other words, what worries them? What upsets them?
What do they have in their lives that causes them pain of some kind? What are they afraid of? People are drawn to things they love but they are even more motivated to get away from things that are painful in some way. To connect with them, you need to let them know that you really understand their pain points as well as their desires. In fact, all of your marketing messages will be tailored around those two ends of the spectrum.
As I started my coaching and training business, I targeted professionals in real estate or in real estate-related fields. Why?
Because this is where I had the most familiarity, credibility, and connections. As that business grew, I expanded to other local businesses and service professionals. Why? Because many business owners and service professionals are out on their own and not employees, so they would recognize the value in what I offer. Also, they are most likely to be able to afford my training and coaching services. Even though my strategies could help just about anyone succeed, they aren’t my niche.
If I attract people outside this niche (which I do), great. But I tailor my message and marketing to my avatars, my niche. If you’re having trouble finding your client avatar, go back to your past clients—the good ones, not the ones you wish you’d never met—and interview them. “Why did you choose me? What qualities did you like about me?”.
While you’re at it, ask them how you could have improved in your services and relationship with them.
Let them know you are open to constructive criticism. Don’t be afraid to do this. You’ll learn something new about yourself and your ideal client. If you hear a complaint from one person who has the courage to speak out, you probably have other clients who were unhappy. The White House Office of Consumer Affairs claims that for every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent.
While you’re doing this, think about your good clients and what attributes they share in common.
Maybe they are all smart or really diligent in doing whatever they needed to do. Maybe they are active in the community or have tight-knit families. What are your past clients’ interests? What are their desires? What do they want? If you aren’t sure, ask them. What are they looking for in life? What makes them tick? Develop your client avatar with this information in mind. If you work with people who are at odds with you, the whole process of delivering your service will be much more difficult.
Personally, I don’t want to fight with my clients in a tug of war over dominance. I want my clients to trust me and know that I have their best interests at heart. Learn to say “no” to clients that aren’t a fit so you can focus on the clients you want.
