Mar

Choosing The Right Niche For Your Business

By emily

So, you understand the idea of choosing a niche for your business in order to rocket-launch your success, but you’re not sure who to go after…. After all, you’ve been a generalist for years, and business is fine…. Besides, you wouldn’t want to cut off any of your current clients.

First, let me emphasize that you don’t have to cut off any of your current clients just to try to attract new business by becoming more niche focused. (Although, upon inventorying your list of business sources, you may find you want to eliminate some of your most time-consuming, least fun, or most high-maintenance clients – but that will have to be another article.)

In fact, current and existing clients are a HUGE part of any business’s success. One way to get more business is to simply re-sell, up-sell and cross-sell your current clients. You can read about getting more money out of your existing clients, here.

Speak in the Language Your Clients Are Listening For – Address Their Specific Wants and Needs

The idea behind marketing yourself as a NICHE product/service provider is that in order to BUILD and GROW your business, you’ll need to attract more clients. And clients are looking for an EXPERT in THEIR AREA. Not a generalist.

You can’t just say, "Hey everyone, come on over and hire me!"

You have to get specific and say, "Hey, Emily – is that you? I heard you were a real estate investor looking to …make a little more cash flow (or …save some money on your taxes, or …find a new real estate investment), I think I can help you – come on over!"

If I got a message like that, I’d know you were talking to ME and be much more inclined to listen to what you had to say.

Personalization is NOT The Same As Having a Niche Focus For Your Business

Now, the key to this concept of niche marketing is NOT personalization. It’s not about putting the prospect’s name into all of your marketing materials, although studies show that is effective and still something you should be doing…

The idea is more about the demographic and psychographic matching of your message to your clients.

You should know these important things about your ideal prospect: Gender, Age, Income Level, Educational Level, Number of Kids, Number of Pets, Hobbies, Concerns and Desires.

If you can collect this type of data, you can shape your message better.

Here’s How The Big Boys Target A Niche

Let’s take the example of TV commercials during football games – these are targeted toward men who are most likely to be watching football, and often feature things like beer, pizza and cars which are products that men like to buy.

Alternatively, let’s look at the example of ads appearing in a magazine like RedBook – which targets "Working Mothers." These ads feature things like makeup, anti-aging products, skin care, hair care, etc. because these are things that the 30-50 year old working mother may be interested in.

What Should Your Niche Look Like – And Who Will Your Top Clients Be?

To figure out who you should be targeting, take a look at three things… who are your current best or favorite clients, who are you, and what are the demands of the marketplace that are not being met?

Your current clients are the best place to take a demographic sampling of what is already working in your business. If you have clients that you don’t enjoy working with, exclude them from your sample. Can you look at the majority of your other clients and figure out what they have in common? Are they retirees? Young families? Are they Christian? Republican? All involved in youth soccer? Anything and everything that you can clean to put together a profile for your current best clients (those who are most profitable and you enjoy working with the most) will give you a good idea of where to start in creating a niche for your business to market to.

Second, take a look at yourself. Who is it that you envision yourself working with? Is it Swedish immigrants who want to learn how to cross-train for ski season? Is it people who have been struggling with diabetes and other health problems due to their weight? IS it folks who overcame challenging circumstances similar to those you’ve experienced? Look in your heart and try to determine what type of client you would really enjoy working with.

Third, examine the marketplace. Is there currently an under served niche that is not being marketed to or offered high level service in your field. If you could choose any one "trait" to look for in your idea clientele, it would be finding a "starving crowd" who is hungry for your services. Perhaps you are a real estate agent – do you have any special skills that make you different from the thousands of other realtors out there? Could you specialize in working with senior citizens who are ready to downsize to a nursing home? Do you speak a foreign language that would set you apart from other agents in your office? What can you do to differentiate yourself to a population who really needs help and advice but isn’t sure where to start?

With these three perspectives in mind, you should be able to sit down and take stock to quickly and easily assess how you are going to differentiate yourself by becoming a specialist within your market niche.