How do you stand out as a business? Whether you are just getting started or have been in business for a while, finding your niche - the thing that makes you unique and you can become known for - is one of the keys to success in any industry.
It’s well known that you can’t be everything to everyone. Instead of trying to serve everyone and solve all of their problems, niching allows you to get specific on who you are and what you are good at. The ability to niche down allows you to focus on the parts of your business that you love and that draw your customers to you. By getting very clear on what you offer, and what you don’t offer, you’ll be able to serve your customers even better.
So how can you find your niche as a brand, one that will keep both your passions and profits alive? Read on for our 5-step process to niching to what you love.
1. Find your passion
It can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day needs of running your own company and forget why you were passionate about creating it in the first place. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s critical to bring yourself back to your why: Why did you start your business, or what is the driving force behind doing what you do? What does success look like for you? What brings you joy?
These seem like fundamental questions (and they are!), but you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs struggle to clearly articulate their why. If you don’t have a business yet, start here to get clear on what your passions are.
In business, it’s also easy to get lost in the comparison game. If you find yourself looking at other similar businesses around you and deciding to offer new services or products simply because they are doing that, you might be expanding your niche unintentionally.
It’s great to draw inspiration from others, as long as that inspiration aligns with your true passions and values. Don’t do something just because everyone else is, do it because it fuels your passion and is something that you want to become known for.
2. Hone in on your skills and expertise
Having something you are passionate about is the first step, but you also need to have those passions align with your skills and expertise. Consider what you are good at and the types of situations in which you thrive.
Look at your current day-to-day activities. Do you love interacting with people and connecting, or are you more of an introvert? Are you a big idea person or love to manage the details and the process?
Get clear on the tasks and skills that fill you up and the tasks that drain you of energy. Make a big list of the things you like doing and are good at, and equally important the things that you’d rather not do. This will help you start to think about how you can do more of what you love and less of the things that wear you down.
3. Figure out the market for your niche
At this point, you have a clear idea of your passion and your skillset, and now it’s time to do some research. Is there an existing market for the service you want to offer? Who would be your ideal clientele?
Developing customer personas is a great step to take here so that you can get crystal clear on who you want to reach with your products or services. Don’t skip this step! In order to make your business sustainable and profitable, your niche must align with an audience willing to pay for what you have to offer.
4. Research the competition
You’ve narrowed down your niche and you know who your audience is, now it’s time to check out the competition. Research keywords related to your niche to see who else comes up. Is there already one, or multiple, businesses cornering this area of the market? If there is, that doesn’t mean you can’t pursue this niche, but it does mean you need to differentiate yourself further.
Additional factors like location, price point, and target audience are ways to niche down even further. You can also spend more time considering who you differ from the competition, and how to use those differentiating factors to stand out from the pack.
Make sure this additional niching still aligns with your passions and skills. You got this!
For more support in your competitive analysis, check out our Comp Shop for a free guide on how to evaluate the competition.
5. Market your niche
The last step is to put yourself out there! In order to own your niche, you need to become known for it. Incorporate keywords into your website and marketing materials that will speak to your target audience and convey what makes you unique and special.
If you’ve been in business a while, this might mean undertaking some rebranding efforts to update images, colors, and captions. The other side of this step is also the changes needed internally to own your niche. You might need to eliminate some services or products that no longer align with your niche and hire new staff to take on some of the necessary tasks that you no longer want to manage. Most importantly, you need to learn to say no to the things that fall outside of your niche so that you can say yes to the things that you want to do.
This step is hard but so critical. It’s always challenging to turn down potential sales, but if you continue focusing on the things that are outside of your niche, you’ll never be able to specialize in the things that fall inside of it.
Are you ready to find your niche and start doing what you love? Download our free questionnaire to get started niching to what you love!
