Stop trying to be everything to everyone

If I had a hundred bucks for every time I heard ‘I am worried I will miss out on business’ or ‘I like working with everyone’ I could holiday in the Maldives. Well, that is if we didn’t have international border closures. But I digress.

FOMO (fear of missing out) can and does stop many businesses in their tracks. It manifests in procrastination to identify and target niche sectors. It can be a spinning mouse wheel trying to be everything to everyone.

For some businesses, it’s perfectly fine and reasonable to be a generalist. But for many professional services, it can be a thorn in their growth. And thorns don’t deliver bountiful blooms.

Why you should consider your niche

Niche marketing is a powerful way to grow a business and build industry authority. Marketing and communications tailored to specific markets in a deep granular way builds trust.

But many businesses have knuckle white fear and overwhelm as they attempt to target everyone. It’s exhausting and can dilute ROI of marketing and social media activities significantly. Fundamentally as humans, we want to feel others intrinsically can understand our needs, problems and goals.

Comfort and reassurance

Most sectors are flooded with choices and saturated with digital content. In wading through the quagmire we seek comfort and reassurance that our choices will be the right ones with these questions are the forefront:

Does this person or business understand my challenges and industry?
Does this person or business know-how to solve my problems and challenges?

Understanding the power of niche marketing begins with self-reflection on how we make choices. For example, if you are a mortgage broker looking for a website designer you may prefer a supplier who understands the call to action needs of financial services.

Or, if a manufacturer of medical products seeking an IT upgrade, you may prefer a service with cybersecurity experience within pharmacy channels. Or then again you may not give a rats about anything but price and speed. But that’s for another article.

But it will just generally feel more comfortable and most importantly less risky financially and in result to find a sector specialist. But of course, everyone is different and it doesn’t apply in every situation or business.

It’s not always about you

It’s human nature to want to feel valued and understood as an individual. I have heard all the counterarguments of why people push back on niching. But mostly it’s just fear.

But here’s the uncomfortable rub. It’s not always about your needs but the prospects. Some won’t care if you are not a specialist, but a whole lot will. And if your business is in a highly competitive market, gaining a strong foothold of sector authority returns ten-fold in organic networks and referrals.

A future focus

There can be a fear of losing existing clients and market share. That doesn’t really happen as your current clients who love and recommend you won’t be going anywhere will they!

Niche marketing is about the future, not the past or current. The point of niching is to focus on new client acquisition.

Content and marketing messages that inspire deeply often create enquiries outside of the sector pitch. Then you choose, but you never lose.

How to identify your niche

Define and identify ideal niches by asking::

What sectors or work projects do you find really satisfying and which energise you (Don’t make all sorts of head noise here, just go with your gut)
What type of people do you love working with? Think creative, technical, entrepreneurs, intellectual, etc. Every sector has many different personalities within them, but there are often a few common threads to explore.
What sectors are facing a lot of pain now or have ongoing issues that you are passionate about solving? Do you know how to solve them with confidence?
What solutions do you offer a sector/s which are unique and fresh to them? It may be the way you approach problems or the actual technical aspect of your services.
What sectors can and will pay well and be sustainable?

Found your niche – now do this

Once you get clarity on your niche/s you need to crank the pedal by:

Creating a tagline and branding value statement on your website, LinkedIn and other digital touchpoints. Own and flag them even if it’s a broad niche (professional services and retail ) or super niche (accountants and women’s retail).
Create a content and marketing plan to address the sector’s problems and issues. Publish regularly blogs on your website which is essential for SEO juice. Consider hiring a freelance copywriter with expertise in your niche.
Design valuable free resources, perhaps eBooks or short whitepapers.
Research the media and marketing channels those sectors use. Consider engaging a marketing or PR specialist to support you. If doing it yourself, make a list of the publications, social media and associations the power brokers of those sectors congregate and read. Focus on getting exposure in those channels and publications via interviews, opinion pieces, sponsorships, advertising, authority positioning
LinkedIn is essential. Investing time to ramp up content, engagement and networking strategies on LinkedIn will reap dividends. Gaining new eyeballs to your personal brand and business within target markets is key with the backup of content-rich value. Authority building, go-to resource 101 here.

Be brave

Be brave, creative, nimble and willing to experiment. Don’t let fear of missing out stop you from taking a really powerful niche stand. Trying to be the answer to everyone’s problems is a road to average results.

Carving out a reputation as a specialist in one or two niches really will be a road to deeper satisfaction and ultimately revenue Tailored communications deliver better enquiries and conversions.

I DARE you to niche!

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