Itchy for business? Scratch a niche!

So, that title makes more sense if you pronounce it as n-itch and not n-eesh, but no matter how you say it I hope you’ll start thinking about it. Niching, that is!

I’ve got this problem. It’s been diagnosed by my favourite naturopathic doctor as “Active Mind Syndrome.” See, my mind really doesn’t stop. If you’re entrepreneurial and creative, too, you probably have a similar condition. My brain just runs and races all the time, thinking up new thoughts and new ways to do things. It’s a curse as much as it is a gift.

A lot of my friends own businesses and on account of my AMS (Active Mind Syndrome), it is impossible for me to sit still while I’m speaking with an entrepreneur without thinking about ways they can bring in residual income, narrow down their demographic, or carve out a niche.

I’ve been supporting entrepreneurs in one way or another for ten years or so and I’ve seen how much more successful the niched ones are than the “general,” un-niched ones.

Niche.

Do you have one?

Some people believe it’s unnecessary. Some people don’t know what it is.

The best way to simplify it, is to think of your niche as your area of specialty. When you have one of those, you will get to the point where you hardly even have to market your services anymore because you automatically become the go-to person for that particular service.

Also, niche products and services always sell better than general ones. That’s a fact.

Consider:

• If you’re getting married, would you rather go to the all-purpose photographer or the photographer who specializes in wedding photography?
• If you’re training for the Olympics, would you pay more to see a nutritionist who specializes in improving the performance of high-endurance athletes?
• If you’re selling a house, would you rather work with the agent who serves the whole province, or the agent who specializes in your market?

Don’t be worried that your niche will pigeon-hole you. People will still go to a wedding photographer to get their family portraits taken. People will still go to the nutritionist who’s famous for helping athletes if they want help controlling their weight. But having a niche helps you laser in on your focus and solidify your position as an expert in your field.

Here at Manley Mann Media, we offer many services—copywriting, proofreading, editing, social media marketing, graphic design—but our niche is search engine optimization. We write websites, but we can also optimize them. We design websites, but we can also optimize them. We can edit your copy, but we can also optimize it. We’ll write your social media updates, but we can also . . . you got it . . . optimize them!

What’s happening? We’re quickly becoming known as the place to go for SEO services in PEI. Is that stopping people from contacting us to help with other stuff? Not at all. The opposite is true. Our names are becoming known and people seem to want to work with us.

What do you think? Do you agree that niche-ing is the way to go, or do you still think being a generalist is where it’s at?

Photo Credit: Vandal Team Supreme