After my blog post on focusing on your niche (Are You Trying to Be A Superhero?), I received many questions on how to identify and find your niche. It is an interesting journey for entrepreneurs and can be frustrating. First, Merriam-Webster defines niche as the following:
Niche: a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted; a specialized market.
Your niche is a specific product or service that you deliver to a specific audience and you're good at it! Here are a few ways to identify your niche and save yourself some growing pains on the journey.
3. What Product/Service Do You Love Most?
Yes, you love your business (you never would've started it in the first place, if you didn't), but is there a service or product that sticks out above the rest? Focus on that product/service and the audience it caters to. For example, KR Design is a marketing firm. Marketing is a broad category and that means our firm can do a variety of services. I love sitting down with business owners to address their marketing issues and do some brainstorming, which is why we heavily emphasize our marketing consultations.
2. Narrow It Down Further: What Do Your Customers Have in Common?
Make a list of your favorite current customers. What do they have in common? Are they women that are 35-45, single men who have no employees, or moms with children between the ages of 5-10? Really dive into the characteristics of the customers you love doing business with. I found that most of my customers are women entrepreneurs who have no employees, are 35-45, and have service-based businesses.
1. What Is Your Passion?
Sometimes your niche comes from your passion. Is there a certain industry you're enthralled with? If it is a industry with many sub-categories, what is the aspect you love most? A client of mine is a home stager and her passion for home staging stems from organizing and decorating homes.
Any suggestions or comments? Let us know below!
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Hi Kristen,
I would also add to #2 that once you have narrowed down your target market, it would be helpful to know what is a common problem or challenge they are facing. You could do this by conducting informal interviews to see what is their most pressing problem. From here you can see if you have the passion to help them solve their problems.
By doing these informal interviews, it’s finding out for a fact what areas they need help with rather than making assumptions. What we think they may need might not be what they are looking for. It will save you a lot of time and energy in putting together services that is best for your target market.
Great point Diana and you’re right! It saves you a great deal of time assuming what your target market needs.
I still struggle with defining a niche! I am going to sit down with these questions and see what I come up with! Thanks for the great post!
Glad we could help Jennifer! Good luck and let us know if you have any questions.