Defining your niche helps you connect with your ideal clients but only if you understand how your specific skills can benefit your clients and you let them know!
What’s your niche and how can it help you create a successful brand?
When I ask most of my clients “what’s your niche?” they say things like “small business owners” or “social media”.
The problem with this is that you’re simply talking about your target audience or what you do. A niche is a very specific group of people who have very specific needs – the needs you satisfy with your product or service.
Your niche is not what you do or who you work with; it’s a combination.
Only by combining these two things can you really get specific about your audience, how you can serve them and be known as the expert.
Let’s get clear on what your niche is:
NICHE = Target Market (with a clear idea of your Ideal Client) + Specialised Services
Once you define what you do and who for, those in your target market will be drawn to you as more capable of getting them results. You are able to understand the specific struggles of your target market in relation to what you are offering and then you can illustrate the benefits of working with you.
Now you have so much more clarity on what you do and who you serve. This is the first step to identifying your unique value proposition (UVP) and that’s where your brand can really come alive with offers your potential clients can’t resist.
Your UVP breaks down like this:
“I/We do (these specialist services) for (these specific people) to help them (do this)”
So, for example: Facebook strategy and management for Real Estate companies. We help you find and engage with your audience to increase leads and sales.
When you say that your niche is “Real Estate”, you are getting your “niche” confused with your Target Market. If you think that your niche is ‘Social Media Management’ you’re getting your niche confused with your speciality/expertise.
How to understand what YOUR niche REALLY is
Remember Your NICHE = Target Market (with a clear idea of your Ideal Client) + Specialised Services
Let’s clarify some language:
Target Market: these are the general features of the type of people you want to work with. Generally these will be; a specific industry, an age bracket, an income bracket, gender, a general location (or type of location, maybe online), and an education level.
For example: real estate professional, 35-45 year old woman who lives in the UK, makes $50-75k per year, with a university degree.
Ideal Customer: Turning your Target Market into a real person or identifying a past client as your ideal client.
You should write down a big list of characteristics, struggles and the wildest dreams of your ideal client. You need to know who they are inside out, as if they are a friend you see often.
A brief example: Laura lives in the UK, she’s single, has a dog, loves country walks, interior design and travelling in Europe. She owns a real estate company, making 50-70k per year and has been in business for 3 years. She worries her competition are getting ahead of her and she needs to have a larger online presence. She’s tried social media, set up a page for her business on Facebook but didn’t get many followers and no one liked her content. She was frustrated and didn’t know what to post, it sucked her time and energy with little reward. Her dream is to scale her business to 6 figures in the next year and travel more.
By identifying your Ideal Customer you can focus on communicating in such a way that resonates with this type of person. This doesn’t mean you’re ONLY working with Laura. By understanding who they are, you can connect deeply with all of the Laura’s of the world, and with other people who may share some of Laura’s qualities and motivating factors.
Specialised services: the specific things you love to do and you’re great at.
It’s all very well saying you’re a web designer or social media manager but how does this set you apart from the millions of other people offering these services?
3 reasons identifying your specialised services helps your business grow
1. More of the work you love, that pays the bills
2. More referrals – you become the expert people recommend because they know exactly what you do
3. Streamlined sales – stop wasting your time on calls with people who don’t want or need what you’re offering
Let’s break it down
Your Niche is NOT just “Real Estate Companies” – it is “Facebook Strategy and Management for Real Estate Companies.”
And if you’re targeting a specific location:
Your Niche is NOT just “Facebook Strategy and Management for Real Estate Companies”. It is “Facebook Strategy and Management for Real Estate Companies in the UK”.
So, what’s your niche?
Target Market (with a clear idea of your Ideal Client) + Specialised Services
And what’s your Unique Value Proposition?
I/We do (these specialist services) for (these specific people) to help them (do this)
