If you’ve ever worked with a Business Coach, been to a marketing course or even chatted with fellow business owners, you will have heard this question.
So, let’s get real and talk it through – but first, let me start by framing this question in another way…
“Do you enjoy working with every single customer – or do you have some you prefer, who are easier and more profitable?”
Your favourite customers are usually the ones who fit your ‘Avatar’ or ‘Ideal Customer’ profile. This might mean they need a certain one of your services you especially enjoy performing, or they have a specific business or identifying characteristic, e.g. a Mum, a health professional, or are an SME.
But if I niche to them, I will lose all the other customers out there!
The idea that if you niche and decide to work with and target ONLY this ideal customer, might initially sound like you will be missing out on thousands or millions of other possible clients outside your ‘avatar’… but that’s a common misconception.
First off – How many of those potential clients can you actually connect with if you are talking one generic language in your marketing?
And secondly – Why would anyone choose you at all, if you aren’t offering anything different to anyone else in your industry?
Imagine I need to lose weight… that’s a generic need and there are a TRILLION different programs out there to choose from. Now imagine I am Vegan, a mum with a busy schedule and prefer private training in my home instead of group classes.
How likely am I to choose someone who has identified clients like me as their target and are talking about all those specific characteristics in their marketing?
My ears will prick if I see an Ad saying, “Lose weight using a completely Vegan-friendly diet in the privacy of your own home!”. That’s me! Why would I keep looking anywhere else?!
All those other people who want a diet, they might think you sound great or keep looking, but at the end of the day, those vegan mums you love working with will stick around!
If you get 80% of your ideal customer, and 20% of less-than-ideal, doesn’t that sound better than the other way around?
You WANT to lose the customers that aren’t the right fit for you – they are more effort to work with, create more stress for you, and often cost you in the long run.
Benefits of Niching:
- You can be specific in your language – so they will choose you over other more generic marketing
- Position yourself as a specialist
- Makes your marketing simple!
- Becomes easier for people to remember and refer you
- Your niche will live, work and play in similar places, so you can find and target them!
- Work with the customers you enjoy!
Don’t spend your energy trying to work with everyone, when you can focus in on the customers you actually really love working with!
What’s the difference between a ‘niche’ and your avatar?
Your ‘niche’ is the client ‘group’, your avatar is the person who represents the group and who you target your marketing to.
Your ideal client group, or niche, could be ‘organic’ mums – that means they will be hanging out at certain supermarkets and health stores, go to gyms and yoga studios and choose other eco-friendly products and services. Now you know where your ‘group’ hangs out – what are their common problem/s that you can solve with what you offer?
Once you have that nailed down, it makes it simpler for you as a business to market using what matters to them – and it’s easier for your audience to hear you talking to them above the rest of the marketing noise.
If you haven’t already figured out your ‘Avatar’, the easiest way to go about it is to think of you love working with.
Who are your absolute favourite customers and what are their characteristics?
If you are still not sure what your niche could be, it might be possible for you to combine your own interests and hobbies with your business skills, and make a niche of your own.
E.g. a business coach who only works with business owners in the surfing industry because she used to be a pro surfer and understands the target audience.
I’ll go into more detail about finding your avatar in a later blog, but for now, just focus on choosing your group of people with a common problem that you love to solve.
What would yours be?
