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Has your business found its sweet spot? In other words, is your business known for something?
For example, Michael Jordan is known for playing basketball. Stephen King is known for writing thrillers. Yes, these are famous people, but like these successful individuals, your business can find its sweet spot (AKA its niche).
Todd Howard is the founder of Grow a Niche Business, and he helps businesses determine what makes them unique so that they can stand apart from their competition and attract their ideal customers. And, in this episode of The Priority Pursuit, Todd is going to break down exactly why and how to find your small business’s niche.
What is a “niche”?
A niche is your business’s sweet spot. It’s a place where you can say, “When we are producing these services and products and interacting with these clients, we are at our best.” In short, it’s when what you’re doing is really good and people get the most out of your products or services.
With this in mind, it may seem easy to find your niche, but it’s actually much harder than it appears. Oftentimes, people aren’t sure where to begin or what they should be doing in order to find their respective niches. To Todd, it’s a similar feeling to finding your purpose or perfect partner—you may know what the end result should look like, but it isn’t always clear how to get there.
Why should your business consider niching down?
For entrepreneurs, niching down can influence the entire trajectory of their businesses and lives. If you’ve designed your business to be more generalized, it’s likely you’re doing work that may not feed the passion that made you start your business in the first place. In fact, in a few years, you may find yourself hating what you’re doing. But, if you focus on what you are passionate about and good at—your niche—you can spend the rest of your life happily working for your company.
On a more tactical side, a niche is an identity that protects your business. Some businesses consider leaning into their niche because they don’t want competitors taking their business. And they’d be right in their thinking.
By creating a product or service that directly caters to a niche group of people, you are solving a specific problem for your ideal customers in a way other more generalized businesses can’t or aren’t willing to. In this way, leaning into your niche protects your business in two ways: by connecting with your customers in a unique and loyalty-building way and by standing out and away from your potential competition.
Will you lose business from niching down?
While you may be thinking, “I can’t niche down. I’ll lose business,” Todd explains that the exact opposite is actually true.
General vs. Niche Markets
When you’re marketing to a general audience, it’s like you have a wide net or funnel. You’re trying to draw in as many people as possible, which is an understandable mindset for a business leader. However, even though you may be reaching more people overall, your business is actually more limited, and you might not be reaching the type of people you want—or the type of people your business needs.
When you go from a general to a niched-down focus, there is so much more you can do with your business and marketing specifically. Let’s use a photography company as an example. Think about an email you would write to a general audience. It would likely read as “Hey I’m a photographer, hire me.”
Now consider an email you would write to people looking for underwater wedding photography. This email would be much more specific about what you do, how you do it, and your qualifications and experience, whether you outright explain those or not.
In the general email, you appear like every other photographer looking for a gig. But, with the niche approach, you’re able to connect more with a specific group of people looking for a unique experience. And those specifics are going to make all the difference.
Reaching Your Ideal Market
Todd explains that yes, it is scary to go from a broad and large audience down to a small subset, but you don’t have to do it all at once. No one is expecting you to call your current clients and tell them you can’t work with them anymore. It will take time.
And yes, in the short term, there will be some people and businesses that you turn away with your new approach, but you are also attracting more people who are so much more excited to work with you than the general market ever was—or likely ever would’ve been.
With the increased reach and accessibility that the internet and social media provide, you don’t have to cast such a wide net to attract clientele. You can come out of the gate with a very specific business and attract enough people looking for that to be successful and sustainable.
Todd explains he’s never met anyone who became a specialist and then said, “I ran out of business, there aren’t enough customers, or the market isn’t big enough.” It’s simply not the case.
The market is looking for things that are different, interesting, and unique. So, when you step out of the general, stop sounding like everyone else, and start offering something really unique and interesting, people are going to gravitate to that.
Plus, you’ll find that you’re doing something that you love—allowing you to avoid getting burnt out on creating products and services that you personally don’t enjoy but may appeal to the more general market.
Increased Revenue
It’s no secret that as a specialist or expert, you can charge more for your products or services. However, it’s important to attribute that higher cost to the differentiator of being a specialist.
Just saying, “I’m really good at what I do, so I’m gonna charge you more money” doesn’t add up in the mind of the client. But when you talk about the specifics that only you can offer as a specialist (special equipment, experience, etc.), it makes more sense.
People will spend money when it makes sense. When you find your niche and expertise, you find the justification for the increase in price—and the reason they should hire you in the first place. You have this story to tell and it makes sense to others. When they realize they are getting a superior product, they don’t feel like it’s more expensive.
How does this impact client experience?
When he first takes a client on, one of the exercises Todd walks them through is discussing who their top competitors are. Oftentimes, when they go through all of their websites, Todd finds that they all offer the same, extremely generic product.
You shouldn’t have these average offers, prices, and timelines. With a niche business, you have something extremely unique that caters to a specific thing your ideal audience is trying to accomplish.
As he works with clients, Todd helps them build or tweak one product or service. Together, they create something very different in price, deliverables, timeline, etc. And, when you do that, people get excited and you stand out.
When you have a unique approach, the customer gets a unique experience—and that’s what customers like. If you’re going to spend money on something, you’re going to want to tell others what it was like to go through that experience. It can be hard to come up with these ideas, but once you find your niche it’s very easy to be creative and figure out how to create this unique experience.
What’s the process of finding a “niche”?
Todd has been able to create a methodical process and framework for finding your niche which he has broken down into five parts.
1. Unique Abilities
Everyone has something unique to offer the world. It’s important to start by finding what you have to offer. And this needs to be something you are strong in. You can’t create a niche in something you are not an expert in. In other words, you need to be a specialist.
2. Customer Journey
People are always interested in the customer transaction—or the point where they make money. But, a mistake people tend to make is focusing on that one element. Your customers are trying to do something much larger than just that one transaction, and if you understand what it is they’re trying to do, you can see there are a lot of ways you can provide value to them.
3. Competition
Business leaders tend to get really worried about the competition. They feel like competitors are going to make it very difficult for them to make money. However, there is a way to situate yourself in the competitive landscape and feel very confident that you are offering something unique.
It’s also important to note that competitors are not the bad guys. They are business owners like you who are trying to help people in their way. In fact, if you remain different from your competitors, you may open the possibility of partnerships.
4. Market
When people want to niche their business, they always start with the market—which is a mistake according to Todd. You may decide you really like working with certain people, but that doesn’t mean they want to work with you. You aren’t focusing on your skill set and what you can provide or offer. You may like working with that group, but you have nothing to truly offer them in the realm of specialty.
You can’t start with the market because you have to consider your skills and unique abilities. Once you’ve understood these and your approach, you can then look at the market and decide what audience you are best set up to serve.
5. Product
You can’t come up with a product or service out of the gate—not successfully anyway. You have to first understand your approach and then who you are serving so that you can create a product that is just for them. Your product could be something that is so niche that it doesn’t make sense for someone not in your niche market to purchase.
This makes your market excited and attracts exactly who you want in your sales funnel. This reduces the clutter you have in your audience as you now only have the people who are excited about and want to buy or learn more about your product or service.
Should existing businesses find a niche?
It’s easy to see how small businesses just starting out can benefit from finding a niche, but what about an existing business?
If you think you can have a niche focus in your business, you should definitely consider it. When you decide on where you want to be, you can start finding your way there, either slowly or quickly.
Again, you don’t have to completely shift your business immediately. You can create a new product that leans into the niche or goals like attracting clients that are one step closer to your niche. Talk to your sales and marketing teams and start shifting the focus toward the direction you want to go.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to look out on the horizon and to make sure you are taking your business in the right direction. And, when you know the biggest opportunity for your customers and employees to be excited is over in that niche market, it’s very empowering.
With all the chances to pivot and shift your business, you need to be agile on your feet and be able to steer your business in the direction of opportunity regardless of how long you’ve been in business.
When you move to your niche, the payoff is always bigger. If you don’t have a niche, you’re stuck competing in quality and price, and that’s where competition becomes difficult. It’s hard to convince people you have the best quality because that’s not provable, and so everyone says they’re the best—creating a losing battle. And, competing on price can just have you constantly reducing prices to be more competitive which will inevitably negatively impact your business in the long run.
Be sure to listen to this whole episode (at the top of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts) to hear more about Todd’s tips and tricks on how to find your small business’s niche. If you’d like to connect with Todd, you can find him on Facebook and Instagram, email him directly at Todd@GrowANicheBusiness.com, or visit his website GrowANicheBusiness.com.
Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- Save $20 on Your First order from InstaCart of $35 or More
- Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services
- Join the Priority Pursuit Facebook Community
- Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
- Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
- Follow or DM Victoria Rayburn on Instagram
The Priority Pursuit Podcast is a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners define, maintain, and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.
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