How Niching Helps You Become Your Industry’s Go to Thought Leader
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There has been a lot of talk lately about how important it is to cater to a particular niche within your industry. What if I told you that by doing this, you would have significantly more insights and opportunities to understand the strengths and weaknesses of that particular sector, leading to more success and income for your business?
Take this example: Imagine you were told you needed to get brain surgery. What would you prefer: A general surgeon, who, of course, has years of experience and is excellent at what they do, or would you like to find someone who has a specialised degree in brain surgery - precisely what you need?
Your instinct will tell you to look for someone specialising in brain surgery with a lot of experience. And where will you find information on this person? Referrals, word of mouth, maybe a quick Google search to see who is reputable and will do a good job.
When people seek a specific solution to their problem, they seek a particular industry expert to help them get from where they are now to where they want to be: their ultimate vision of success.
In this episode of The Master Your Business Podcast, I am talking to you about what niching is, why you need to do it and how to dominate your niche.
What Is A Niche?
[01:47] Essentially, a niche is the target audience. Demographics, psychographics, and several other methods can determine it.
Identifying and selling to a niche market can be a short or long-term strategy; the key is finding your target audience and tailoring everything you do just for them. A significant mistake that so many business owners make is that they niche to the mainstream - this commonly happens when your business starts out.
People often think that if you narrow down your services or who you provide services to, you're less likely to make money. But what actually happens is that when you niche down, your business will probably grow even more, and growing businesses yield better marketing results and customer experience satisfaction.
Why?
A new or growing business will yield better results because your message speaks to your ideal client and solves their specific problem with your unique and tailor-made solution. You are the brain surgeon equivalent.
Trying to cater to the entire market of everyone, everywhere and offering them everything will take a lot more investment in terms of time, money, and technology. So by serving a narrow market, you'll better utilise resources, increase output, and develop a loyal customer base who can become your business's cheerleaders.
How Niching Enables You to Develop a Stronger Market Position
[05:02] When you narrow your focus, you also narrow down the things that influence your sector or industry. Doing this will give you significantly more insights into the opportunities to understand the strengths and weaknesses of that particular sector. You will be able to gain greater clarity on the market and your competitors and build irresistible offers for your ideal clients. As well as that, your message will be clearer and more specific.
When everything you speak about and every content you create relates to your ideal client and the field of expertise you're focusing on, people will be more confident in your brand and offering because you appear to be an expert.
That's not to say that every client experiences a cookie-cutter solution because you've narrowed things down so far. But it's far less likely that you'll have to develop something new for every client. Your process, framework and structure of your irresistible offer will be the same because your clients will inevitably have similar pain points and require similar solutions.
The result is that it makes it easier for you to deliver higher-quality programs, products or services that are in keeping with what your ideal clients are looking for. And do it in a way where you provide incredible value.
You need a framework for writing your marketing message. When we use rules or a framework in our businesses, it doesn't mean that the output is the same; it doesn't mean that the message is any less bespoke to that individual client who has a unique brand and an authentic brand personality. It just means that all bases have been covered so that that message is clear.
So for you in your business, when you are creating something, that's what I mean by a cookie cutter - an outline, a guide, or a set of rules you follow. It's your unique framework or methodology to ensure that you deliver success for your clients with absolute certainty. You're making sure you cover all bases so the result is excellent. I encourage you to create a cookie-cutter version of your program product or services to deliver higher-quality inputs.
Niching Builds Trust
[10:29] Niching makes it easier for your audience to trust and become loyal to your brand. And when you've identified your niche and thoroughly researched them, you can quote them verbatim, making them feel like you were speaking to them personally.
You will be communicating with an audience of people for whom your message is intended in a way people think that you're like-minded to them. This helps build trust, especially when you're creating something exclusively for them. They will feel cared for and valued, which can drive loyalty in your business.
It is 70% more cost-effective to retain existing clients than to go out and recruit new ones.
Another major advantage is that you can reduce your competition. Instantly when you have a niche, you narrow down who your audience is, therefor you immediately reduce your competition, and you can gain a competitive edge in a saturated market.
When you're a big fish in a small pond, it presents opportunities to take more significant advantage of your network, dial in on your messaging, and set yourself up to become a true go-to expert for your audience.
Niching helps eliminate would-be competitors paving the way to becoming your industry's go-to thought leader.
📈 Click the image above to get the free guide to take over the world (or your niche!)
Marketing Messages (And Sales Conversations) Become More Impactful
[16:10] Specificity attracts. When you are specific with your marketing message and brand story, it can pay massive dividends when trying to attract your ideal clients. Calling out who you serve in your message can be the very thing that stops people scrolling because they'll think there might be something in here that can benefit them.
And rather than learn about the world's problems, you can learn about your specific niche's problems and market to them accordingly. This is critical because people stop listening when you stop talking about their problems.
Whether engaging clients through social media or a sales call, your in-depth knowledge of your target audience will help you address their needs to make a more impactful impression. Personalised messaging will help you build a stronger rapport with prospects and clients, and that's how you position yourself as a leader.
This can be the differentiating factor in fostering loyal client relationships. With a smaller customer base, you engage with fewer people, but you get to know clients more individually. You are better equipped to follow up on their questions or concerns during lead nurturing and after becoming clients.
In A Nutshell!
Specificity attracts in every sense. When you market to a niche, you stand out to your ideal clients. They want industry experts and you're better placed to become one. You can reduce your competition and grow even in saturated markets. You'll know the audience better and be better placed to create messaging around their problems. If you don't talk about problems, there are no problems.
Doing a deep dive to determine precisely what those problems are and using the exact language customers use will help with your marketing message. Diving even deeper and creating a sub-niche presents an even more significant opportunity to have high-ticket offers for fewer people, generating more profitability and creating the space for you to be an industry expert.
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Important Links:
Nail Your Niche and Dominate It - Checklist
