Wondering how to niche down in your business as a proud nerd? Niching down is often seen as a risky move, but with the right strategy, it can be the key to standing out in your industry and connecting with the perfect audience.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps of how to niche down effectively, so you can build a business that feels authentically you while attracting clients who resonate with your passion. Let’s dive in!
Niching Down has a bad rep. Some say it’s bad advice because it's not safe. It’s so much easier to serve a general audience to have good capital. But anyone who decides to start a business isn’t looking to play it safe. If that’s the case, we’d all be going back to working for someone we don’t like in a gray office praying our PTO will be approved. While it’s not easy, with solid marketing research and determination, it’ll help you in the long run. Don’t get me wrong, your niche needs to be specific AND there has to be a big enough market out there for it. The only way you find that out is through adequate market research.
Here are some statistics I want you to keep in mind and what they mean for you:
Now that you have an idea of what to expect, here are some of the benefits of niching down:
Please please keep in mind that you need to do the proper research to ensure your niche is specific enough and there is a need for what you’re offering. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, even if it’s risky, read on. It’s my pleasure to help you level up on ease!
We can’t talk about niching down without mentioning your target audience. Who do you want to help? (It’s okay if you don’t know all the things they’re struggling with, that will come with research) If you can’t think of their demographics, start with their personality. Most likely, they have some aspects of yours. For example, I work with quirky people. Quirky is me. I want to work with the weirdos like you guys!
People who don't usually fit the norm. And you want the same. People want to work with those who are like them, even in the corporate world. How many times do we hear about people who stop working together because of creative differences? It’s for a reason. Then you can think about the demographics like occupation or age. What is the kind of work you see yourself doing? For me, I love the idea of designing for sports teams, amusement parks, gamers, and YouTubers. Since it's a varied list, I grouped them into two categories, business owners and content creators. Then I make content that singles out these two.
Now onto our next topic, creating content that speaks directly to your target audience. You want to make sure you name them. Write a scenario that speaks to them by describing something they’re struggling with. Then, explain how you can help them. I know you’ve heard of this before but it really does work. This formula is one of the best methods to hook them in because they feel understood, combine that with your unique personality and you’re gonna dazzle them more than Sailor Moon’s transformation sequence!
A great way to figure out your niche is to do a deep dive into the past. Your past can give you hints on what you’re destined to do, including your niche. For example, when I was 4, my parents put me in an early childhood education program. I didn’t pay attention to any other subject except art. I loved finger painting! I loved mixing different colors and seeing what I’d get. To this day, color theory and color psychology are my favorite steps in the design process.
Fast forward to 7 years old, whenever I had to go to the doctor, me and my mom would take the subway, where I would observe the advertisements. I loved seeing photo manipulation in ads. I would wonder how it was done and decided I wanted to learn someday. It still took a while for me to know I wanted to be a brand designer - mostly because I didn’t know what a graphic designer was - but looking back, I realized all those moments were giving me hints of what was to come. It’s the same with you! Think back to those contentful moments where you found yourself lost in what you’re doing. That is a big sign that that is what you need to do in life. As you start, more things will be revealed to you little by little, and your niche will shine bright like a lighthouse.
Something else that will help is doing a deep dive into all your interests. Write on a piece of paper or start a new note on your phone and write down things you love doing. Group the similar ones. Which group is the biggest? That’s what you should do for the rest of your life. Don’t have that group? If you have some that are neck and neck, you’re meant to do them all. That’s why some people offer more than one thing. For example, a premium brand design package with 3 illustrations and a website included.
Hear me clearly, the amount of clients in your specific niche is enough to support you financially! I don’t careeeee what anyone says about it. It’s true! Remember the statistics I showed you earlier. If you want to help business owners, businesses are starting every year. Think about the billions of people on this planet! Don’t just stick to your own country, you’ll be limiting yourself that way. And if you’re a bilingual or multilingual speaker, even better! Use that to your advantage. There are 22 Spanish-speaking countries in the world, so if you’re looking to reach international clients, learning Spanish would be a great place to start. Personally, I’m trying to brush up on my Spanish, ‘cause it sucks, lol.
Here are some strategies for finding clients because I’m not just gonna tell you to do something difficult like niching and not help make it easier:
Although it’s difficult, you’ll be glad you niched down. I believe in you! I really need you to resist the urge to stay general to feel safe because, in the long run, you’ll be burned out doing projects you aren’t passionate about. You’ll be bored, and uninspired, and your audience won’t relate to you. You didn’t leave corporate just to continue doing what you hate! C’mon now! So to recap, we talked about business statistics and the benefits of niching down. We talked about niching down using your personality and relating to clients by addressing their struggles. We talked about figuring out your niche by looking at your past and interests. We talked about how to find clients using research and ads and getting to know them.
Research, research, research!! You want to make sure this is something that people need. You can start out by finding what your target audience is looking for through reviews of current products if you're hoping to sell one or you can directly ask them. You can create a survey to find out, just make sure you offer an incentive so they'll want to help you. You can also rely on third party sites like Qualtrics.com and Typeform.com to help you reach them faster.
You can target your niche market by starting off with an idea of what you want to sell. Then, you can research and see if it's already on the market. If it's not or there's few like it, that's a good sign. If there's few on the market like your idea, tweak some things so that you have a leg up on the competition. Refer to the answer above on how you can differentiate yourself by researching your target clients' needs.
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