#5 Define Your Niche

Defining your niche creates opportunity. Niche does not mean small, it means serving an underserved market. As you can see with the Illumin clients mentioned below, niche businesses can have a broad appeal to multiple client sectors. Being a niche provider can position you as "the" expert in your field resulting in greater customer appeal, increased visibility and higher pricing.  
 
Trying to find or define your niche? Below are a few questions to help you hone in on your potential niche market.

What Keeps Recurring?

Are your clients repeat purchasers for the same one, or few, products or services? That could be the key to your niche. For example, if you offer coaching to corporate executives from a variety of industries and your background is in retail/wholesale, you may find that you attract most of your clients from that industry. That's your strength. That's your niche! Consider letting go of working with executives in other industries so you can focus on becoming "the" expert in that one industry. This also helps you in streamlining your resources and networking efforts, and it creates a stronger referral community for your services.

What Are the Wants, Needs or Desires of the People Around You?

The great news is that you are probably already connected to a community that could be your niche market. Where do you spend your leisure time? Who are the people you associate with? What are your industry, organization, or club memberships? Where do you volunteer? What people or communities are you already involved in that would be interested in your specific offering? The saying "start where you stand" applies. Look at where you are and the needs in those communities. They could be the answer to defining your niche.

For example, as a physician, Dr. Delia Chiaramonte saw first hand the need for unbiased medical support for patients who were confronted with major medical decisions. As a result, she founded Insight Medical Consultants offering professional consulting and advocacy in such areas as cancer or aging parent care. She has become "the" go-to expert for patients and their families seeking outside expert medical advice, guidance and support.
 

What Do Your Customers Really Want, Need or Desire?

If you have a good relationship with your customers, speak with them directly. Ask them what they love about doing business with you. Is it the product, the atmosphere, the resources, the attention? What want, need or desire are you fulfilling that the competition isn't? It could be a particular service, the way you make customers feel, the environment you create, your easy going nature, the way you empower your customers, or your unique approach to solving client problems.

As the founder of The Leisure Link, Alison Link, Ph.D., helps individuals overcome challenges during times of transition, in the day-to-day of the workplace, communities, prisons systems, educational institutions and more, One of only a handful of people who do this today, Alison is fast becoming "the" guru on the impact of leisure--or lack thereof--in today's society.

Where Do You Spend Most of Your Time?

Don't be surprised if you find yourself spending more and more time on a particular product or service in your business. Like water flowing down a mountain you, too, will wind up focusing on the path of least resistance in your business. More often than not, this will be what you do best and love to do most. It will be the area that gives you the greatest joy, where you work most authentically and most powerfully.
 

A clearly targeted niche will make your sales and marketing efforts more impactful. Your newsletters, collateral, media, website, speeches, advertising, workshops, seminars, press releases, etc. can be based on providing information and solutions to your target niche's needs. Your weekly writing about client experiences, requests or comments  will help you gain even more clarity on the unique needs of your customer and the solutions you can provide them.

Building any business is an ongoing and evolutionary process. Embrace defining and refining your market niche as part of that ongoing process.

Be open to the change that could set you apart from the competition.