Niching in your business? You might feel it’s not for you but niching is usually a positive, rather than a negative.

While some business people see it as a way of cutting yourself out of a broader market, the reality is that niching on one particular aspect of your service offering can help you find focus, clarity – and improve your skills.

When you niche, you give yourself the opportunity to become a genuine expert in your field – enabling you to hone skills as a specialist, rather than a generalist.

What’s Your Niche?

You might not realise it immediately but just about every business can find one or two niches where they can focus on specific offerings – and create a reputation for doing them brilliantly. In the world of photography, your niche might be weddings, or it might be even more niche, by focusing on destination weddings as an expert in both wedding photography and the travel photography aspect that helps your photos stand out and get noticed. If you’re a dentist, you might focus on children’s dentistry – or you might choose the other end of the life-cycle spectrum and focus on dental care for the elderly, which enables you to build a brand that has a laser focus and deliver a customer service experience that those patients won’t receive anywhere else.

Fear Of Missing Out

Two common reasons people don’t consider niching are all wrapped up in a fear of being pigeon-holed and missing out on work that might have come their way.

There are solutions to every problem.

If you see niching as a way of missing out on clients, it’s time to re-think. Imagine, instead, your business’s ability to target its marketing message to one very specific sector – addressing all their unique issues in a way that shows you really understand their needs.

By becoming the expert in a field, you can actually set yourself apart in a sea of generalist competitors and establish a reputation as the go-to person in that area.

Sometimes, focusing on one niche area can actually help you become known in your field – and then enable you to branch out as your reputation develops.

If that’s your personal vision for business growth, just be aware enough to plan for it. Labelling yourself with a specific business name, or creating a logo that only addresses this one niche and doesn’t allow for the eventual branching out will limit you to be niche forever.

The Benefits of a Business Niche

No matter what business you’re in, it’s almost certain that you have a competitor.

And if that’s the case, each time a client considers your service, they are being asked to make choice – between you and all the other business that offer exactly what you do. By establishing a unique point of difference or extra level of expertise, you are creating a difference that your potential clients may appreciate.

Identifying Your Niche

To help identify what your unique niche might be, ask yourself some basic questions:

1. What aspect of my business do I enjoy doing most?

If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realise that there are some aspects of your service you enjoy more than others. By analysing what you truly get excited about, you can determine a potential niche that will keep you focused and motivated.

2. What don’t I enjoy doing?

If there is an aspect of your business that you don’t enjoy, niching is an empowering way to kiss it goodbye – for good.

3. What am I most experienced at?

Is the strength of your experience related to a specific industry sector? Or just one aspect of your own skills?

If you focus on what you’re really good at, building a reputation as an expert in your field becomes easier.

4. Who is my target market?

By honing in on your true target market, the effectiveness of your marketing becomes more powerful. If you think your target market is business owners, drill down further to establish what type of business owner it really is (start-ups, established business with a certain number of employees, business owners in a particular industry, female business owners…etc)

Anything that can help you craft a more focused marketing message is more likely to get effective results. Niching doesn’t need to be scary. It might actually be the best thing you can do for your business.