Niche definition: a recess in a wall to host a statue or ornament. Being a French speaker, niche also means a dog house, but that’s beside the point.
In business, however, it means something entirely different. It’s a specialised segment of market. Niching is a process that helps you become more successful, yet it is THE process I resisted the most at the start of my journey as an entrepreneur.
When I started my business as a clinical hypnotherapist, I had no understanding of marketing whatsoever. In truth, Facebook was in its infancy, as were most social media platforms. Marketing meant advertising in the relevant magazines or hiring a room in a clinic which hopefully had enough of a reputation to bring clients. There was no need to niche. I am not sure it was even a concept for wellbeing practitioners.
The moment I took my business online to accommodate home educating my kids, I came across the concept of niching. It went against everything I stood for. I could help everyone with everything as a clinical hypnotherapist: phobias, smoking, weight loss, sleep, bed wetting and more. I believed that the longer the list of things I could help my clients with, the more clients I would have. I was wrong.
The online world is incredibly crowded. The only way to stand out is to speak to one particular client and in order to do that we have to do client profiling. We have to choose one kind of client and gear our messaging towards what keeps them awake at night.
Choosing one client might seem simple but it can bring up huge mindset issues for a new entrepreneur. What if I choose the wrong client? What if they don’t have enough money to buy what I sell? What if they prefer one of my competitors? What if I get it wrong? What if I don’t like working with that ideal client? What if niching ends up making me miss the opportunity of working with a great client that’s not in my niche? What if there are not enough clients in that niche? The limiting beliefs are endless. And for me, it meant that I resisted niching for two years in my business. This also meant that I delayed getting traction in my business for two years too. I don’t want that for you.
The absence of niching is like speaking Esperanto (in case you don’t know it was a universal language created in 1887 to facilitate communication between people speaking different languages). Esperanto does not resonate with anyone. Whereas if you learn the language of your client, it goes a long way. I am sure that if you have travelled in a foreign country you have experienced the magic of learning just a few sentences of the local language. It opens doors. It shows you made an effort. People appreciate it.
When you speak your ideal client’s language, you show them that you have put the effort into understanding where they are at. Instead of using words that are meaningful to you, you use words that are meaningful to them. That helps them stop the scrolling and read your social media posts.
It’s kind of ironic that niching has become my specialty as an online business mentor, when I resisted it for so long. I believe the reason is that the first thing I do when working with a client is tuning into the energy of their business. Then the business shows me who the ideal client is and we go from there.
It’s so easy when you niche to overthink your ideal client. Or to choose a client for all the wrong reasons. When you allow your business to show you who your ideal client is, your client is aligned to you and your offer. Magic starts to happen and content becomes easy to create because it lights you up.
If you would like me to help you with niching, why not book a session with this link.
