Do you find that marketing and selling seems to slip to the
bottom of your To-Do list every week? That there are
always other "better" things to do--people to see, places
to go, things to do?
If so, it's a sign that you don't love marketing and
selling. It may also mean you don't have a Niche, or you
don't have a Niche of people you love to work with. You're
not alone. And you don't have to change who you are to
build the business and earn the income you want—you
simply have to learn how to find a Niche.
Your Niche is a specific group of people and businesses you
enjoy working with, who have challenges that you can solve,
they want those challenges solved, and they can afford to
pay you for your products and services. They could be
consumers, businesses, non-profit organizations, government
agencies or schools or education-related organizations.
For example, if your expertise is in "motivating employees
to work at their peak performance level", a Niche for you
might be "employees in the healthcare industry" rather than
"employees" in general. Or your Niche might be "employees
in marketing departments of consulting companies".
With a Niche, you are providing solutions to a specific
group of people who really want and will pay for your
products and services. You're making your solutions more
targeted and can deliver them in a laser-beam focus to a
group of people who really want and benefit from your
knowledge. Successful leading experts own a Niche. You
can't be the leading expert for "everyone".
Why is a Niche so important? And what does having a Niche
really do for you?
It simplifies your life and your marketing, and increases
your income. When you're recognized as a leading expert in
your field, clients and the media call you - you don't
spend a lot of your time selling. And when your Niche sees
you as an Expert, they'll pay more for your products and
services.
Let's take a real-life example. One of my colleagues is a
Virtual Assistant and provides services to business owners.
Her services are appropriate for various types of
businesses and their owners, including speakers, authors,
coaches, consultants, free-lance writers and trainers. When
we first met, she was trying to market to all of these
groups at the same time. Now she's focusing on one Niche
right now - speakers. And in her Elevator Speech she tells
people that her specialty is speakers. Since she's started
focusing on speakers, 1) she gets many more referrals than
she used to, 2) she knows the challenges of speakers
better, since she talks to them all the time, and 3) she's
increased her income dramatically. Because she now focuses
on a Niche, she understands the challenges that speakers
face, since she talks to them all the time. And that means
she can design services specifically to solve those
challenges. Speakers gladly hire her because they know
she's the Expert in this area. She's known as the Virtual
Assistant for Speakers.
A key success strategy for marketing your business and
becoming known as a leading Expert in your area is writing
articles for ezines and newsletters. It's much, much easier
to find publications to submit your articles to when you
pick a Niche. For example, let's use the same real-life
example. When my colleague looks up ezines and newsletters
to send her article to, she used to look up "business
owners". There are thousands of publications for "business
owners", and she didn't know where to start.
Now, with her Niche - Speakers -- she still finds many
ezines and newsletters for "speakers". However, it's a
manageable number, and she now spends her time sending her
articles out rather than deciding which of thousands of
newsletters she wants to submit them to.
And when these speakers read her articles and call her, she
has a program, answers and examples of how other speakers
get more speaking engagements. So they know she's "the
Expert".
Action Steps:
1. Start a folder called My Niche. Put it in a place where
it's handy and you can look at it and add to it over the
next few weeks. Take 3 sheets of paper, and put these
headings on each: -- My Niche - Who I like to work with -
for example, Accountants, Business Owners, men and women
between the ages of 30 and 45, bright savvy executives,
etc. Be specific! -- What people in my Niche do - job
title, work they do, leisure activities, etc. -- Challenges
that people in my Niche face, and really, really want to
solve. Start making your lists, and write everything you
can think of that goes on each one. You're looking for the
ones that they'll do almost anything and pay almost
anything to solve.
2. Take time every week and every chance you get to search
the Internet, publications, newspapers, colleagues, books,
and any resources you think of. Find out what people in
your Niche are like. Find out about their challenges. For
example, act as if you're one of the people in your Niche -
a manager who wants a promotion, or someone who's stressed
out and wants to make changes. Search Google for solutions.
Look at the headlines on magazines. Go to a large newsstand
and look at all the magazines that are out there now. These
all give you clues. Find professional and leisure
organizations that your Niche may belong to or participate
in. All these give you clues to the challenges they face.
3. Know your Niche so well that you give them a name and
cut a picture of them out of a magazine. Give them a
personality. Keep adding to the information on all your
lists.
----------------------------------------------------
Jan Wallen works with individuals and companies that want
significant sales results. Jan is action- and
results-oriented. Once you start working together, she is
100% committed to significant sales results for you. You
can find more information and worksheets on finding your
Niche in my eBook "Riches Are Niches™ - Find a Niche
& You'll Be Rich" (http://www.Niche-It.com). To learn more,
call (646) 485-4059 or go to http://www.janwallen.com
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