In a world where everyone is selling the next greatest thing, it’s worth looking in on oneself and asking – is your niche really enough?
A niche is when your product or service appeals to a small, specialised selection of the market and when you harness the power of your niche it can propel your business with a lot of forward momentum.
But as industries start to become clustered with different variations of the same thing, how far can your niche really go on its own? And what else should you be leaning on to stand out from the crowd?
Niche to meet you, to meet you niche
If you’re a business who has positioned itself as ‘niche’ due to a product or service you sell, then it’s pretty likely you’ll have a niche audience too.
A niche audience is a more focussed subgroup (or smaller segment) of a broader market. We group this target audience together based on their specific needs, wants and/or characteristics. These niche needs, wants and characteristics can be tapped into and met by a specific product or service (when you get it right, that is).
Sometimes your niche audience is clear (e.g., You supply a specialised product that your customers need to support them). Other times you have to dig a little deeper to find it but harnessing your niche audience is a must.
To harness your niche, you still need to develop a strategy that works; underpinned by a true understanding of your purpose and investigation into who is buying from you. It may feel like a time-consuming process but, in the long run, it will give you a better idea of who you should be targeting in your next marketing campaign – meaning more effective budget spend, relevant messages and a better ROI.
You’ve found your niche… SO WHAT?
Understanding and being able to articulate your reason (or ‘so what?’ factor, as we like to call it) behind your business, products and services can be a lightbulb moment for both you and your customers.
When you’re so close to what you do, it can often be hard to see the wood for the trees. That’s why it’s one of our favourite activities to run with our partners and clients; it challenges them, and our external perspective helps to push them further each time.
The clear reason why
It should be obvious by now, but your customers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
Great marketing campaigns and great businesses have a clear ‘why’ – a story to tell and something that sets apart why they do what they do. This might be a cause that they stand for, or it might be a niche that they felt hadn’t been serviced before or a way of delivering a product or service that changes the game.
Your why doesn’t always have to be a noble cause but it does need to demonstrate the passion and care that is behind why your business started in the first place.
Why should I bother?
The aim of asking yourself ‘so what’ is to uncover any problems you are solving for your customer base or what ambitions or aspirations you’re helping them achieve.
You sell water bottles – so what? It’s not about the bottle at all. It’s about providing a hygienic and sustainable way of transporting water.
Why should people care?
They care because you help those people who see health as a priority stay hydrated in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. This is a very quick and simplified example, but it illustrates how one simple question can start to uncover a lot.
Another example of ‘so what’ in action comes in the form of a familiar household name, Crayola. Naturally, you know they sell crayons, but the Crayola brand is a great example of a purpose-led brand and one that has clearly taken time to understand their ‘why’ and answer their ‘so what?’ question.
Crayola’s brand essence states “At Crayola, our purpose is to help parents and educators raise creatively alive kids.” It’s clear there is a very bold difference between Crayola’s what (crayons) vs. their why (to raise creatively alive kids) and it makes the brand stand out and stand for something. It demonstrates that there are some amazing so what factors behind children having access to crayons – to enable them to become creative!
So, is your niche really enough?
To make your niche go the distance, it is incredibly important you put in the groundwork.
By identifying your audience and understanding what problems they have and how you can solve them will help give your marketing campaigns more purpose and ultimately better results.
Want to develop your niche and gain valuable marketing knowledge to create great campaigns?
If you’re eager to drive your business forward and want to learn how marketing can systematically drive that growth, there are a couple of ways you can continue your learning.
Our Build programme could be for you, if you’re looking for resources and training for you or your marketing team. Build is packed full of education and insight, activities and mentoring, accountability, and coaching. It’s designed to help you push your business forward with purpose and power.
On the other hand, if you are wanting some advice or a little help in the right direction with your marketing strategy, get in touch for a free consultation.
