Finding your niche within any given market is often something people struggle with.
But the truth is it's really simple and something you'll be able to do effortlessly yourself by the end of this article.
So a niche, by definition, is a specific segment of a market. It is an identifiable target market that has unique preferences. In almost all cases, a niche is a small subset of a far larger market.
So a niche, simply put, a small portion of a larger market with a selection of customers which can be identified as having a very particular set of interests, needs or even beliefs.
Niches are important for 2 main reasons.
The first is customers with unconventional likes and needs can find products and services that suit them perfectly.The great thing about business owners, is it allows you to find groups of people that need something very specific. Products and services so specific, there is often very little competition, therefore making it far easier for you to be successful and profitable.
Let's look at an example together. The fitness industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world. There are millions of personal trainers and fitness brands out there, but that didn’t stop Steve Kamb from building his company, Nerd Fitness, into a seven figure online business selling online fitness plans and merchandise.
The niche that Steve tapped into was very specific. Nerds.
People who were too self conscious to go to the gym, therefore the approach he could take was specifically engineered towards that particular type of person. Steve was a nerd himself and felt that there weren’t any great solutions out there that suited his needs as a self conscious introvert.
This example clearly shows that a ‘gap’ in the market doesn’t have to be large and evident. You can build a business in litreally any market by simply adding a twist.
Let's explore how you can do this yourself.
So now we know what a niche is, and we’ve seen an example of a successful niche business, it’s time to help you find yours.
Best of all we can do it in two simple steps:
First, simply select a product or industry that you know or understand well. Something you are passionate about. It doesn’t matter if you feel the market is saturated.
By choosing a product or industry that you're passionate or knowledgeable about, it will give you a huge advantage in the learning process whilst growing your business. You're just about to begin learning how to grow a business, so trying to learn a new skill or craft on top of that is going to be likely quite overwhelming.
Focus on something you are already good or knowledge about, and this will enable you to solely focus on learning how to make your brand successful. It doesn't matter if the market you are trying to be active within is saturated.
Second, provide that product or service for a very specific type of person or business.
Still not 100% what that means? Let me explain in really simple terms with this example.
There are thousands of web designers out there. So going out and just trying to be a web designer is going to be a tough time. This is simply because you are competing with every other web designer out there.
So instead of doing what the majority do and try to appeal to everyone, it’s going to be far more effective to find a niche and focus on serving a very specific type of person or business. For example, this could mean perhaps being a specialist in building websites for driving instructors, dentists or small startups.
Look at what we’ve just did. In literally seconds, we’ve taken a website designer from competing with every other web designer out there to literally competing with none (or very few).
If you were a dentist and needed a website, who would you choose? A website design agency or a specialist in dental website creation?
It's a no brainer...
It could be argued that the online courses that Nerd Fitness sold were likely to be very similar or even identical to every other online fitness plan available online. But where as other fitness companies were trying to sell to anyone who just ‘wanted to get fit’, Nerd fitness was speaking directly to a very specific type of person with very particular idea of the world and particular needs.
Creating a niche in your market is really as simple as that. Find a particular customer type that isn’t currently being served fully and be ultra focused on tailoring your solution to meet their exact needs.
