Niching: why you’ve got this all wrong
If you’re a small business owner and you’re still on the fence about whether you need to niche, I can tell you the answer right now.
YES, you do need to niche.
But, (probably), not in the way you’re thinking.
Niching is the most misunderstood concept in small business strategy: but when the penny drops, it is the gamechanger. I can’t emphasise this strongly enough: it is the closest thing you’ll find to a Magic Bullet solution to all the marketing and business problems you’re wrestling with right now.
And if you’re feeling at all sceptical about this, here’s why: you’ve got niching all wrong. That’s not your fault. LOTS of people have got niching all wrong.
The vocabulary is part of the problem: ‘niching’. It sounds like something technical and abstract. So let’s leave that word aside for now: it’s getting in the way.
Let’s step away from the term, ‘customer avatar’, at the same time - that makes it sound like our customer is a species apart, and that’s not at all helpful.
Really, when we talk about niches or avatars any of those things, we’re just talking about ordinary, human people: and that’s important. Because our no. 1 job as small business owners is to identify and connect with ordinary, human people - or at least, some of them.
As business owners, we only need to connect with a very specific subset of all the people in the world: the ones who are our perfect customers. Why only them? Because those are the ones who we are most perfectly able to help - consistently and confidently, with integrity and satisfaction.
As a human being, it’s an absolute, irrefutable fact that you enjoy spending time with some people more than others. There are people you’ll feel an instant connection with; and other people with whom, no matter how you try, it will always feel like hard work.
If you are a small business owner, it is equally true that your business is intrinsically suited to working with some people, than others - for a whole lot of different reasons:
Their outlook is similar to yours: they like your style
They’re happy and able to pay your fees: they see the value
They ‘get’ what you do
They trust you to solve their problem
Their scale of ambition is compatible with yours
They’re at the right stage of their journey, to actually WANT the kind of help you want to provide: they’re ready and they know it
All these factors combine to make these people the perfect customers for your business: they are perfectly suited and perfectly ready to work with you.
What’s especially brilliant about this, is that your group of people and my group of people will bot be the same - even if you and I specialise in exactly the same kind of work.
That’s because you’ll do your work your way, with your style and character - and I’ll do it my way. And that means that even though we may be doing more or less the same thing, we’re not really competing for the same attention: so long as we’re both honest & authentic about who we are, and who we’re here to help. Who knows, perhaps we can even help each other! - I can direct your people to you, and you send mine over here to me.
Understanding how to recognise the perfect customer for you, is the first big step towards creating a thriving, authentic business that you’ll genuinely enjoy to run - yes, even the marketing! - because it frees you up to run your business as YOU.
It will also give you the biggest, truest and most unshakeable USP (Unique Selling Point) no one can ever take away from you: because once you understand your perfect customer, you will also understand that you are your perfect customer’s perfect choice - simply by being who and what you are.
How to recognise your Perfect Customer
Before we talk about all the ways that getting to know your perfect customer will make your business easier and more enjoyable to run, make your decision-making more intuitive, and even help settle some of your mindset struggles, let’s look at what you need to think about as you learn to recognise your perfect customer. Because this is the part where so many people go wrong.
Defining features:
When you think about your perfect customer, your goal should be to think about them as a real, rounded, credible human being. Someone who has a real life beyond your (potential) work together; someone you can empathise with, understand, strike up a conversation with and ultimately support. That means you need to dig deep to really understand:
The transformation they are craving in their life right now
Their values & belief system
How they see themselves
How they feel about the problem they’re struggling with (no problem = no customer!)
The ‘worst case scenario’ that keeps them up at night
Their vision of how they want their life and circumstances to be
The kind of language they use when they describe themselves and their situation
Their ability and inclination to invest in changing their situation (no ability and inclination to invest = no customer!)
Optional extras:
These are the external factors that many business owners - and yes, many marketers - get hung up on in the ‘niching’ debate. Yet in many, many small business settings, it is simply not necessary to narrow down your perfect customer profile according to these criteria! I’m talking about external factors such as:
Their job title
Their industry
Their age
Where they live
The very specific problem they have right now
Now, depending on your specific business setting, your experience, your interests - a whole range of factors unique to you - you may know that you want or even need to include one, some or all of these ‘optional extras’ in your definition of your perfect client. Perhaps you only want to with insurance brokers, or healers, or senior executives, or parents of twins, or people who live in your local area.
If that’s the case, and it feels good to you to specialise like this, that’s wonderful. (Though you’ll still need to get clear on the ‘defining features’ in the first list, within the context of your specialism: these are the things that will separate your insurance brokers, healers, executives etc. from all those others who are not the right match for you at all!)
But if you don’t feel that way, then that is OK too. There is no obligation, either now or ever, to create a narrow definition of your perfect customer in relation to any one of their specific external circumstances - unless you find it helpful and empowering to do so.
If you enjoy the variety of working with people from different industries and backgrounds; if you love the fact that you can help self employed people and employed people deal with the very same struggles; if your healing work is equally valuable to people with migraines or chronic back pain; if you love working with people all over the world - there is no obligation whatsoever to clip your own wings and narrow your focus in ways that feel restricting rather than empowering to you.
Why knowing your niche perfect customer is the ‘magic bullet’
Once you know exactly who it is that you want to work with - that is, the person who is perfectly suited in terms of the transformation they want to see in their world; their temperament, belief system, values, readiness and financial ability to work with you - all your decisions get easier. All of them.
How should you package your services into your next ‘offer’? > Structure it around your deep understanding of your perfect customer’s needs
What should you say in your marketing content? > Dig deeper into your customer’s thoughts: what message do they need to hear today? How can you help?
What tone & vocabulary should you use: should you talk about the ‘magic’ of your work, or the quantifiable facts? > Take your cue from the way your perfect customer talks to you about what they need: your language should mirror theirs.
What about your pricing: is it too low, just right? > How does your perfect customer value the transformation they are longing for? Now price to reflect that value.
What should your website look like? What should it say? > What is your perfect customer looking for, at the moment when they are perfectly ready to work with you? Zoom in on that insight, and build your website journey back from there.
How can you get over your discomfort and fear of visibility? > Work on reframing your visibility: being visible is your first service to the perfect future customer who needs to find you right now. You’re simply opening the conversation.
How can you stand out amongst all the other people out there who offer services so very similar to yours? > Remind yourself: all those other people are someone’s perfect choice: but for your perfect customer, you are the one.
How can you feel authentic in your marketing? > Reframe it as an extension of your service: through your marketing content, you are making opportunities to make a difference in the lives of people who really need you.
If you’re struggling with any one of these questions right now, stop a moment. Switch your viewpoint; look at the question from your perfect customer’s perspective. What would they say?
And if you’re still not sure of the answer: go back to your list of ‘Defining Features’: dig deeper, until you can see your perfect customer as a fully credible, living, breathing being. Because once you’ve reached that point, you will find all the insight you need to answer all those tough questions in a way that feels reassuringly authentic.
That right there is the true power of knowing your perfect customer.
(Or, if you really want to use the word - the power of finding your ‘niche’).