Kimberly Reddington

What's All the Buzz about a Defining a Niche?

Many entrepreneurs and solo professionals find it difficult to define a specific core message. Staying too broad can cause more harm than good. The larger your audience, the more time and effort it takes to market to that audience.

Many entrepreneurs and solo professionals find it difficult to define a specific core message. They feel they will lose out on clients if they limit themselves, so they try to stay general. Some entrepreneurs choose to define several niches because they aren't sure how to pick just one. Staying too broad can cause more harm than good. The larger your audience, the more time and effort it takes to market to that audience. Also, it makes it too difficult to really speak to your audience in a tone that will resonate with them. How can you be specific with your message when you are marketing to too many people? You will earn more profits if your audience thinks you are speaking directly to them. Think about it.

Who do you listen to more? The person who is giving you advice when they are speaking one-on-one with you like a friend, or the person who is standing in front of a large audience speaking generally trying to sell you something?

Defining one narrow message doesn't mean that you can't accept work outside of your niche. Once you become a true success, potential customers outside of your niche will still find you and try to convince YOU that you should help them. What one core message does mean is that you are limiting who you need to market to and network with.

I have been a web developer for years. I work as a consultant. If I market my services as being just a developer, I wouldn't get many clients. My clients need to know that I'm specialized to a certain type of programming. I am actually a Web Application Developer working with Adobe Flex. This is a very specific area of development. I have taken on other projects outside of my niche, but I don't need to market to those clients. They find me.

I market myself to clients who are in need of that specific type of development. By keeping my core message narrow, I accomplish two major things:

1. It is easy to find my clients and place my marketing efforts where they are looking.

2. I am telling clients that I am an expert in this one area, and this causes me to be in high demand. I can charge double on any given project just because I am marketing myself as such an expert. As it turns out, there are thousands of developers, but there aren't many developers in my specific niche. My work is great and clients know it is hard to replace me, so they keep hiring me back. These are the best types of clients to have.

What is your core message? Is it narrow enough? Does it resonate with you and fit with your skills and experience?

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