Going specialist triggers a number of fears, so we offer 99 things 99 ways
Has any of this ever happened to you? You’re avoiding to go specialist for a number of reasons from imposter syndrome to FOMO.
Still, you create a wide range of products and services, each complete with new sales pages, new marketing campaigns, offering 99 things 99 ways. Your niche is broad and general as you tend to flip flop with the whims of the market. You’re not known for anything and sales are far and few in-between. Your rates aren’t what you deserve them to be, on the contrary. They work out as below minimum wage, you often wonder how long you can sustain this.
If you can’t specialise you’ll compete on price and that can quickly turn into an exhausting race to the bottom.
I see you working away and I get it. I used to work like this. But I’m not anymore. What if I told you that making more sales with less effort is absolutely possible for you?
From finding your unique selling point to easily carving out a product suite within this positioning, all building upon each other, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
I’ll show you how to specialise, even though you love so many things - and are really good at so many things.
Online biz owners make a mistake if they niche like the brick and mortars
Traditional business niche ‘boxes’ aren't effective in the online business world. These traditional niche categories are: location (where’s your shop), demographic (who ARE your ideal clients), psychographic (your ideal clients’ beliefs), product or service (the wares you sell).
Now…what if I told you that successful start ups in the online business world target an even more defined niche market? Why? With the stauration of the internet, niches have become more and more sophisticated over the years.
I get it, ‘being niche’ is a bold move because we might lose out on that c a s h f l o w, damnit! Our impulse is to go BIG. Go get the BIGGEST net.
I’m asking you to go against impulse and consider the opposite in fact: go specialist. Do it for the greater good as you’ll be helping more people and making more money. If you become a specialist in a narrow field, you’ll be able to charge more.
People want the best, the one and only – and they are happy to pay you more for that.
How specialised is too specialised?
Well, let me tell you Casey's story, the coach who tried something different. She changed her bio in a professional services directory from 'marketing coach' to offer only 'webinar marketing strategy'. What do you think?
Well…the next morning THIS happened: "I woke up to 2 DMs from women who saw my bio in the directory and wanted to know more about my services. The has never happened so effortlessly before."
Makes sense, doesn’t it? If YOU were planning to sell out a webinar, would you hire a ‘marketing coach’ or 'webinar marketing strategy coach’? You want the expert with all the special intel and checklists and experience in the exact thing, wouldn’t you?
5 steps you can take today to ensure that your niche is dialled in for profits
What if I told you there’s a simple mindset shift that will inspire you to nail your niche and ensure you thrive within it financially and personally?
Are you ready to grow your profits and your fulfilment while deepening your niche and message? These five go-to niche creation strategies will erase overwhelm, amplify your message, help you ENJOY the process and support you in creating a brand and business in inspired action.
1) ADOPT A NEW PERSPECTIVE: YOUR NICHE IS A WELL: AN INCH WIDE & A MILE DEEP
Here’s a gentle smack down in case you feel resistance to this: is focussing on the ONE thing too much to ask!? Are you telling me you can’t become expert at ONE thing?
If the thought of deciding on one thing feels to much right now, know that it will fall into place once you get going. Clarity comes from experiencing things, so I highly recommend simply getting stuck in. Momentum will be created if you take the first step.
Instead of obsessing over how limited you might be, look at your niche as a well, a gold mine even and remember: it may be an inch wide BUT it’s a mile deep. It can not be small if you dig deep enough into the material and if you create a product suite on top of it. You’re going to be selling in the vertical.
Find fulfilment in sharing the deep knowledge you acquire, unearth insights that will help your people adding your unique viewpoint.
Look at it this way: to become a specialist doctor for example, you’ll need
a 5-year degree in medicine
a 2-year foundation programme of general training
2 years of core surgical training in a hospital
up to 6 years of specialist training
So start going into the direction of one of your passions and watch your impact grow.
Here’s a gentle nudge: grab pen and paper, write down one of your goals. Now write out the 5 steps you need to take to get to the goal. There’s no right or wrong here. Now tackle the first of the steps. This is the direction you’ll go in right now.
2) FIND OUT HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM YOU CAN SOLVE
Now, what direction to choose? Which direction will be profitable? Well, there’s a crucial health check to make sure you have enough people interested in your topic.
Do an internet search: go to Amazon, Facebook, YT, google or Pinterest: Use the search function and type in your niche idea, for example ‘martial art”.
Now check how many people are in martial arts Facebook groups, how many views the top martial video got on YouTube Millions? Hundred thousands? There’s demand in the problem, you solve.
You may want to niche down a bit, try martial arts for beginners, teenagers, martial arts for nervous system regulation. Get more granular with your search terms until you get to about 10,000 people inetersted.
You want at least 10,000 people interested in the problem you solve. That’s the critical mass you need to sell online.
3) CHECK YOU HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS
“My ideal client is someone who pays me today” is a good reality check if you find yourself pining after your ideal dream customer. Find the balance between getting money in the door while building your dream business. Money IN brings momentum into a business, so the quick win is a great start for sure.
Ask yourself:
Do I have customers already?
Is there a particular segment of ideal customers I’d like to help?
Do I have access to these people, do I have an in, can I reach them?
Do I feel a connection to these people?
Am I happy to work with this group?
Are they my kind of people, the folks I want to help?
4) DIG DEEP
Now go to work, start helping people with that problem you want to solve. Allow yourself to stick with this one idea for a while. Don’t up sticks if you feel the urge to hop to the next passion. Don’t gloss over the topic. Hang around for a bit. Give it a chance. Unpack this niche idea and give it a go for now. Get into it like a method actor if you must, involving all the 5 senses.
Take some time and get creative with your new niche direction…and don’t stop when it gets harder. Challenge yourself, keep going until you get to the gold. You might come across plateaus and occasional bumps. You can overcome these, there’s always a next level to climb.
Drill down
Immerse yourself
Become more and more knowledgeable
Make new connections
Have fun with it
5) YOU CAN BUILD UPWARDS TOO, SELL IN THE VERTICAL
Once you’ve helped a few people with the problem, you can start selling to them in the vertical. Meaning you can offer them a product or service that expands on the initial work you did together.
Add a product stack on top of your initial niche offering. You’re now expanding vertically with more ways to help existing clients get closer to the ultimate result they are after.
This is the opposite of expanding and broadening your offers horizontally. If you try selling in the horizontal, you’re unlocking segment after segment of buyers, products, or locations, essentially widening your market. This can take a lot of resources to fund.
For example, you'll be creating different offers and marketing materials for each segment you add, as each market segment will have different needs and will respond to different messaging. As a result, you’ll find yourself working harder for less money.
And the proof? One client came to me with vastly different offers to a whole spectrum of different ideal clients. 93% of her customers only ever purchased one product from her because they couldn’t see how the other products tied in with their original purchase.
Decide on one problem you can help your ideal customers with, drill into it, get really good at helping people with it and if it’s your thing you can stack on more products and services that beautifully complement your initial offer. (The easiest example of this would be offering an online course, and then 1-0-1 VIP coaching services around the same topic of expertise.)
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