Can niching *really* help you get ahead of your competition, attract better customers, and make you better at what you do?
You bet it can.
Join me in this week’s funnel chat – where we talk about niching with micro funnels:
- 0:36 – How niching can help you avoid direct competition
- 0:48 – Customers want to buy niche stuff. Let me tell you a quick story…
- 2:16 – Niching helps you deliver better results to clients. Here’s how…
- 2:43 – The quickest, easiest + safest way to test a new niche (FYI, it’s my favorite)
- 3:57 – 2 Starting points for picking a niche to test
- 4:29 – Don’t pick a niche based on THIS
Can niching *really* help you get ahead of your competition, attract better customers, and make you better at what you do?
You bet it can.
Niching is a popular topic in the business space. And people fall on both sides. Some business owners credit their success to niching. And some say “not niching” was the best business decision.
As a funnel strategist, copywriter and a small business owner, I’m a huge fan of niching.
And here’s why:
#1. You stand out from the competition.
In a crowded marketing place, it’s hard to get noticed. All your competitors are going after the same people with the same services.
But when you niche well, you go from the Gladiator games to a market of one (at least a market of few!).
#2. You’re more relevant (+ more attractive to customers).
Relevancy is huge in the online world. Because if you aren’t relevant you get ignored.
I can’t tell you how many business accelerators or coaching program FB ads I scroll through on a regular basis, but the one that stood out and got me to invest thousands of dollars was:
A business accelerator for copywriters. Not for creatives. Not for entrepreneurs. Not for small business owners. For copywriters. Sold!
Because, duh, I am a copywriter. That’s specific. That’s relevant. Specifically for me.
So how do increase your relevancy? You niche!
#3. It improves your marketing.
This stems directly from my last point. The more specific your copy, the more successful it’ll be. That’s because great copy speaks the language of your customer. But you can’t do that if you’re trying to speak to a large general group.
How you talk to marketers like me will be difficult from how you talk to developers, photographers, or restaurants, for example.
Plus! When you niche, your case studies + results will be even more relevant + compelling for new clients.
#4. You can leverage systems.
When you’re serving the same group with similar problems and business environments, you can create systems: the same overall process, the same materials, project templates, proposals, email templates, onboarding processes, project wrap-up processes, and more.
Create your systems once + use them every single time. That means, more productivity, less manual work, a better experience + more consistent results for your clients.
I get it. Niching is scary. It’s scary for me too.
But guess what… it doesn’t have to be.
My personal strategy when trying to niche down is to test with micro funnels.
It works like this:
- This quarter pick a niche to test.
- Create a micro funnel – strategic lead magnet, Upgraded Thank You Page, screening form or calendar booking.
- Run paid traffic to your micro funnel + collect email addresses.
- Reach out to the people who opt-in. Ask questions. Get them on the phone. Get the interactions you need to validate (or invalidate) this niche.
- At quarter’s end, make your decision: stay the course or move on to a different niche.
You don’t even have to change your website. Just create a niche micro funnel. One simple micro funnel (like a simple 2-step lead gen or CAC funnel).
And no, it doesn’t have to take the entire quarter. You might validate or invalidate your niche in 30 days or less.
That’s it. You don’t have to change anything else. Not your website copy. Not your content strategy. Not your entire blog. Not until you’re ready to go all in.
Testing with a micro funnel is the safest, easiest and quickest way to test a new niche before committing 100%.
If you’re wondering how to pick your first niche to test…
Here are some points to start you off:
- In what niche do you already have clients, case studies, results, a portfolio or contacts?
- What niches do you get excited, emotional or passionate about?
- What niches overlap with your past personal or professional experiences?
- What niches overlap with your hobbies?
Btw, I don’t recommend you pick a niche just for the money! There’s money to be made everywhere, so don’t fall into that trap.
