Here is a paradox for the freelance. Consider the question: what is the size of your market? You might think the larger the size, the better it is for you. This is rarely true.
Mass and Niche Markets
Most of the advertising we see aims at a mass market. Consider its content. It promotes products that meet our basic needs. So, you see adverts for food, clothes, cars and so on. You don’t see mass market adverts for coaches or consultants.
Mass marketing focuses upon whatever is new. The latest films or TV programmes have a mass market appeal. Even a coach with a brilliant new approach, does not use mass marketing.
Cost is an important factor. Granted, advertising online is available to niche businesses; it is not on the scale of hoardings, TV adverts, newspapers and magazines. Such large-scale advertising is still out of reach for small business owners.
This is not really a problem because there is a more profound reason small businesses don’t use broadcast advertising.
They have a niche market. To address the whole population is redundant. If your niche is in a particular locality, there is no point telling the world you are there. The people in your niche need to know you are there and no-one else.
So, the challenge for most freelancers is to find the narrow group of people in their target market. There are marketing approaches that work for these groups and not for the mass market.
How to Find Your Niche
You need to find your niche and almost certainly find this rather difficult. Why? It is hard to see how narrowing your market can increase your business. It’s counter-intuitive to think you increase business by turning some people off.
But marketing is costly in time and money. To waste time communicating with people who are not interested in your offer is not going to get you far. If people approach you because you are known for your offer to them, this is far more efficient. All you need is to work out how to turn their interest into commitment to working with you.
Let’s focus on narrowing your niche. The big mistake people make is to think their niche is one-dimensional. There is a lot you can do to design your packages to appeal to a narrow group of people.
Other Ways to Narrow Your Niche
Just as you make choices when designing your packages, you can also make choices about other things.
- Your values are important. I am often criticised for my emphasis on values and especially the local economy. I am seeking business owners who share these same values. So, it makes sense. I find people drawn to these values are more likely to be interested in my offer.
- You can decide to narrow your market in specific ways, to voluntarily cut people from your market. This is specialising in a specific segment of your market. You might choose to offer your service to one sex, for example business coaching for women. You can help men by sign-posting them to other practitioners. If you go down this road, get professional advice about what you can and can’t do.
- You can choose to narrow the geographical location of your business. There isn’t a coach of my type in this area and so I’ll focus my marketing here. Some businesses find they do well out of this focus, perhaps getting 70-80% of their business from their chosen area.
Specialisation and Prejudice
When you narrow your market, you are stating a preference not building a wall to keep out undesirables. The decisions you make help you target your market. It is not a failure if you draw some customers who don’t quite fit your market definition.
Indeed, these customers may be immensely valuable because they may point to a better definition of your market. Prejudice would make you unable to see this new opportunity.
To specialise is to choose your preference because you believe it is for people most likely to take a serious interest in your offer.
Let’s say you want to specialise in delivering a service for women that could be equally valuable for men. You have your reasons for this choice, let’s assume they are valid and don’t amount to discrimination.
First, note most men know some women, they may know women in your market. You cannot afford to put men off because you need them to carry your message to your market.
Do all your packages need to be women only? If you are a coach, you could deliver workshops to both men and women. This would help all involved understand your offer and in partnership with someone who makes a similar offer to men, it could be a powerful marketing opportunity for many businesses.
If you are an expert in the particular issues women face in business, it makes sense to seek the market who can benefit. Maybe outrage at the discrimination women face in working life is legitimate. The challenge for the niche marketer is saying this with good grace.
Conclusion
To define your niche is a massive step forward because you can address them directly. But do not make the mistake of thinking your niche is set in stone. Be alert for those who approach you out of the blue.
They have heard your message and it appeals to them in some way. Find out why.
Have you ever been surprised by who has responded to your marketing?