More and more people are giving up traditional employment in favour of entrepreneurship all the time. Whether they’re starting small businesses, getting into direct selling or selling information online, people are starting to realize that their financial future is in their own hands and that they can make a good living in their own terms. They’re also realizing that life without a boss can be pretty good!
As a result, if you have also taken the plunge and you plan to make your money as a self-employed entrepreneur, you are going to have to compete with many more individuals than you might have done in the past. To be successful, you are going to have to do something different, so that you can stand out from the crowd and attract more customers in your direction. An excellent way of doing this is by embracing your niches and specializing in a tight range of goods and services.
What is a niche?
In the business world, a niche refers to a small range of products or services that appeal to a specific, specialized sector of the market. For an example of a tight niche, take a look at this list of the Top 5 Comfiest Shoes for Nurses. These shoes are more practical than fashionable, and they serve the specific purpose of supporting the feet during a long working day. This makes them a niche market. Similar examples of niche markets include selling Nikon Camera Lenses, Ayurvedic Remedies and diet shakes, but there are literally thousands more areas that you could conceivably have a niche in.
What are the benefits of having a niche?
The benefits of finding and embracing your own niche are far too many to list, but here are some of the most interesting ones:
It makes you more interesting
Doing the same generic things as a hundred other businesses is not going to get you anywhere. You’ll find it more difficult to stand out from the crowd and thus, there’s a good chance you’ll get swallowed up by the market. By choosing a specific niche within your market, such as focusing on essential oils for weight loss,instead of trying to sell shakes, pills and diet plans, or selling socks in threes instead of two’s (Sorry, this idea has already been taken by Throx) so the lost sock is no longer an issue, will always make you more interesting and get you more attention from the right people.
You don’t have to compete so hard with the big boys
When you’re just starting out in business, one of the biggest challenges you will face is going up against larger, more established companies.This is a huge mountain to climb, and if you try to match them, chances are you’ll sink without a trace. If, however, you take the time to do just one thing they do, but do it better than them, then you’ll stand a great chance of taking business from them in that particular area and build a reputation as being a leading seller for that item.
It increases innovation
Another great thing about focussing intensely on a very small, specialist part of the market is that you get to know your product or service inside out and with that knowledge, you can more easily begin to make changes and develop innovations that will position your products and services amongst the best on the market.
It’s faster
When you only have a small range of products or services to worry about, you can get your business up, running and established much faster because you don’t have as much paperwork and logistics to deal with – you can just get out there and do what you do best – sell!
It’s easier to sell
Speaking of selling, it’s actually a lot easier to market your goods on social media when you have a very specific niche in mind because you can very quickly pick up followers who also have a keen interest in your niche, whereas, it can be quite difficult to drum up interest in a business that is generic and without a very clear focus.
You can become an expert
One of the biggest advantages of embracing your niche, which is not often discussed is the fact that you can become known as an expert in your niche relatively easy. If you’re known for providing a certain product or piece of information, and that is all you do, providing you do it well, you can easily position yourself as the go-to guy or girl for that thing, and that obviously helps to drive up your sales and increase visits to your website or blog.
You can make more money
If you are doing something that no one else (or at least very few people are doing) then you can charge a premium for the products or services you offer and make even more money than you might have imagined possible. Most people are very willing to pay a little more for a specialist product that is well-made and delivered by experts in their field, and this is something you really can take advantage of to get ahead.
Finding new customers is easier
One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is in finding new customers and making more sales. When you have a very definite niche, this is a lot easier to do because you only need seek out specialist websites and forums for that thing to start a successful advertising campaign.
It’s easier to meet customers’ needs
When you have a very clear focus, it is much easier to meet the needs and expectations of your customer because you basically just have one kind of customer who is looking for one particular thing. This is a boon to entrepreneurs who need to keep their customers happy if they are to make a success of their business.
Building loyalty is easier
Finally, it is a great deal easier to build loyalty to your brand when you have a very narrow focus because you can focus on getting everything from your products to your brand logo absolutely spot on for your market and your customers will appreciate the effort you go to.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to find and embrace your niche.
Contributors
