As a brand and business mentor, I’ve noticed that one of the biggest blocks that stops people from growing their business is a lack of clarity around their niche and brand positioning.

Some questions I often receive are:

• Will I alienate or lose customers by being too specific?
• How am I supposed to fit all of who I am into a box so that people understand me?
• Does it make sense to appeal to a wider group or narrow it down to one specific audience?
• What if I become known for one thing but later want to do something else?

If you create a niche, you will speak to a specific customer segment and have more chance of making an impact within a particular category. But if you don’t niche, then you will have a wider network to target and therefore an increased likelihood of success.

There’s a solid argument for both sides of this debate – which is why this topic can be so confusing. I have many clients that I have guided through the niching process and what I have learnt is that your niche doesn’t necessarily have to be as hyper-specific as you might think.

In the past, having a niche meant narrowing down a customer audience to target. It was about defining your customer and how you will serve a specific market need.

But if you change the way you think about niching and see it as an avenue to express your full self, then it becomes less about the audience you are serving, and more about creating your very own category to play in. This means defining a corner of the market for your unique set of talents and skills and knowing that the people who resonate with that – the ones who want your exact thing – will find their way to you. It’s about creating room to encompass all of who you are and letting your work and passion lead the way, rather than the customer only. 

YOU ARE THE NICHE, AND THE NICHE IS YOU There is no one quite like you. This is your ultimate point of difference. Nobody thinks exactly like you do. Nobody has the same mindset, philosophy and experiences that you have. This is gold when it comes to creating your unique brand niche. The more you embody the full spectrum of your talents and gifts and the more you step into the truth of who you are, the more naturally differentiated your brand becomes.

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to clarify your niche is to become more YOU. To get clear on what moves you, what inspires your passion and what drives your business forward. This is the real stuff – the essence of your work and the essence of YOU. This is what sets you apart. There may be people who dabble in the same space and offer similar things but no one does it quite like you – because how can they? They are not you. 

Choosing to infuse your unique philosophy into your work and showing up as your authentic self will help you create your special category or corner of the market.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN NICHE There are three super-effective strategies that you can implement to create a niche of your own:

1. Clarify what moves you. This requires some self-inquiry and exploration of the deeper motivations behind your business. What is your ultimate vision for this work? Why do you do what you do? What are you hoping to achieve with this approach? Discovering the driving force behind your business will give you clarity on what sets your work apart from others.
   
2. Write your story. If you were to tell a friend the story of how you started your business, where would you begin? How did you find your way to this work? What experiences led you to this place? This is what makes you human and relatable to your audience, and it is one of the reasons why people will be drawn to your business over another. Because of the YOU behind your work.  
   
   
3. Define what you are up against. Defining your “enemy” is a powerful brand exercise. Every great brand solves a problem for people. This requires a little mindset shift because you might not immediately think that your brand is targeting an enemy. But an enemy for your brand could be a belief, system or state of the world. For example, if you make jewellery, you may think that your work is simply to provide beautiful things for people. But if you dig a little deeper, you might discover that your jewels provide beauty, pleasure and joy in an increasingly overwhelming world. So, your work is in opposition to the stress and overwhelm of daily life. Even though you might never directly communicate this, knowing what your brand fundamentally opposes and wants to change helps you dictate what you stand for.

Clarifying these areas is a great starting point for defining your niche. From this place, you can create a brand that is naturally differentiated from competitors, because it is based on the truth of who you are.

The key is to remember that no one can offer exactly what you do, so the more you take ownership of your unique philosophy and perspective, the more you create your own little corner of the market to play in. From this place, the people who resonate with your way of being, the ones who are the right audience for your work, will naturally find their way to you. 

To see more from Beth James and her business Changemaker, check out her website over here.

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