This is, perhaps, the most common question I get about niching.
“How niched is niched?”
But, of course, there’s no one simple answer.
The main question must be: are you able to financially sustain yourself doing what you want, how you want and for the people you want?
If you’re able to do that, then your niche is likely just fine.
Part of what has this question become more convoluted then it needs to be is that there’s no clear definition of “niche.”
People understand it as fancier way of saying, “who you’re trying to reach.” Niche is often understood as synonymous with “target market,” “ideal client,” “perfect customer” and “chosen audience.”
But your niche is the role in the marketplace you want to be known for and that role is a weaving together of what you do, how you do it and for whom you do it.
What. How. Who.
Those three things.
You can be known for any one, two or three of them.
Stated another way: you must have clarity in at least one of them.
But how much clarity?
How niched is niched?
The problem gets deeper. Even when people think of “who” and focus on that, they usually focus on the wrong things.
Imagine a bullseye. The outer ring are the demographics (all the outer, externally verifiable things you could know about a person by simply observing). The middle ring are the psychographics (all the inner, unknowable from the outside things about someone – their worldview, values and scenes they identify with). The bullseye is ‘the issue’ (some constellation of the urgent problem they want solved or the result they are craving).
Too many people focus on the outer ring (e.g. “I’m trying to reach white females, ages 50-65 who make $100,000/year and who live in New England.”).
But you need to focus on the bullseye (e.g. “I work help people slow down. stop or even reverse their Multiple Sclerosis symptoms.”).
But, again, how clear do you need to be about the issue you address?
How niched is niched?
Part of what makes this even more difficult are all of the fears that underwrite this question; the fears that, “If I were to teally focus in on one thing then I’d go broke and be totally unsatisfied and need to turn away a lot of people I’d love to work with.” But I can tell you from over a decade of experience in helping people contend with this subtle dynamic of niching, nobody is actually scared of their niche.
I’ll say it again: no one is scared of their niche.
When people discover their perfect, at least for the moment, niche, the experience is, universally, relief — a huge exhale.
So what are people scared of? Niching. The process of getting there.
Why? Because it is utterly misunderstood and the maps of the territory are, for the most part, poor.
But how niched is niched?
This depends on where you are.
If you are living in a small town of a hundred people and serving only that market, then you’ll have to be a bit of a generalist. The smaller the geographic reach, the wider your niche must be. If you’re marketing on the internet to the whole planet? You’ll want to narrow it way down. If you’re in a big city like London? Somewhere in between.
How niched is niched?
This depends on when you are.
There are four stages of business growth and, in the first phase, you’re not supposed to have your niche figured out. You’re supposed to be experimenting. You’re supposed to be trying a bunch of new things. By the third stage, you need your niche dialed. So it depends where you are in the process.
How niched is niched?
One thing I can tell you is that, to begin, you don’t need your niche to be 100% perfect. 70% clear is fine. You can flesh out that remaining 30% in the market place as you begin to experiment with offerings and target markets. In fact, if you don’t start experimenting in the market place then I’d predict you’ll never make it.
How niched is niched?
It depends on how much competition there is.
If you’re the only yoga studio in town? Niche achieved.
If, five years later, there are twenty, you’re in a whole different scenario which will require a more focused approach. Competition is an invitation to hone your niche.
How niched is niched?
The truth is there’s no “niche-o-meter” you can use to measure it.
Your niche isn’t something that’s inside you or your business, it more like the place in the marketplace you fill. It’s how you fit into the marketplace. As you change and the marketplace changes, so will your niche.
How niched is niched?
It depends.
Want Help With Your Niche?
If you want more help figuring out your niche, you can find plenty of free resources, check out my eBook The Niching Nest or my DIY home study course The Niching Spiral. And, of course, if you’d like my personal help, you can always book some coaching time too.
Additional Resources:
How Niched Is Niched? How Small Should Yours Be? – Suzanne Falter-Barnes
The Positioning Matrix – A Conversation Between Danny Iny and Tad Hargrave
How Do I Know if My Niche is Clear Enough? Three Simple Steps. – Tad Hargrave