The riches are in the niches. This is the advice you hear from the experts, when you are starting a business or content creation project. Its sound advice, but it’s easier said than done. It also doesn’t rhyme where I come from!
My advice for what it’s worth would be to be your own niche.
Why Find a Niche
The logic of niching down your business or content does make sense. When you are starting out, you need to get traction. You need an audience. In an ocean of information, you will never be found by your audience or customers, if you are too generic. Finding a niche, means that you target a specific set of people with a specific problem or an specific audience who are looking for specific information. The key word is ‘specific’.
For instance, if your industry is weight loss, your competition will be too great. You will not be noticed. However, if you target 50-year-old males, who want to lose ten pounds, without going to the gym, this will narrow down your target audience. The key part of this is that those people who fit these criteria, will more easily find you.
Niching down is therefore sound advice and here are some of the ways I’ve discovered, to think about my potential niche.
Your niche should be a blend of:
- What you are passionate about?
- What will be financially viable?
- Where do your skills lie?
Your Passion as a Niche
What is your passion and what are you interested in? The premise here is that, as with any new business, it takes a lot of time and energy to get it off the ground. There will be times when nothing seems to happen and you want to give up. It is at these moments that your passion will carry you through because you will feel like you are just doing it because you love it, not for the results.
Money
Counter to the passion argument is, what will be the most commercially viable niche? Follow the money.
I would say that focussing on just the money will result in you becoming disillusioned. You are more likely to follow through if you are enthusiastic about what you are doing. Yes, sure, the venture needs to be financially viable, or it is just a hobby. The focus on just money shouldn’t however be to the detriment of what you are passionate about. That said, there is wisdom in saying don’t just follow your passion. Your venture should be something that has a balance of something you are at least interested in and is commercially viable.
Skills
What if you can’t find something you are passionate about, or what if what you are passionate about, isn’t commercially viable? In that case you should consider what your skills are. What are you good at? Any business relies on providing value to the customer or they will not pay for your services. In the realm of content creation, the consumer needs to receive value, either as entertainment or useful information. You don’t need to be the best, or the most expert in your field, but you should be confident in your abilities and knowledge to provide value to your customers or audience.
Usually, your passion in the subject will grow as you become more skilled and knowledgeable.
Can’t find a niche?
What if you just can’t find a niche? Then invent your own niche. Be unique and it will resonate with someone.
Be authentic
Most of all be authentic. This means being real and true to who you are as a person. Fakery comes across. We can all tell when someone is trying to be someone they are not. In the same way, you will not resonate with your audience if you are not being you.
A word about AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for longer than you think. Think about predictive text on your mobile phones. Content creation by AI is in its infancy and I believe you can tell. This will change in the future, but people want to deal with people they know, like and trust. I don’t believe this will ever change. Humans can intuitively tell when something is authentic or not. It does come with experience but we all have this faculty.
I would resist using AI to create content, firstly because I like writing. Why would I outsource something I love to do, to someone or something else.? Secondly, though, I also believe my audience would be able to tell.
People are crying out for authenticity
In an age were content is, sadly, mass produced by AI, people are craving authenticity. Our politicians bend with the wind, to get your vote. I just wish some of them would stay true to their principles, even if I disagree with them. At least they would get my respect.
Just start now – see where you get to
If you are struggling with finding a niche, I would say the best advice I can give you is start anyway. Start finding your own voice. The worst thing you can do is wait to find the perfect niche. Your niche will develop as you develop. People will be attracted to your authentic message.
Then if you are consistent and persistent, you will look back and discover you have created your own unique niche.
If you are an aspiring blogger, then you might be interested in my post on how to write a weekly blog post. In this post I show you my weekly routine to get regular posts out, on time.