To Niche or Not to Niche? How about Segment instead?

As many of you know if you have followed us for any length of time – we are not huge fans of all the hype out there about selecting a market “niche”.

What is a niche?

People talk about it in 2 ways: Your Target Market or Your Specialty Area

Finding a Niche in your Target market is difficult – you either think you will put yourself in too tight of a box and your possible prospects will be limited or you honestly can’t determine who they are.

Narrowing your area of expertise down to a specialty is also bothersome because you can do more than just those 1 or 2 things…and you do! You might feel like if you don’t showcase all the things you do, then you might lose out on clients, and thus hinder your growth.

It’s a bummer – and although we don’t buy into the whole “you have to have a niche”, we are huge fans of segmenting your audience to have more accurate, directed, persuasive and meaningful marketing and improved experiences and results. And I highly recommend narrowing your expertise so you can be seen as a thought leader in your industry.

Let’s take a look at how you can do that and not feel like you are limiting your potential, who you can help, or your success.

Segmenting per your Expertise

Before you can determine which market(s) to target you have to know with certainty and clarity what you offer. I know that sounds elementary but just the other day I asked someone what they offer and I got a laundry list of things – some of which didn’t even go together.

She seemed to me like a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-nothing. Not impressed.

Determine what your specialty is in the industry. What you are BEST at. Which piece of what you do is what you enjoy the most. Which piece comes FIRST in the process. Which piece provides the results.

THAT is what you market. THAT is your niche or specialty or segment that you provide.

You need to have clarity on your value and be able to convey that in your marketing.

That doesn’t mean that you don’t provide all those other things, but most likely those things come as you work with the client…or as they use your product or service.

What it does mean is that you can now saturate the market with that one thing that showcases you as an expert in that specialty of your field.

I know, you might be thinking, “But Melissa, if I do that then they won’t know all the other stuff I can help them with.” Yes, they will.

Remember, this is what we are putting out into the universe as to who you are, what value you provide, what your special expertise is. Once they are attracted to that they will see all the supporting things you do around that and the domino effects it has in other areas.

Segment per your Delivery Method

Short and sweet – if you delver your products or services in a unique way that makes you stand out in the industry…then that is a ‘niche’. Maybe you provide an interactive APP and others have stagnant video.

Maybe your Cohort approach is new to your industry. Or maybe you provide a product that creates the results people want but in a different manner or approach.

This can be a way to ‘niche’ down in your industry – thus creating a specialty segmentation for you to be the leading authority.

Segmenting your Target Market

Once you have determined exactly what the value is that you offer, then you want to define your initial Target Market.

There are many theories and strategies to achieve this – by interests, age, location, relationship status, economics, gender, and even by lifestyle.

But we have found that the best form of segmentation for your primary market is by behavior.

We are all subject to behavioral segmentation, every day.

Think about it –

• Spotify and Apple iTunes make recommendations based off other music and podcasts you listen to.
• Netflix does the same.
• Amazon recommends products based off what you have bought, or even viewed, in the past.

It is all around us – behavioral segmentation provides us with an enhanced experience, even though when you stop to think about it, it is a little creepy. 😊

So how can we, as entrepreneurs and small business owners, use the techniques of behavioral segmentation so that we too can enhance the experience, have more accuracy with our connections and effectively market our products and services to the right people?

Instead of trying to pull out of then air what age range, socioeconomic demographic, gender, or any other form of segmentation, look at the value that you provide first …. Then look at who demonstrates the need for it.

Once you do that you will find those unifying characteristics that those people have…it might be age range, socioeconomic demographic, or gender. Most likely it is not.

Most likely it is a behavioral aspect.

• Maybe they are runners, or music lovers, or game players.
• Maybe they are all starting out in their business life, or they are at a crossroads in their career or family and facing a life change.
• Maybe they are successfully discontent, which manifest in them being grumpy and seeking new adventures.
• Maybe they are hermits, or the life of the party, or the gal that won’t keep her mouth shut.

This process is easier to reverse engineer. You may be able to determine the broad-brush strokes of who they are when you are first getting started.  That’s great!

As you grow and work with more customers or clients you will get a better feel for the exact segmentations that work for you and your business…and which ones you want to work with.

Then you can begin to tailor your efforts and messaging per segment. This will attract more of those people to you – they will feel special, valued, and heard. Your marketing will serve them where they are, and your conversion rates will improve.

The cool thing about segmentation is you may find that you have more than one – and that is awesome! But you can’t market to them in the same way. Which oftentimes means you need to dedicate time and effort to one, then add/start a second segment, then a 3^rd, and so on.

Think about it like a group of people singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Each segment starts at a different time but as you bring others on, together they provide a harmonious and unison sound. And they all finish the song with joy.

Other Segments to Consider – and not Forget about

Here is the kicker – segmentation is not just for the target market you are prospecting to. It also has to occur internally in your business.

Yes…we do continue to ‘market’ to people who have already worked with us or are good resources and referral partners. It just looks different than what we put out in the universe to attract new prospects. But once they are connected to us in ANY way we have to shift and place them into a different segment.

• We need to segment our current and past customers to improve customer loyalty and advocacy.
• We need to segment our connections, referral partners and strategic business alliances to improve and increase our referrals.

Think about it this way – if you are in communication with any of the above listed connections (and you absolutely should be!), some are most likely quickly responding and engaging with you, while others are engaging quietly or more slowly. Don’t make the mistake of treating them all the same.

If they immediately respond to your emails or phone messages, they are clearly in a different boat than those that do not. They should have a different path.

Segment Based on Client Familiarity

Are they a new prospective customer, a current client, or a legacy client (someone who has been with you for years)?

It seems obvious, but these 3 segments can’t be treated the same. You risk offending some and/or not serving others.

In addition to that, for current and legacy clients, you might also segment them between the highly engaged clients and those that are only slightly still engaged.

Segment Based on Referral Behavior

With Strategic Business Alliances and Referral Partners it is easy to segment ones that have and have not referred to you in the past.

Then additionally separate them by client parallels based on (1) if they work with the same types of clients you work with vs not; (2) if they do, then do their clients that have the ability to pay for your services.

For past, current, and legacy clients you can do this as well – based on who has and who has not referred you to others.

Understanding how to segment your market and your connections is vital in order to see increased results from your marketing, create brand loyalty and advocacy, increase referrals, and improve your conversion rates.

You may have other segments that are important to you and your business because not all businesses are the same. Therefore, not all segmentation criteria will be the same – but these are some ideas you can contemplate and implement so that you can not feel like you are putting yourself into a niche box but still have the reach, authority, and credibility to attract the right clients and customers to you and your business.

Too complex or need more help and guidance – we have a BLOG that was written a while ago called: FIND YOUR NICHE that you might enjoy (and it has a worksheet to help you get started!)

Just remember, once you have defined your primary market(s), and your specializations…even if you need to tweak them along the way…be sure to not treat all segments the same!

Comment below and let us know if you have determined your specialty and defined your segmentations. We would love to know!