Should I Niche Down? Yes, and this is how to make it not so scary…
One of the most asked questions we get about marketing is “How far should I target/niche down?” and “I work with X, Y and Z, will focussing on X not alienate Y and Z.”
We get it, and to be 100% honest, it is something we struggled with too. Picking a target audience is hard, and shouldn’t be taken lightly. So we wanted to share with you today, an analogy we use to think about target audiences. To help you niche down too.
Because even though it can be hard, having that perfect customer in mind is so important. When you know exactly who you are serving:
- Your marketing becomes easier
- You make better decisions
- You can stand out to those people by simply being ‘for them.’
- You can compete better online
- You can improve your offering for them (and hence raise prices)
- …the list goes on.
So introducing: The Dart Board Analogy for Target Audiences
ACTION: Think of your whole audience as a dart board. In the middle sits your perfect customer, your avatar. You should know your avatars’s name, job, income, where they hang out, what they do for fun, what their problems are etc. This should be the person you enjoy working with most, and who you can help the most. Decide and flesh out your avatar.
The problem with this, is people think there’s not enough people in the world like their avatar to buy from them. However you are only seeing once piece of the dart board.
Just because somebody isn’t 100% like your avatar, doesn’t mean they won’t find what you are selling applicable to them. In fact, all the other bits of the dart board are potential customers too.
Let’s look at an example…
This is a bit simplified and we would recommend you flesh out your avatar a bit more than this, but a local Salon may decide their avatar is: ‘A Glamorous Female in their 40s, that cares about their appearance and has a good job so therefore spends a bit extra on their hair.’
Their marketing is therefore focussed around attracting these kinds of people solely.
However who else probably still buys from this Salon?
All these above segments could buy from the Salon anyway, as the Salon’s marketing may still attract them too.
For example… females in their early 20s with good jobs may be attracted by the high end imagery the Salon uses, and wouldn’t mind spending a bit more on their hair.
Or husbands may find the location of the salon handy, and how the shop front is presented appealing.
OAPs may want to look younger!
See… just because you have your avatar in mind, doesn’t mean only your avatar is going to buy from you.
BUT REMEMBER…your avatar is important.
For all the reasons we said earlier – your avatar helps you make better marketing decisions. But also they become your raving fans.
If you can focus your business to serve 1 type of person, and serve them as best as you can – they will talk about you, and word of mouth will spread…
