A guest post from Jennifer Harshman of HarshmanServices.com.

Niche definition

In the business sense, a niche is either something a person is best suited for, or a specialized market. In terms that might be a little easier to understand, it’s a small, specific market of people to serve or a specific product/service to offer. Something helpful to keep in mind is that a niche should be based on people (groups), passions, and problems.

Niche research

Several tools exist to help you conduct keyword research to use in selecting a niche. Some of the more well-known tools are WordStream, Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and SpyFu. Google Keyword Planner is designed to serve people who want to buy Adwords ads that will be placed on other people’s websites. It’s not designed to help publishers (writers) who are creating content. My favorite is the tool put out by Site Build It called Brainstormer. It uses Wordtracker but adds its own elements to create a robust tool that is designed for content creators like you. They have memberships for regular websites and for WordPress sites.

Market validation

When you’re doing your niche research, in addition to using keyword research tools like the Site Build It’s Brainstormer tool, you’ll want to talk with people who are members of the audience you have chosen to serve. Ask about their passions and problems. Think about what product or service might help them. Then start with a minimum viable product (MVP). Test it by offering it to a few people. Get their feedback. Get proof of concept before you decide whether to continue offering it and to put more resources into it. Seeking help with a quick Facebook Ads campaign or Google AdWords campaign can help you test whether a product will perform well and whether you actually know your target audience.

Niche markets

The number of niche markets is massive, especially when you consider all of the micro niches people can create. One way to create a niche is to make a Venn diagram of two or more circles and use the overlap to define your niche. The more circles you use, the more micro that niche is.

Niche ideas

Where can you get niche ideas? First, you brainstorm. I recommend writing by hand for this because people are more creative when writing by hand than when typing. When you brainstorm, you’ll come to a point where it feels like you can’t think of anything else. When that happens, I want you to keep going. More ideas will come. Okay, are you ready?

Start by remembering the list you made of the audiences you are a member of, and use those. Then think about other people you might want to serve. What types of people do you admire? Which groups would you like to meet and serve? Add those to your list. Now add some more. Keep going. You can do it.

Now, on a separate sheet of paper (or, if you’re typing, in a separate Word document), make a list of products or services you might want to offer to any of those people. Products could range from abacuses to Zambonis. Perhaps you want to offer them a particular software as a service or an app, or to handle their bookkeeping or podcast production. You might come up with 42 books you might want to write for them. Regardless of which niche you choose, you’re going to be writing for and to people in that niche.

Finding your niche

Finding your niche can be a challenge, so if it’s difficult for you, please know that it’s okay. You’re not alone. You might be interested in many things and have a wide variety of skills, and it’s hard to choose one to focus on. Or maybe you find that the way it is for most people is the way it is for you, too: choosing just one is scary. We have heard all our lives, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” and “You had better have a backup plan.” Maybe this will help you to feel less anxiety around it all: picking a niche does not have to be for eternity. It’s just for now. You can change it later if you want to.

So how do you find your niche? Finding a niche is a main focus of Seth Godin’s book This Is Marketing. In it, he encourages readers to choose two things they wish to be known for, and make each one an axis on a chart, then take it to “the edges.” In so doing, they’ll carve out their own niche. As Two Ways To Niche explains, there is more than one way to niche. Choose a group of people you’d like to serve (vertical) or a product/service you’d like to offer (horizontal), or both.

Get so specific that you feel like there are only a few people in the world who would want or need what you could offer. For example, I was able to help a coaching client of mine go from saying, “I serve authors” to “I conduct research for authors” to “I provide historical fiction authors with information on the weaponry available in the 1850s in the United States.” She was afraid that no one would want that information, but more than 3,000 authors qualify. A potential client pool of more than 3,000 people is more than enough. Start small. Build. Go from there.

Niche marketing strategy

Specialized social media groups

Facebook and other platforms have a wide variety of groups people can join based on interests, industries, or identity. Many of them do not allow self-promotion, but I haven’t seen one yet that doesn’t allow helpfulness. Participate in the groups that serve your target audience, that relate to your chosen niche. Share helpful resources if allowed—and I’m not talking about your own but things that others have created. You will develop a reputation of being helpful and knowledgeable, and generous, not self-serving. People tend to mistrust those who are self-serving and to trust those who are clearly there to serve others. Sharing resources other people made helps not only the people you’re sharing those pieces with but also the creators as well.

It’s important to follow the rules of any group you join. Read the rules, and then be respectful and helpful, and in most instances, you’ll be fine.

Niche magazines

If there’s a niche market, chances are good that there’s a magazine for it. The inverse is also true. Publishers only produce when there’s a profit to be made, so if there’s a niche magazine for it, then there’s a niche market. If someone else is serving that audience, you can, too.

Niche articles

Whether you’re writing articles for magazines, other people’s blogs or sites, or just on your own blog or website, you’re going to want to write niche articles to serve your audience. A niche article is an article focused on one specific aspect of a group, one specific problem, or a combination—one particular problem that the small group has. These pieces focus on serving your niche, on delivering information they can use to learn new skills, solve their problems, or make decisions or purchases. Once you’ve decided on your niche and have accepted that you’ll be writing articles for that niche, you’ll want to select topics to write about. That will be the topic of next month’s post.