How to go niche and increase your profits?

How to go niche and increase your profits?

For creative agencies (and many other service or product based businesses) going niche makes a lot of?sense, especially when starting out, as it often leads to greater profits with less effort. The benefits are often that you'll have more focus, will know your target audience more intimately and pretty much everything you do today will help you learn how to improve for tomorrow so you become a true expert in the process. Referrals are also much easier as it's clear exactly what you do and for whom, so inbound enquiries will keep the tills ticking over too!

However, many business?owners are unsure about how?to get started and worry that going niche will close doors to other opportunities in the future. From what I have seen and experienced, it's more straightforward than you might think and the only real thing that stops businesses going truly niche is a fear of boredom from doing pretty much the same thing every single day. Focussing your efforts is not the end of the line, as once you have nailed your niche and carve your space in the market, there are undoubtedly?options to broaden your offering into other relevant niche areas of expertise as you grow.

So here are 6 ways to go niche starting today...

1. Pick a SECTOR...

Based on your experience, expertise, knowledge of profitable?markets and what excites you professionally, focus on the sector which you can help and reach the best e.g. healthcare, automotive, finance, education, charities, sport, hospitality etc.

2. Select a SERVICE...

In combination with the above, based on your experience and expertise, choose a service which will help your target audience the most and one that solves an truly important problem for them e.g. Marketing, Branding, Web Development, PR, SEO, Animation, Video etc.

3. Focus on SOFTWARE...

For those who focus on a service, it's likely this is delivered via certain types of software, so partner with the ones which are growing or have a strong presence already and will be in demand e.g. Mailchimp, Hubspot, SalesForce,?Shopify, Webflow, Wordpress, Drupal, GoogleAds etc.

4. Have a SYSTEM...

Every great business has powerful systems, processes, frameworks and possibly even Intellectual Property (IP) for their specific way of working. This system will?generate the best results for customers, so hone and share this to help your organisation stand out from competitors. Ours is https://storycube.co.uk/ by the way! :)

5. Differentiate your SOLUTION...

In many cases the solution offered is similar, if not the same, as many other competitors, at least on face value. Therefore additional ways to differentiate include testimonials, reviews, case studies, awards, press coverage, key clients, impressive statistics etc. to help you stand out from the crowd.

6. Get paid via SUBSCRIPTION...

Change the traditional habits of customers and invite them to pay for your service or product on a regular basis via subscription. This gives you time to build a stronger relationship with your customer and for you to add more value to your offering as time develops leading to higher levels of trust and loyalty.

BONUS:

Start a CIRCLE (couldn't think of a relevant word beginning with "S"!)

By this I mean to create a community of relevant and like minded people you can work with. This is not a place to promote but it is a place to help, support and connect your audience to each other. It could be a simple webinar roundtable discussion, or an event in the real world or if you're committed, it could be an online Slack group for your tribe to discuss, share and support each on a regular basis. You will be the connector, front and centre for when they need your services or product.

For those who have already gone niche, can you take this further and go micro-niche??

For example a?design agency?might focus on helping...(1)?financial?firms in London?create?(2)?digital?presentations?using?(3)?Google?Slides?delivered via their own?(4) systemised process?developed over the last 10 years which has won?(5)?awards and?positive reviews, all paid for on a monthly basis via (6) online subscription. Not only that, this agency brings together the relevant people from the financial firms e.g. Marketing Directors to meet, chat and share in a Slack group too.

This is just an example and might not appear to be the most exciting creative agency in the world, but targeting clients, finding staff, predicting output, knowing what to promote via marketing and generally running the business would be a whole lot easier than one without such a micro-niche. Obviously if the sector being serviced disappeared, this would have a knock-on effect, but the service offered could quickly be repurposed to help other sectors e.g. healthcare, education, legal etc.

I understand the concerns though from many business owners, particularly those in the creative industries. They often enter into this space for the creative challenges, the excitement of solving problems and not necessarily simply to make profit. However, by going niche, creative businesses can become true experts, streamline their processes, help more of their target audience and become famous for what they do. This enables them to focus more on their creative output and worry less about sustaining profit margins as it should happen naturally as a result of the value they deliver.

Which ways to niche have you tried and are there any others you can share in the comments?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Michael

(P.S. This was inspired by a webinar by? Roland Gurney at Treacle who ran a fantastic session via? The Agency Collective | B Corp Certified on how agencies should go niche. A lot of this stuff has floated around in my head over the years and the webinar was the nudge I needed to get it down and share it with others!)