Do you pronounce it “nitch” or “niche”?

Every course, book, webinar, seminar or business boot camp you’ve attended over the last few years has likely had a section on your niche. They might have called it niche, or nitch depending if you are in North America or not. It may also have been called ‘client avatar’ or ‘ideal client profile’. Ultimately it’s all the same idea; focussing on a particular type of person to deliver your specific offering so that you can stand out in a crowded marketplace and get better results. And as sure I am that every one of these programs talked about ‘niche’ in some way, I am equally confident that you glossed over that part and waited for the practical marketing stuff.

The problem is that any client attraction technique will work way better if it’s focused on a specific niche. Let’s just say you sell organic dog food. It’s hand made by you and packed full of natural ingredients and it just amazing for a pampered pooch’s health. To promote it, you give the same 10-minute presentation to two crowds. One of those crowds is at a country animal show, the other is at a music festival. Which presentation do you think will get you the most sales of your dog food? Sure, there might be a couple of nutrition-conscious dog owners at the music festival, but I’d put quite a lot of money on the fact you’d get a lot more interest at the animal show? Why? Because you’ve ‘niched down’. You’ve sought out a group more likely to contain people that own dogs and are conscious about feeding them well. Also, they’re in a space where they are already thinking about their animals at the time rather than which band’s on next.

You’ve used the same message, the exact same presentation, but your results will land far better at the County Fair than Glastonbury. Your niche really does matter. If you aren’t clear on your niche, neither are your clients.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A NICHE?

But, what exactly IS a niche? And how do you work out what your niche is? Most beauty business owners think a niche is either a specific type of person or someone looking for a particular product or service. You might think you’ve nailed it because your niche is busy mums or people looking for eyelash extensions.

Sorry, but in each case, you’d only be half right. Because your niche is actually both. It’s a specific type of person looking for a particular thing. How about busy mums that are looking for eyelash extensions! If you got laser focussed on just that niche, don’t you think you’d be able to find them, get their attention and attract them in as clients much more easily than trying to speak to EVERYONE.

Are you instantly recommendable?

Ever notice that it’s much easier to recommend things when someone asks you a specific question?

“Seen any good films lately?” is more vague and difficult to answer than simply “What are you watching on Netflix at the moment? That’s because our brains like to make specific connections. Just like a dot to dot drawing you used to do as a kid. One question dot easily connects to the next easy answer dot. Asking someone if they’ve seen any good films means your brain has to remember what films you’ve seen recently, evaluate them as being good or bad, decide whether your interpretation of good or bad will apply to the person asking the question who you may not know that well.

Whereas what are you watching on Nexflix right now is easy . . . it’s probably ‘Schitts Creek’ or ‘Elite’. If it’s not, then it should be. Anyway, what has this to do with Niche? Well if you serve a niche, that’s providing a particular solution to a particular person, then you become immediately more recommendable. Say your niche is skincare for busy professionals and someone mentions their skin has become dry since returning to the air-conditioned city centre office to one of your existing clients, hey-presto . . . instant recommendation. Not quite the same if you simply “offer a wide range of beauty treatments” now is it? So pick your niche, make your life easier and become instantly more recommendable.

WHAT DO YOU REALLY SELL?

Ever thought about what you really sell? Do you simply try to sell treatments or do you offer transformations? Do you talk about your services or do you deliver solutions? Understanding what problem you solve for the specific person you want to help, means you have a real niche. It makes you a specialist.

Think of a dentist for a moment, they’re a specialist. A dentist picked their niche. Yet no one goes to the dentist because they just LOVE having someone poke about in their mouth? People go to the dentist because they have toothache right now and don’t want it. Or they want perfect teeth and don’t have them. Poking around in your mouth with drills and scrapers is what a dentist does. But no one is going to buy that.

Finally being pain-free or having a sexy smile is what dentists sell! Now that’s a powerful solution! And when your dentist tells you to buy a product and use it every day, you do it. So while massage, lash extensions, IPL, skincare or halotherapy is what you do, if you really want success, figure out the solution you’re selling.

Stop adding more treatments and services!

This is a big mistake being made by beauty professionals ALL the time. Need more clients, add some more treatments. That’ll do it. Things gone a bit quiet in the salon, add some new treatments. Existing clients not coming back, better add some additional treatments to the list to keep them interested.

STOP IT!

The more things you offer, the more of a generalist you become and the further away you get from the success you want. Think of the MOST successful person you can. Now, ask yourself. Did they become so successful because they were awesome at one particular thing, or because they were OK at lots of different things? People flock to a specialist. They’ll travel for miles, they’ll pay a premium and they’ll rave about their results.

That’s only going to happen if you have absolutely nailed your niche, focussed on that thing for those people and becoming the best. Now YOU’RE a specialist.

Want some help with this?

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