The Riches Are In Niches

One of the simpler ways to grow a business is to focus on a niche. It makes it easier to grow your sales and your expertise. It also opens opportunities for innovation.

What does it look like to focus on a niche? Niches mean a specific focus. The niche can be the service you provide or the type of customer you serve. 

Example 1: Apex Marketing could be a general marketing agency but instead chose to be the nation’s leading marketing agency for jewelry stores. All their marketing and sales efforts are immediately focused. Even better, they actually develop expertise over time in serving a particular trade group.

Example 2: Johnny’s Landscaping services could provide general lawn care but instead chose to specialize in custom-designing and installing raised garden beds. 

Example 1 is a niche customer (jewelry stores).

Example 2 is a niche service (raised garden beds). 

Niches aren’t limited to for-profit businesses. Nonprofit organizations can focus on a niche. You can provide economic empowerment services to people around your city. Or you could provide it to a specific zip code or part of town like Advance Memphis.

Adapting a niche focus feels counterintuitive to many leaders. A niche narrows your audience when many are looking for the broadest audience possible. However, there is always a possibility to create additional lines of revenue within a niche.

Example 1: Having proven themselves as experts in serving jewelry stores, Apex Marketing decides to expand its services to other segments of the industry like jewelry manufacturers, jewelry box makers, jewelry cleaning supplies, etc. 

Example 2: Having proven themselves as experts in raised garden beds, Johnny’s Landscaping decides to offer a subscription service for seasonal flowers and plants. 

A niche enables you to cultivate expertise and market the expertise. 

• Don’t be a general marketing agency. Market destinations. 
• You can even start a fitness business for gamers and nerds!

A niche focuses everything about your business:

• Your messaging becomes laser-focused.
• You attend trade shows and advertise in trade magazines.
• You establish a reputation inside industry referral networks.

Of course, there are successful businesses that are not niche, but they are exceptional rather than normal (ex: Amazon). If you want to create a business and build wealth, focus your business around a particular service or a particular customer. The riches are in the niches.