Spend any time on social media as a small business owner and you’re likely to have encountered the “bro marketer”. The “goo-roo”. Or the “Internet Marketing Millionaire.”
These guys….and they’re typically almost always guys… have all proclaimed to have found the silver bullet to success. Just sign-up for their online program and the riches are just around the corner.
Probably the most common “bro marketer” piece of advice is to “niche in” and, in my experience, the guys who overstate that don’t often have a deep respect for what it means. It’s not just a value proposition and an avatar. In addition it’s about: where does the person who is designing and running the business feel most comfortable?
I’ve seen people sell “wanting to bridge the retirement gap” when they really should be selling cryptocurrency. I’ve seen butchers try to find a niche in “prime” without the right suppliers or a staff that can support it, and no real interest from anyone including the business owner, in training.
Niches aren’t just marketing positions—they are comfort positions.
Not just “what do we say in an ad” but, where can we execute excellence? And, therefore, who is looking for that excellence?
If a town doesn’t have a butcher selling “prime” you might do well to become that person—if there is demand for it, and you have interest, and passion for it. But if you really like burgers and hot dogs and love to plan backyard barbecues with people when they come into your shop—“prime” isn’t your niche. Perhaps you want to be known as the backyard barbecue butcher instead with everyday cuts of meat and all the accompaniments to have the best back yard barbecue.
And it’s very costly, I find, for business owners to misunderstand this. Entire marketing plans—client avatars—everything gets set around a business plan someone advised the owner they can “sell” but don’t want to “do.”
That’ll haunt you.
Niches, to me, ask a more fundamental question: where are you most comfortable, and who do we need to market to, to bring the people to you, in your comfort zone.
