I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
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What is a niche?
Have you ever actually thought about what a niche really is? Can you give me a simple definition of a niche?
I’m tempted to write no more until I have some answers, but I won’t prolong it 🙂
I recently read a blog post  that includes a section on marketing to a demographic rather than a niche and I found it really interesting. A demographic is group of similar people whereas a niche is a group of people with a similar problem – parts of a demographic may be more likely to have a problem but not everyone in a demographic will.
Not convinced? Think about all parents who run a business (demographic) – do they all need to find childcare to enable them to work? Of course not as some have teen or adult children, some have a partner who cares for the children and some have a business that can cater for the children. Do they all have to do things on the cheap because they have no money? Definitely not as many self-employed parents run very successful and profitable businesses. Do they all need a professional writer to help them with their website copy or blogging? Afraid not as some are excellent writers themselves, some don’t have or want a website/blog and others get family or friends to help.
That simply, there are three niches within the demographic of parents with a business. Marketing a niche is easier and more effective so who are you targeting? Do they share a problem you are offering to solve?
Measuring your business…
I just came across a blog post about why you need to measure performance which seems like a good starting point for all small business owners.
It’s a good question – I mean, if you don’t measure your success in various areas of your business, how do you know you are actually succeeding? Or how will you know that there is a so-far-minor problem in one area before it turns into a major issue for you and your business?
Yes, it is important to keep on top of where you are at in all areas of business, but I liked the suggestion in this blog post that it is better to start monitoring one or two key areas now than to wait “until I have enough time” to set up measuring programs for everything important to your business.
Why start small with your measuring when the whole picture is so important?
- it is easier to do so it’s more likely to actually happen!
- starting with one area will teach you skills and make a wider scale measurement easier later
- data in one area can be dealt with – once that area is working well, you can focus on another area. Compare that to trying to fix 6 areas at once whilst also trying to manage clients and general business tasks
- improving one thing often has a flow on effect to other areas anyway
- you’ll gain confidence and belief in measuring that will inspire you to make time for more over time
So my question is – how often do you measure your business performance? Which area do you think most needs assessment right now?
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