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?
Have you recently resent that?
Sometimes, I really wonder how people learn English as a second language – it can be so tricky! For instance, the letters s and c can sound exactly the same but using the wrong one can totally change the meaning of a word, such as in recent and resent.
Recent: of a similar time to the present – not long ago or far into the future.
The recent rains have helped our water supply.
Resent: to send something again.
I resent the email after he said he hadn’t received it the first time.
If English isn’t your first language, do you find learning such words difficult?
Allude to an illusion
If you’re not careful with the pronunciation, allusion and illusion can sound very similar, and they are occasionally incorrectly swapped for each other.
An illusion is not real; so someone may have a false idea or see something that isn’t really there – they are facing an illusion.
Allusion is a reference to knowledge you assume your reader/listener understands, especially when referring to literary or art knowledge. For instance, I will make an allusion to Shakespeare’s work when I write: the young couple considered themselves to be as tragic as Romeo and Juliet. I can assume that most people know the story of Romeo and Juliet so the allusion explains a lot in few words.
To remember which is which, consider that illusion starts with I and often relates to a trick of the eye. Allusion starts with A and usually relates to Art and literature.
Monday meanings…
There are pairs of words that are frequently misused. However much they sound the same, using the wrong word can totally change the meaning of your sentence.
And you can’t rely on your spell checker to find these errors for you.
A good, old fashioned dictionary is the best way to make sure you are using the correct word in any situation. If you don’t have a dictionary at home, and the old school one probably doesn’t count, I would strongly suggest you get one so you can avoid unnecessary errors in your writing.
As I still see many of these words used incorrectly, I am going to show the different meanings as a blog category – and I’ll post one every Monday.
Please let me know if there are any particular words you aren’t sure of and I’ll include them, too.
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