Marketing 101: Niching
Ironically, I wrote my last post on 5 Reasons You Should Learn In-Person Versus Virtual while I facilitated 3 trainings online this past week. During one of them, I had an aha moment helping a colleague with marketing her business. The key question she had was, “How do I put myself out there?” Before I answered, my question to her was, “Who are you marketing to?”
If you have read about my background, I don’t always talk about my education in business, except in my bio or during the marketing segment of my hands-on classes. Next to hair, it is probably what I know the most about and constantly learning. In order for your business to be your version of successful, you will often hear you have to show up every day. There’s more to it than just this.
What is Niching?
Whether you pronounce it NEESH or NICH, it is one of the most important things to look at in business. Simply, it is a specialized segment of people or product targeted. This can change over time, depending on your industry and the product or services you choose to provide.
I expressed to her when I first started working behind the chair, my clients were all over the place, from toddlers to octogenarians. Currently, they are women who average about 34-years old, have a salary of about 60K/year, and have children finishing high school or starting college. I have clients that are younger and some that are older, but most of my clients fall around the description given. I also told her there were other things that I like about these clients: consistency, they boast about me the way I do them, and they follow my instructions for at-home care. 92% of my clientele have locs and the other 8% receive services around natural hair, color, or hair restoration treatments.
My colleague and I are in the same microloc community. With her just starting out, saying her clients are microloc clients eliminates traditional locs, wicks, and non-loc clients. As she progresses and gains more microloc clients, do they like jazz or country music? Do they fall in a certain tax bracket? Are they male or female?
Once you find your niche, you can market better.
Now that that part is out the way, you can pick and choose what is best for you to market your business. Colors, logo, and social media platform usage are things to consider. My favorite social platform to use is Meta (Facebook and Instagram). It gives me all the options - business name, link in bio, address, and pictures/video - to showcase my work. I encourage others who follow in my footsteps to use what is user-friendly for them and gives the most options to place as much about their business as possible. Keep in mind, your target may not be on the platform you choose. Pay attention to your insights as it will give you the overall look of your audience. You can then decide what and when to post.
Well if I am on social media, I don’t need a website.
I recommend having a website, because social media platforms evolve, become less popular, and sometimes shut down. If you are as old as me, think about Black Planet, Tumblr, and Myspace. Clients bounce platforms just like grocery stores. Plus, your social media pages do not belong to you and everyone on that platform has the same look. There are other things you have to do to stand out in that crowd. Your website helps eliminate that and brings everything together about what your business represents.
I’m going to close this one out with one of my favorite quotes that I think sums up what this post is about. If you are in a service based industry, who are you ultimately marketing to?