Filling Your Niche

By Heather Strang

In business, there's no end to the talk about establishing a niche. Despite the prevalence of this term, most people still consider their target audience: "Everyone."

Wrong.

Everyone cannot be your target audience. Well, they can be, but you won't be very successful. Small businesses in general need to know exactly who their target demographic is. This makes marketing/advertising far more streamlined (and therefore, more cost effective) and also allows business owners to specialize in a particular area, creating expert status.

A career as a writer is no different. We must niche. Of course, we're often afraid to do this because we feel we might be tying ourselves down too tightly. After freelance writing for 5 years and writing full-time for close to one year, my niche has revealed itself. It's actually no surprise, though; as they're topics I'm exceptionally passionate about and also have a tremendous amount of knowledge in. Ah, the old adage: do what you know (and love!)

Are you a writer? Business woman? Editor?

What's YOUR niche?
Who are the people you want to do business with? What avenues of business or writing do you wish to pursue?

If you don't clearly know yet, start figuring it out now. Write down the clients you LOVE working with, the topics you love writing about - decide what brings you the most joy. Then, find a way to do just that.

We don't need to know how to do everything and appeal to everyone to be successful in business. We simply need to specialize in one or two areas and then target them unabashedly.

Happy niche-ing!

Heather Strang is a writer passionate about living an authentic life. Her writing has appeared in national blogs, books and a host of print and online publications. At any given time, you'll find her writing, teaching, creating new recipes and single-handedly attempting to change the world. Email her at: heather@heatherstrang.com.