I’m a big fan of niche marketing. BIG fan!
The more drilled down and specific your market is, the better your chances for success.
With so much competition online, unless you have deep pockets, it’s becoming more difficult to strike it rich with “general” products and web sites.
There are dozens of ways to narrow your niche.
- Age
- Sex
- Hobbies & Interests
- Location
But there’s one powerful way to niche your products that you should consider…
NICHE BY PROFESSION
That’s right, narrowing your products and services to one specific profession.
I had massive success when I started online by narrowing down to “personal trainers”. I quickly became the #1 guy teaching marketing to fitness pros.
By professions, it can be everyone from accountants and computer programmers to nurses or plumbers.
WHY PROFESSIONS?
There are a few reasons why I like profession-specific marketing…
- The niched profession products can sell for a higher price. In general, “Marketing for Accountants” will sell for more money than “Small Business Marketing” (even if the content is virtually identical).
- They are easier to reach. They are in the same associations, read the same industry newsletters and attend the same events. That’s half the marketing battle.
- You can quickly become THE top dog. You come in strong and TAKE the #1 position for that market. Soon, you own the tool booth and life becomes pretty sweet.
- You can niche ANY product. Why just “weight loss” when you can be THE weight loss expert for busy lawyers or doctors?
Can you go too narrow? Absolutely.
But this is a great place to start – and not enough people think “profession-specific niches”.
Now, think about how you can possibly narrow your product to a specific profession – and become the online rockstar you should be!
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? AGREE? DISAGREE?
COMMENT IN OUR SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY BELOW!
P.S. If you want my 5-step checklist to see if your market is profitable, it’s included in this system.
personal development for IT Nerds?
Is that good you think?
I think it’s possible.
You might want to be more specific than just “personal development” though.
Ryan
ok, thanks Ryan
how about:
“how to be a confident and powerful (and cool) nerd”
Thanks Ryan!
I love your idea about focusing on a specific niche or profession.
I can relate to focusing on a specific profession.
When you focus on a specific profession you can provide a LOT of value to that profession’s specific wants and needs and in return you can get paid more and deliver more value to your customers.
This is great content.
Thank you.
Jeremiah
Thanks Jeremiah,
There is SO MUCH opportunity in niched professions. You can always start narrow then gradually expand your market.
I appreciate your contributions to the community!
Ryan
As usual, Ryan: I’m right with ya! Great post.
The way we describe it to people: think of your business as a round building. Inside, 95% of what you do is EXACTLY the same for everyone, but there is a magical 5% which is different, depending on the niche.
For example, when I was doing my photography full time, I specialized in weddings and bar mitzvahs. The work I did (photograph the ceremony, follow the clients and capture their activities, get interesting “candids” of the guests) was EXACTLY the same. Even the albums (and the album company I used) were the same… though personalized to each participant, they were basically the same thing.
But a Bride doesn’t care that I’m the world’s best bar mitzvah photographer, right? She only cares that I’m the best WEDDING photographer. And the words I use, the emotions I express, have to be tuned directly to her. Speak in a “language” that isn’t familiar, and I’d lose the job.
The same thing is true for entrepreneurs.
To our consulting clients we say that you “need to be an inch wide and 20 miles deep” in everything you do. That’s tightly niched but do everything you can in that niche – and do it better than anyone else. (And be sure to market the heck out of it!)
Oh… and back to the round building analogy: Even though what I did for weddings and bar mitzvahs was exactly the same, I had to speak the language of the client. So, with the round building, each niche needs its own doorway, it’s own entrance into what I do. The “sign over the door” must say either “Weddings” or “Bar Mitzvahs” and I must use language specifically directed.
THEN, when getting their attention (and the assignment), I can do the 95% with ease.
And one more thing: people often hear “you should niche” and assume we mean they can only have ONE niche. As my photography analogy presented, I had several and each had its own website, even though much of the material was the same, the testimonials were the same, etc.
So think “an inch wide and 20 miles deep” AND that with your round-building business you need LOTS of specific doorways through which you invite customers, clients, and patients!
It’s raining here near Philly too, Ryan – hey, without the rain, the flowers won’t grow in April. Here’s to April!
Charlie Seymour Jr
http://ExpertMarketingAcademy.com
Charlie
You brought up a great point about “language”.
If you are targeting a specific population – you MUST use their jargon and language.
Thanks for contributing, as always!
Ryan
Ryan –
Thanks for the additional perspective and great idea!
My pleasure Christopher!
Ryan
Hey Ryan, The 5 ?s you taught us in the Ryan Lee Method were priceless for determining your niche. It really gave me confidence in knowing that the niche was not too small and not too large. Can’t wait to the next module brother! Learning a lot. Thanks!
Thanks Billy!
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Ryan
Another great post Ryan, and something too many marketers overlook. I think being the go-to person for a professional niche is great also because let’s face it, everyone thinks their own sector is ‘different’ right?! With unique challenges etc. In reality probably not – but by catering to that basic psychological quirk, and really mastering the language specific to that professional niche, it CAN be much easier to separate yourself ahead of the herd :-)
cheers,
from a – for once! – NOT rainy Wales!
Tanya
Hey Tanya,
Exactly – honing in on the professions is a great way to break into a market and have an excellent chance for success!
Enjoy the sunshine in Wales :)
Ryan
I am a member of the RyanLee Method and this was just one of the things that Ryan taught us.
It was without a doubt one of biggest eye openers I have ever had and has completely changed my focus.
Professional niches is a big time gold mine!
Cheers:)
Hey Trish,
I’m glad the “Ryan Lee Method” is paying off for you.
Keep us all updated on your progress…
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
I couldnt agree more, the internet is getting tougher with competition for general niches and keywords starting to feel a bit crowded.
I cant think of a better way to give yourself a bit of breathing space, than to refine your niche as you have just shown and target longer tail keywords.
Thanks
Stuart
Hi Stuart,
With more competition, it’s time to get smarter and more tactical.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
How do you choose a specific niche when in a huge market? E.g. I am a personal trainer, i enjoy working with all sorts of clients from the athletic pro athletes to the overweight 50 yr old house wife….. just go with what you enjoy the most?…or set up separate niches to be able be top dog in more than one niche??
Ben
Start with ONE niche. And it’s best to go with one you are passionate about (and is large enough to support a business).
Don’t even think about another niche until you dominate one first.
Ryan
Ryan,
Your timing is amazing! Thanks to you I’m now more focused than ever !
Have you been reading my mind -:)?
I’m happy this post helped you!
Ryan
Once again you rock with the great content. As a member of THE Method it is great to get the reminders of things learned during the modules.
Hey Carl,
Thanks for the compliment and I’m glad you are enjoying the “Ryan Lee Method”!
Ryan
What if you have had huge success consulting in 25 different professions? Now trying to shift online.
How would I narrow down?
It depends.
Not knowing anything about your business – I’d probably go with one profession.
Ryan
One of my more successful products has been Fitness for Archers… you know bows and arrows and all that kinda thing!
To give you an idea of how niched that is, in the UK there are more “morris men” than archers… and the fact that most people don’t know someone who is a morris man, let alone know what one is kinda answers your question of how niched can you go!
I love niches… and love your concept of niching professions
Tim
That is awesome Tim!! My brain is spinning again thanks to you :)
That’s great Tim – thanks for sharing!
Ryan
This really got me, Ryan!
“Riches in niches” is a very powerful philosophy. I hate that noone told me about this a year ago:)
Looking forward to the replay of last module of your method!
I wanna help soccer players run faster because I remember how difficult it was to be slow and how awesome it is to blaze past defenders.
So I’m doing speed training for soccer players (wingers and strikers). Think it’ll work?
Hey Fred,
It just might work. It’s a BIG market. Just dig deep into the market to see who your competition is.
Ryan
Hey Ryan, best of luck with the “Marketing for Accountants” niche ;) LOL. Your posts are not only great, the comments are really good too. I reckon this is the only blog where I bother to read them all.
How about narrowing niches to calendar dates? Say, ‘mens shoe sales in January’. I haven’t done any keyword research on this, but your article got me thinking.
Hey Quentin,
Thanks for the feedback.
The “calendar” method is more of a keyword strategy – not necessarily a niche market. I wouldn’t touch that one :)
Ryan
I didn’t get an invitation for the webinar until a few hours from start. Where is the ling for the webinar after registration?
RG
Hey RG,
The links are always in the member’s dashboard. They are right in the middle of the page.
Ryan
Thanks for the remainder to drill down and be specific
It definitely gives an special feeling for the person that hires a trainer for lawyers, as they feel you automatically know what their problems are and how to meet them as opposed to being general
great post again!
And the ClickBank IC Call freaking Rocked!
That’s the exact point Luis. People feel like it’s just for THEM!
And I’m glad you enjoyed the Clickbank Inner Circle call.
Keep rockin’
Ryan
Thanks Ryan for yet another insightful blog. You just remind us to keep drilling down to where we want to go! :)
You are welcome Jacqlyn – just trying to help my peeps :)
Ryan
I would never have thought of this idea on my own! It’s really intriguing.
I started a business to try to get people to teach their kids Latin using a curriculum I wrote to enable them to do just that. It turns out that parents are pretty easy to sell on the idea of their child having Latin, but not on the idea of the parent doing the teaching.
I tried to think of an angle, a gimmick to get people to be willing to give Latin (and my approach to it) a chance, so that they’d see it’s not only doable, it’s totally relevant, and last month I came up with an idea for a new book: Teach Your Dog Latin. I started writing it, in hopes of getting it onto the market in time for Christmas shopping. It got a little bigger than I wanted, and it’ll be another 10 days before I’ll have anything to sell.
But now I see that I could market my curriculum to schoolteachers. I’ll take action on that after I release Teach Your Dog Latin and get the first marketing/publicity campaign going for that.
Key,
You are 100% correct – most parents do NOT want to do the actual teaching themselves. They want their kids to have the skill – but without their help.
Keep us posted on your progress…
Ryan
Read this post…then read it again.
Awesome stuff, Ryan!
Hi Ryan – great post and great site!
I appreciate how you mentioned to niche by profession. And I agree. I really like what you said about the people in the niche all being in the same events, associations, etc.
So question – is it worth exploring narrowing down the niche by product instead of profession? Or even a combination of both product and profession?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!