If it sounds like I’m yelling; I am. But not at you.
I’m yelling at myself because after months of trying to determine which niches I want to serve, I still don’t know.
Ugh! So frustrating.
What is a niche and why I need to pick one?
A niche is a specialized market. Specialization makes it easy to develop messages targeted to your audience and to market your services. Also, because people can easily identify what you do and who you serve, the likelihood of you being hired increases.
For example, when you visit Clara Freeman’s site, you instantly know that she empowers women. Mitch Mitchell’s consulting site shows that healthcare finance and leadership are two of his specialties.
Why is this such a challenge for me?
First, I have many interests i.e. technology, travel and business. Second, there are several industries from which I can choose. And third, even after I pick an industry, I have to select sub-industries and then companies within those industries.
So, what am I to do?
Niche My Services
As a writer of several genres, I am tempted to offer everything. This is not logical or profitable. Thus, I had to determine which services I was going to offer.
Following is my process for making that decision.
- Do I want write Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Consumer (B2C)? I really enjoy B2C.
- What do I enjoy writing? I created a list of all of the things I can write. Through the process of elimination, I selected four things I really enjoy writing: conversational blog posts; newsletters that convert; snappy social media updates; and impressive professional biographies.
- Determine rates for my services. The rates were calculated by the amount of work required to complete each services; the estimated number of hours it would take to complete the project; and the absolute minimum salary I wanted to earn this year.
- Research industries that need my services.
- Select industries that appeal to me. I’ve narrowed it down to 11; now I need to pick up to three.
Selecting a Niche to Serve
This is where I am now in my niche selection process.
When I finally choose my industries, I then have to determine:
- Which companies am I going to contact? I am going make a list of 10 companies to contact based on the services I’m offering.
Then I’m going to research them by reading through company sites, press releases, news reports, blog posts and any other information I find.
- Can they afford my services? I will use Reference USA to gather this information. This tool allows you to filter company information by industry, location, number of employees, annual earnings and other criteria. Check your local library to find out if they subscribe to Reference USA.
- Who’s the hiring manager? I’ve got to find the head of marketing. I’m going to first check the company’s website, LinkedIn and Twitter. If that doesn’t yield satisfactory results, I’m going to call the company for the person’s email address and phone number.
Note: Human resources is not the department you contact for freelance writing positions unless you want to write for HR.
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Do you now understand why I have not yet selected a niche? I will have my decision before the end of this week. In the meantime, it would be great to hear your niche-picking experience.
What About You?
Have you picked a niche? If so, how did you do it?
Let us know in the comment box below.
Image credits: pixabay
Since I got a mention (thanks lol) let’s see if I can help you with some of this.
In general, writing is writing, so your general, overall niche can be as a writer.
Once we get past that point, your next determination should be figuring out the types of things you want to write about the most. That will help you in refining your niche just a bit better. Do you want to write about fashion, black issues, food, family, leadership, blogging, Chicago… see what I mean? Nothing says you have to pick one specific thing, and some of what you might want to write about could be combined, but by defining this piece then you have a general idea of who you want to try to contact to write for them.
The final piece would be what you want to be paid for the “honor” of writing for these folks (the honor should come to the writer but the other side never sees it that way unless you happen to already be well known & rich). Writing for small businesses means having to write more to get paid while writing for larger business might mean competing with others, not getting guaranteed money (they might decide they don’t want a particular article) but will pay more for what they accept.
Those are some things to think about. 😉
Thanks Mitch. I’ve already determined my service offerings and rates; picked a few industries I’m interested in; and started mining for clients. Now I have to keep marketing myself and letting people know the benefits of my services. Ill let you know how things go.
OMG, your post is helpful and i will have to think a little bit harder n realistic this time around.
as for now am more than confused about my niche, i love writing story, poems, taking picture of places n events and blogging on education line due to my field bt after some times i do get confuse, i try technology doing survey n collecting report from new and old produces and services.
i can b an editor as well bt nothing in particular to go for as my niche yet.
I’m glad this helped you. After months of agonizing over a niche, I finally picked one. Now I’m working on finding my first assignment. Good look with your decision.
Hello,
If am to ask, what will you suggest my site is all about, if u were to check as a reader?
Hey Marcie,
I started out in the personal development niche. I had a blog and wrote a book in that area. After a while, I realize I actually enjoyed talking about writing and the creative process. I’m more of a personal development for writers type than a grammar, syntax, and structure coach.
It suits me well!
Off to share.