“The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations. You can’t stand for something if you chase after everything.”
22 Laws of Marketing – Al Ries
You’ve heard the term, “Riches are in the Niches”? It’s a tired axiom, but still true. As revenue leaders, we like to chase all opportunities available to us. However when it comes to being more efficient in allocating our resources, honing our pitch, and increasing our close rate, narrowing the focus always wins.
The benefits of picking a defensible niche:
- More targeted content
- Easier referral business
- Higher close rate
- Efficient account management
- Easier content generation
Just to name a few.
So the question becomes, how do I pick a niche? We’ve developed a “Niche Focus” tool for you to evaluate potential niches. The tool is simple, easy to follow, and will take less than an hour to complete.
STEP 1- Add several niches along the top row.
Choose up to four different niches and add those in the dark green boxes in the top row of the table. These niches don’t have to be extremely similar; however, they should directly relate to each other.
Add notes to each section and score them from 1-10.
For each niche, go through each section and add notes. Then score each section on a scale from one to ten with ten being the highest.
- Total Addressable Market – How many available companies that match your ICP exist in your geographic target area?
- Available Market Share – What percent of the market has no existing solution or is not with a competitor?
- Number of Competitors – How many competitors do you compete within this specific niche?
- Number of Giant Competitors – How many competitors in this niche are huge or publicly traded?
- Credibility – What is your track record in this niche, what demonstrable passion do you have that makes you a fit for this niche?
- Accessibility – How easy will it be to sell into this niche or reach the key decision makers?
- Willingness to Pay – How bad is the problem you solve in this niche, and what is the target audience’s willingness to pay to fix it?
- Trends – Is the niche growing or shrinking?
- Major Blockers – What can block your sale? Compliance, time, they don’t know they have the problem? Etc.
Add the totals for each section at the bottom and compare.
Under each niche, add the total scores for all the sections. With all of the final scores in place, you can compare each niche to help you determine which market is the best match for your business.
Don’t be overly fixated on the final score for each niche. The point of the exercise is to evaluate the niches available to you and how they compare in terms of revenue opportunities. Take the time to do further research on the niches that scored the highest and verify your assumptions.
Still have questions or need additional help? Schedule a free strategy session with one of the professionals here at Sure Oak.
