From the beginning, I’ve always had a passion for helping to lift up the lived experiences of women and girls of color. From a marketing standpoint, I never once thought that having this as a primary focus would limit me in any way.
What tripped me up, however, was trying to decide who would be my primary audience. While I knew women and girls of color was my primary focus, I knew I couldn’t work directly with them (as far as program design/evaluation and organizational strategic planning go. Speaking events are a different matter).
Instead, I turned to the “gatekeepers”, the organizations, agencies and community groups who work with them, and my focus shifted to helping these entities build the necessary skills and foundation to implement and measure the impact their programs, services, and strategies have on the lives of women and girls of color.
Despite this, I had some initial hesitation on working with the gatekeepers instead of my primary focus.
Why niching down is important
The short answer: Because you can’t help everyone.
A longer explanation: You can’t be all things to everyone. It’s very tempting to want to offer services and products to everyone that shows up physically (or virtually) at your door. Whether you’re a one-person show if you have staff, it’s beneficial to identify who your products and services are benefitting and directly impacting.
The best part: When you have a clearly defined niche, you position yourself as an expert in your field. And from a marketing perspective, it makes things a lot easier because your audience will identify you based on your niche.
How to identify your niche
Here’s a simple process I’ve used to niche down more broadly in my business, as well as specific to my services:
WHO am I directly working with?
- I work primarily with women of color-led and women-led organizations, agencies, and community groups that provide programming and services that positively impact the lives of women and girls of color. These organizations incorporate racial justice and gender equity frameworks and intersectional analysis to their work, with the understanding of how race and gender can impact how women and girls or color access services
WHAT services am I providing?
- Program/service/workshop design and implementation
- Program monitoring and evaluation
- Strategic planning
- Focused education (Reproductive Justice, intersectional analysis, culturally responsive programming and evaluation, racial and gender justice, etc.)
HOW do I provide these services?
- One-to-One consulting (education, skills-building, capacity building)
- One-to-Many (webinars, in-person workshops, in-person and virtual trainings)
WHO is directly impacted?
- Primary recipients- Staff of organizations, agencies, and community groups
- Secondary recipients- Recipients of programming and services
- Tertiary recipients- Key stakeholders (partner organizations, families of recipients, etc.)
Key Takeaway
Finding your niche forces you to have a clear focus on who you’re working with and allows for you to market yourself more effectively to them. When you niche down, you position yourself to your target audience in a way that makes you stand out above the rest.
Raise Your Voice: In what ways have you developed your niche? Share below in the comments section.
