To Niche Or Not To Niche

A true and very productive niche is something that evolves over time. And it can take many months to really brand and position yourself firmly within a niche. If you are just starting out and want clients quickly, my best advice is to focus your marketing on the people you already know and let your niche, if you choose one, develop in time. 

If you are well trained as a coach and put in the requisite ongoing marketing efforts, it is possible to coach without a niche. However most coaches experience significant advantages in focusing their marketing efforts towards a particular set of clients. In other words, if you choose the right niche - that is a great fit for your passions, expertise and experience - for a given investment in marketing you will receive a much better return. And as the profession of coaching grows it will be even more important to have a niche.

The rationale for choosing a niche is that if you focus on a particular group-who understands and values your expertise-you can become a well-recognized big fish in a small pond. Further, because you know their particular challenges, the solutions they are looking for, the lingo, and habits of your target niche, you can focus your marketing efforts and achieve better returns for a given marketing effort. Ultimately, as you become established in a niche, more and more clients will come to you.

For example if you happened to have 10 years of experience working in small business, you would know what the top challenges small business owners face.  You would know how to recognize their strengths and weaknesses. You would know what associations or trade fairs they go to. You would know the periodicals they read. You would talk their language. And most importantly you would know how to package and price your coaching services so they were seen as an attractive solution to your niches' most common existing problems.  Finally, you would appear a much better choice to the members of this niche, than another coach who did not have the same depth of experience.

 In professional coaching, there are some broad and clearly defined specialties such as life coaching, career coaching, business coaching, corporate coaching, executive coaching, etc. Within these general categories hundreds and hundreds of niches are evolving. New niches are appearing all the time.

Sample Niches

Here is a small sampling of niches.

Life Planning

Teens

ADD

Health and Fitness

Spirituality  

Transitions

Relationships

Parenting

Women's Issues

Christian Coach

Gay Community

Dating Coach

Personal Empowerment

Stress Management

Speaker's Coach

Marketing

Business and Administration

Emotional Intelligence

Writing Coach

Corporate Coach

Leadership Coach

Executive Coach

Business Coach

Start-up Coach

Small Business Coach

CEO Coach

Within a broad niche you can further specialize. For example, you would be in a primary niche if you were a small business coach. If a niche is deep enough, you can further specialize and become a small business coach for retail stores. Or further, a small business coach for start-up retail stores.