How to Find Your Niche When You’re Starting from Scratch

There’s nothing like the rush of excitement that comes when we conceive a new idea for our business…

As an entrepreneur, starting a new venture can be thrilling, daunting and overwhelming all at the same time. Whether starting a blog, releasing a new product line, or launching an entirely new business, one of the most important steps you can take in your venture is knowing your niche.

Finding your niche can help you

• Point your efforts and resources in the right direction

• Reach the audience that is best fitted for your brand 

• Establish yourself as an expert in your field

In this blog post, I’m sharing 5 concrete steps you can take to discover your niche, even when you’re starting from scratch. No more guessing or stumbling around in the darkness! These steps will help you let go of the confusion and narrow your focus to a niche that perfectly aligns with your passions, expertise, and the needs of your target audience. 

1) Identify Your Passions and Interests

To find your niche, start by looking within. Think about what you love. What excites you? What topics are you knowledgeable about? 

These questions will help you narrow down your options and discover the topics you’ll enjoy interacting with again and again. If you’re passionate about your niche, you’ll find it’s easier to create content, engage with your audience, and stay motivated in the long run.

Here are some action steps to help identify your passions:

• Make a list of your hobbies and interests. What do you genuinely love to do? How do you fill your time? What topics are on repeat in your TikTok feed right now? 

• Identify the topics you enjoy researching or learning about. What can you find yourself talking about forever without getting bored? Are you devouring Youtube videos or podcasts about a certain subject? Whether it’s email marketing, Facebook ads, decluttering, or gardening, jot it down!

• Consider the problems you’ve solved or overcome in your personal or professional life. What type of solution or expertise can you bring to the table to help others going through similar situations?

2) Research Your Competition

Once you’ve identified your passions and interests, research your competition in those fields. Look for businesses, blogs, or content creators that are operating in the same realm. What problems are they solving, and what services are they providing? This will help you understand what’s out there, what’s working, and what gaps are available for you to fill.

• Use search engines to look for keywords related to your niche, starting with keywords that represent the core concepts of your business. 

• Visit websites, social media pages, and forums of competitors. Who are the main players in this arena? What is their unique selling proposition (USP)?  

• Analyze their content, products, and services. What type of content are they producing, and how is it resonating with their target audience? What are the key benefits of their products or services?

3) Define Your Target Audience

With your competition’s analytics in mind, it’s time to carve out a place in the market that you can dominate by defining your own target audience. 

Who will you specifically create content for? What are their pain points and behaviors? How do they speak? Knowing your target audience inside and out will help you create content that addresses their needs and answers their burning questions. 

Narrow your target audience by:

• Conducting surveys or interviews with potential customers. Reach out to people personally who would be considered part of your target audience to learn about their frustrations and pain points. You can casually ask questions in Facebook Groups, on LinkedIn, or you can create surveys using Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, or Typeform to share.

• Analyzing demographics and psychographics of your target audience. Are there any common threads? Do your best clients share the same characteristics or problems? Do your challenging clients have similarities? This data will help you pinpoint who you should be working with. 

• Using social media analytics to understand your audience’s behaviors and preferences. Determine which content topics resonate most and get the most likes. Where do you see the most engagements, saves and shares? These indicate what your audience wants to hear from you.

4) Test Your Ideas

Once you’ve identified your niche, researched your competition, and defined your target audience, it’s time to test your brilliant idea! Create some content, launch a landing page, or run a small test campaign to see how your target audience responds.

Here are some actionable ways to test your concept:

• Create a landing page with a lead magnet or an invitation to a discovery call. You want to share your niched knowledge directly with your customer to see what kind of impact it makes.

• Publish content to test your concept. Write a blog post or social media content on your chosen niche and share on all of your platforms from Facebook to LinkedIn to your email list. See what type of buzz it creates!

• Record a reel or Instagram story. Share your new niche statement and ask your audience directly if it is clear and resonates.

5) Analyze and Refine Your Niche

If the content you created just isn’t resonating with your target audience, don’t sweat it! Most niches go through an adjustment period. If you’re not getting the traction you hoped for, adjust your strategy, and test again!

Action steps:

• Use analytics tools to measure your results. Look at your blog posts and social media posts. What topics are performing well? What subjects create buzz, and which ones are drawing nothing but crickets?

• Analyze your feedback and customer reviews. How are people responding to your new offers? What questions are they asking? 

• Refine your strategy, content, and messaging based on your results.

Finding a niche to make you stand out from the crowd when you’re starting from scratch in a business venture can be a challenge. While niching your business is an ongoing process, and it may take time to get it right, but it’s worth the effort! 

By following these 5 steps, you can let go of the confusion and successfully focus on a niche that aligns with your passions and meets the needs of your target audience. With persistence and focus, you’ll find a niche that you love and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Ready to put your new niche into action?

Join me on August 2nd for the next FREE Brand Power Hour, Nothing but Niche! The timely topic is Developing Your Power Niche Statement. I’ll help you develop a customized niche statement using my niche guideline. SIGN UP HERE TO JOIN THE FREE TRAINING CALL.

See you there!