Aren’t there any viable alternatives to niching down?
Instead of classic specializing you can always become a “bridge” between two (usually distant) categories of knowledge.
- A therapist for pro gamers
- A tourist agency for dog owners
- An accountant for green tech startups
This will provide you with a defensible niche without narrowing the scope of problems you solve, and give you a perspective, point of view, and tone of voice that probably nobody else has.
Having said that, along with the well-known“vertical” positioning within an industry (insurance, automobiles, dentistry, etc) there is the option I chose, which is the “horizontal” positioning or focusing on a particular problem.
I’m serving people from many different industries, but solve only one type of problem that they all share – their value communication, sometimes also called pricing or price negotiation.
If I specialized in business consulting for modern gas stations, health care firms, or financial planners I focus on solving multiple common problems within that industry, and that would be a classic, “vertical” niche.
Limiting your options may seem counterintuitive or boring. In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth, and there are many different ways of doing it well. If you are willing to try it, at least as a limited campaign, you might be pleasantly surprised.