How niche should you go?
When you're just starting out as a marketing consultant or freelancer,
that's what we're going to get into today.
And it comes from a great question from Jack in the community.
He says that he introduced himself as a B2B marketer.
He's currently working in house and for a company that would probably
be classified as a B2B manufacturer.
So, uh, he says that his plan is to go into an advisory strategy,
kind of independent practice in the next, say, six months or so.
You know, something, all things go, go well into plan and congratulations, Jack.
That's a fun leap to make.
And there's obviously things that you can do to set yourself up for success.
Uh, like having a website and some, you know, creating some content, even if you
don't quite put your name on it, or at least you don't have any services on it.
Things that will eventually lie to have a better home base when
you do eventually make that leap.
And I think we already talked a little bit about that and I've
talked about that in the past before.
So the company or the COO the question you're asking is, is about niching
and about where you should start off when you do make the leap eventually.
And your three options were well, should I go to general B2B?
Should I look at manufacturers or should I look at fire
safety and security companies?
Um, which is I think the niche that you currently work for.
And so that would be like all the way down.
That's three levels deep.
Which I, which I tend to, like, by the way, Or even four levels you might be, you
know, I do marketing for anyone then B2B.
Then manufacturers or B2B manufacturers, and then maybe the
last one is fire and safety, fire safety and security companies.
So it's an interesting proposition and there's a few things to unpack there.
Number one is you can succeed by going at any at any level to some extent
the, just the marketing plans and tactics and how you're going to get
clients is going to vary dramatically, depending on which one you choose.
To me, ultimately, if you end up at the third level deep, the
lowest, the most specialized level.
That's when you really tap into sort of category of one positioning, especially in
an industry like fire safety and security.
Uh, you basically become extremely sought after, depending on what's out
there and there, there needs around marketing and that sort of thing.
Now, should you start off with there?
My general thinking is probably not because even if you, even if you had
the right, the right messaging, the right products, the right services.
Which you still probably won't have the right services until you get into
this business a little bit more and talk to more people and figure out
exactly what you're going to offer.
Um, it's going to be.
Take a long time to kind of.
And get to get momentum and get started.
So if you're starting from a stance, so it all comes down to what's your runway like,
and if you're starting from a standstill,
It, uh, you just have to know either way it's going to be a little bit difficult.
So I would recommend going a little broader and being, say a fractional
CMO for B2B companies or, or something very broad like that.
I think picking B2B is still enough.
I've had people seek me out when I ran an agency.
For me to be marketing in the local area that I lived in, which was Toronto.
And so I think that can work and people are looking for that kind of thing.
So it's, it's a thing, but it's super broad and it will, you know,
There's a lot of down downsides to living in that level of positioning.
Long-term.
For example, your interchangeable, the world's, your, your, your, uh, your
competition, et cetera, et cetera.
You don't have repeatable.
This is a system that you can sell and all, all kinds of other stuff.
But I think it's not a bad place to start now, if you start at the B2B level.
So, um, you know, fractional CMO for B2B.
Uh, general B2B companies, or if you had enough of a network and this is
the other part, if you had enough, if you think the network you have and the
people that have access to matters a lot.
As well as the credibility you have working for say, B2B
companies or B2B manufacturers.
Uh, or whatever niche you're claiming.
So those are really important is what is your track record?
Do you look good on paper?
Do you look credible?
And two is who do you have access to?
Cause that's going to really help drive momentum early on.
So I'm assuming you don't have a ton of runway and you can either, you know, build
your web, you build your business on the side where some people do on the low key.
And I can't advise that necessarily in case you lose your job.
So don't, don't do that and come to me and say you lost a job because
he built the thing on the side.
Um, But some people do that.
And if you can't do that, then you want to stock up as much cash as you can.
And ideally you want to get as much recurring revenue.
As possible in the door, because that is the key to mental.
You know, Uh, ease when you are running your business, you want recurring revenue.
The last thing you want is to have these huge whoops and
swings of, of project revenue.
It becomes, becomes very difficult to, to fill your pipeline enough unless.
Yeah, there's a whole bunch of problems with that, but
won't get into that right now.
So ideally you have a bit of a runway either way and.
If you're going to make the leap, ideally you can find secure a client.
That's going to at least pay your overhead.
Before you make the leap.
So maybe you reach out to a few people and then.
And maybe you show them your blog and your blog is kind of, you know,
under the radar, if you will, maybe has your name, maybe it doesn't, you
reach out to people, you draw up some conversations and then you, or you
transition your current job into a fractional CMO or an advisor type role.
And that will at least give you the base and you're not going to be
desperate because the last thing you want to do is to be, to be desperate.
So.
Assuming you have a bit of a runway to work with.
We're saying it's staying at the B2B level.
And then going down and having what are called audience pages or sub verticals.
And then having a landing page that basically re-describe is what
you do, why you're credible, how you help and the things you offer.
And maybe even has some access to links in blog posts that you've
written for that particular vertical.
And that can be done with say a blog category on WordPress,
and then it just displays.
That industry's category of blog posts on the page.
However you do it.
Uh, it makes your landing page, which is an audience page,
and maybe it's a dropdown.
Uh, you know, who I help.
And then it's got a few examples of people you help, maybe it's manufacturers B2B.
Fire and safety, fire, safety, and security, whatever.
Uh, then you can go and do some outreach and point them to that landing
page and show them some content.
It kind of re re describes your business in a way that feels very
specialized, even though your general positioning is a bit broader.
And then you can still talk about marketing related things
on LinkedIn and other places.
Even when you have a job without proning yourself, but at least get gay or kind
of get people's awareness of you out there as sort of a thought leader in
marketing in general sharing tips and tidbits that people would resonate with.
As just a natural expression of who you are as your personal brand, even though
you're not selling anything officially.
So we talked about a few little strategies there for kind of maybe bridging that gap.
So you're not starting leaving your job and then having zero income, uh, and
doing so in a way that allows you to be what I consider to be both a specialist
and a generalist at the same time.
So by having audience pages, that's kind of that middle gap.
It says, Hey, I'm a B2B marketer, but I focus in on, here are some industries
that I've focused on and then it has a whole landing page from value
proposition directly targeted toward them.
And one thing to remember is that.
And this is the thing, right?
In the passionate economy, Adam Davidson, the book.
It's great.
You should read it.
I think chapter three, there's a Baton of laws.
He said, he basically says that.
Actually, let me find the quote for you right now.
He basically says you can never have too narrow a niche or niche, but you
can rush to your knees too quickly.
And I totally agree with that.
And he says, it's possible that they were best audience, three businesses.
Left-handed.
Uh, chefs with a hunger, for the perfect knife, with which to cut an
onion or something very specific.
But it'll take some time to find those members of that group and persuade
them that you were the only option.
Uh, right for the job and it can be tempting to wake up.
Uh, to wake up one day, realize that your customers aren't the right
fit and tell them all to go away.
Uh, but unless you have a sizable war, chest of excess cash, it
can be best to transition slowly and deliberately, and he goes on.
So definitely check it out.
The passion economy.
I think it's going to be perfect for you right now in what you're trying
to do, but I totally agree with that.
So, um, knowing that maybe only 3% of people are currently actively buying.
Your services and then maybe like another 7% are intending to buy,
but they're not really proactively looking, but they're sort of in the
market, they would be open to an offer.
Uh, it means that even if you had the perfect message to the perfect offer,
the perfect website directly targeting a specific niche, it's still gonna take
a long time to sort of develop and turn into a real lasting, sustainable business.
So I.
I'm very practical in the sense that I want you to be open to any opportunity
that comes your way so you can pay the bills so you can avoid becoming desperate.
So that you can then begin to niche and follow, follow the
course, and you can, you can apply your outreach and your energy.
Uh, and your content marketing, even to specific industries.
And, and then reach out to people and point them to the areas on your
website that speak directly to them.
So you can basically actively market in the niche, but remain a little
more general in your positioning, which won't dissuade people in your
target market from working with you.
Ideally they would only see themselves in your website, but
until that's fully practical, where you can turn away all other work.
I don't recommend doing that.
So.
I do follow the method of starting a little bit broader and then.
And then tightening as you go.
Um, you know, and I will, I will say that there.
And eventually, yeah, you can get right down to, you know, the fire
safety and security, or even.
More specific depending on the size of the market and your
interest in it and all that stuff.
Uh, you basically want to be like the expert in whatever it is you're selling.
And the fact that they have a conference is great because you'd
be perfect to speak at one of those.
And.
Uh, and there's no one else sort of translating the marketing
world directly to that industry.
So there's probably a lot.
That's probably like a small door that opens like Narnia into a much bigger
world, even at a small niche like that.
So I love that, that idea of a niche that small, that specific.
Keeping in mind that the target is never the market.
So even though you would target those folks, you'd still get people
in, in tangental or, um, adjacent industries working with you.
So that's pretty cool as well.
Um,
What else?
Uh, yeah, so.
That's probably my general, my general thoughts for you around, around niching.
I'd started a little broad I'd take audience pages.
I'd start building content for that specific industry and maybe B2B marketing.
At large, I would build up that website.
And then eventually when I did make the leap out of services page
and go from there, or I would add my name, maybe it's invisible.
And you don't share anything before that.
Uh, and then, uh, but I would also try to pre-sell something.
So when you do make the leap, you have a client in house,
you have a client ready to go.
You're probably going to need to do some managed advisory
work like a fractional CMO.
I call it managed advisory stuff where you're basically the alternative
to a part-time marketing manager.
You run the show, you don't necessarily execute everything, but you manage and
run it and hire all the people and do it and manage the budget and everything else.
That's probably going to be your step gap between becoming a full-time
adviser and, uh, and working full time.
It's.
It is harder to sell advisory services.
People want someone to just do it for them.
So you need to build up credibility and experience and expertise and results.
To show that.
You're worthy of paying just for your head.
So that's the transition of your face.
And you could probably do that for four or five grand a month.
Maybe U S dollar.
So a little less than that.
In pounds, which are where you're from.
Uh, but that's up to you.
So the last thing I want to leave you with though is around alignment of.
Uh, of the business you run and your personal interests
and kind of your mission.
So what's going to end up happening.
I think you can thrive in a small niche as long as you are.
Somewhat intrinsically motivated to help that target market.
And I really think this is important.
To enjoy the people you help and to enjoy the industry at large.
Ideally you like go into their conferences, ideally you like
listening to podcasts related to it.
If they exist.
Ideally you like consuming industry content.
And if you don't, that's fine.
This is still a viable business.
The question is, will you get tired of it?
Long-term is this a business of opportunity?
And, or is this a, uh, or is this genuinely something you want to do
for a long time and become the best at which will still take a long time?
No matter what you do, everything takes a long time.
So that's the question.
And, uh, I want to leave you with that to think about, because you do
have an opportunity to remain a little broader, to work with a few other
clients in a wider range of industries.
And over time you get to see who you like working with, who you
resonate with most, and then you can narrow down on the industry.
That's right for you.
So I wouldn't necessarily limit yourself to that industry, although
it can be a great place to start.
You can learn a ton of skills.
Great.
A ton of repeatable assets create memberships, courses, training
workshops do do speaking.
At these events, maybe there's a podcast or two or several that you can get on.
You can start when yourself, there's a lot of benefit to being that far down when
you're B2B, you're almost invisible, but you get to catch opportunities that are
already in your network, through your.
Your friends.
And so forth and past workers, coworkers, et cetera.
Uh, but when you're in B2B manufacturing, you're a little less than.
Visible, but you're still really invisible.
And, uh, maybe you then break out and say I'm B2B manufacturing consultant.
I hear the industries I've worked with.
And then you talk about all the different industries we've worked with in the past.
Like we just talked about with those audience pages.
Uh, and then eventually you can narrow it right down.
Um, but that's up to you, so make sure you're interested.
Make sure you like it.
Uh, and if you look, if you've got a runaway or you've got
opportunities to take on two or three clients before you leave your job.
Or to transition your current work into this kind of, uh,
into this kind of a role.
That would be extraordinary.
You could, you could jump right into that niche right away and build that business.
Uh, from the gecko and it would be.
Much easier to sell.
You'd be able to do outreach and people would actually like read your cold emails.
Except your LinkedIn invites.
Uh, et cetera.
And it's a really, you become, the industry.
Associations would pull you in the conferences would pull you
in because you'd be, you'd be the expert that they were looking for.
And you could tell your story behind that.
So,
You could do it.
You can do all, any of these things you want.
The prudent thing in my view is to start a little broader and then have audience
pages and write content directed at those that can feed into those pages.
Uh, as well, so that when you do talk to someone and you point them to that
industry page to kind of give them a sense of who you are and what you offer in.
For that industry, that there's a whole, a whole sales pitch, tailored
to them and feels like it's custom fit.
Even if your general positioning is a bit broader.
Uh, hope that helps there's other ways you could do it.
You can have a general, I'm a, I'm a B2B marketer, and then you
have a separate business that's focused on the fire and safety.
And then basically depending on who comes to you, you can.
You can bring them to whatever door that just is a little bit harder because
now you're managing two websites.
I wouldn't recommend that as your first thing.
So I hope that helps my friend, uh, let me know in the comments, if you've got
any more questions and, and, uh, I think I covered all the thoughts that I had.
You.
It really is about.
Paying your bells then getting picky because the last thing
you want is to be desperate.
You can't sell.
Services at the right price.
If you're desperate for money.
Uh, and so you just have to kind of be willing to be patient things,
take things, take time and a.
And you also want to make sure you like the work that you do.
And I.
Yeah, I think that's really important.
So I'll leave that with you, Jack.
Thank you so much for the question and if you've got any questions or
comments, please follow up in the community and I'd be happy to follow up.
Thanks a lot Bye for now.