The Pick a Niche Kit (Revised and Updated)

Are you making enough money from your existing clients? Do you know where to find your most lucrative projects and dream clients? Do you know which events will bring you face-to-face with them?

If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions…then stop reading right now.

You don’t need Marketing Mentor’s new marketing tool for creative professionals, The Pick a Niche Kit.

Why? Because you are one of the lucky ones.

You don’t have to pick a niche.

It’s hard to explain but there are a few lucky creative professionals who get plenty of high quality, big budget work through word of mouth and are perfectly happy with what comes their way. If that is you, then good for you.

But if you answered “no” to even one of the questions above, or if you just know you could be doing better (that is, earning more, having more fun, working on more creative projects – ones that you truly care about), but aren’t sure how to get there, then The Pick A Niche Kit (revised and updated!) is exactly what you need.

 

Why?

Because the most amazing things happen when you pick a niche. Listen to what these creative professionals have said:

‘If it weren’t for my niche, I’d be another aging creative director competing against 22-year-old kids that charge a quarter of what I do.’

‘As scary as it was for me to decide to market to publishers and the publishing industry, it was at that point that everything shifted. It was the toughest decision we ever made, but also the best move we ever made.’

‘I narrowed our area of specialization after seeing how much easier and more effective that made marketing. Once we did that, the opportunities seemed more abundant, not less. Best of all, I'm working with more my dream clients doing my dream projects.’

‘Thanks so much for helping me make the leap toward truly targeting my ideal audience. It’s most definitely a process, but one that is well worth the investment.’

Here’s what could happen to you, when you pick your niche:

• Fame: You become known as an expert in your area of focus.
• Fortune: You can command higher fees for your expertise.
• Choice: You get the work you want – your dream projects -- instead of taking whatever comes along.
• Success: You achieve your personal and business goals.

If any of those things appeal to you, then it’s time…here’s how you do it.

How to pick a niche

There are 4 simple steps to the process of picking a niche and in Marketing Mentor’s Pick a Niche Kit  (revised and updated!), you’ll be guided step-by-step through that process:

Step 1: Find Your Focus

Choose from 10 options which one is right for your business.

Step 2: Choose 3 Potential Niches

Identify which markets or industry sectors align best with your chosen type of focus.

Step 3: Determine The Viability of Those Niches

Assess whether the niches you’ve identified are viable and can support your business.

Step 4: Move Toward Those Niches

Take the first steps to adjust your message and marketing tools to attract your dream clients within those niches.

The Pick a Niche Kit will give you everything you need to choose your niches — with almost 30 examples of people just like you who’ve done it and thrived!

Here’s what you get in the Pick a Niche Kit:

10 Ways to Focus

There isn’t just one way to focus. There are many different (and highly creative) ways to approach it. In the Pick a Niche Kit, you’ll choose from 10 possibilities. PLUS, you’ll see actual examples of real creative professionals — with screenshots and links to their websites — who are using each type of focus. That way, you can see exactly how they show and talk about their niche in the public realm. (And that’s not including the additional 5 examples you’ll get in the companion ebook from FlauntMyDesign.com, "To Specialize or Not to Specialize? How 5 Happy Freelancers Found Their Niche.”)In all, you get 27 examples to use as models for your own inspiration.

6 Podcast Interviews, with transcripts

Ilise Benun interviewed creative pros who have put their stake in the ground and are doing better than they ever imagined. In each interview, they generously share their process, exactly how they went about choosing, how they did the research, what they looked for, what they found (and what they rejected) and how they came to narrow their focus to the niches they have chosen.

3 Worksheets

This is where you take what you’ve learned from others and apply the concepts to your own situation:

• Clone Your Favorite Client: To get a crystal-clear description of your dream client, this worksheet asks you all the questions you need to identify the characteristics of the clients you want to work with.
• Target Market Brainstorm: To get to your top 3 niches, this worksheet prompts you with examples of many different niches to choose from and a matrix and scoring system that helps you determine which 3 are best for you.
• Is Your Market Viable?: To get to the most viable markets for you, this worksheet shows you how to assess which is the most viable niche, so you don’t go down a rabbit hole with a niche that can’t support your business.

PLUS: NEW in the Update: How to Find Your Client’s Pain Points 

When you download Marketing Mentor’s Pick A Niche Kit, you also get “To Specialize or Not to Specialize? How 5 Happy Freelancers Found Their Niche,” a special bonus 43-page ebook from FlauntMyDesign.com.

In it, you’ll find inspirational interviews with 5 creative professionals who have picked a niche and are so much happier now than during their pre-niche days:

• Illustrator for Speakers and Thought Leaders
• The Wine Industry’s Designer
• Sports Identity Designer
• Infographics Designer
• Book Cover Designer

 

Each of them answered these questions (and more):

• Why did you choose this niche?
• What’s your most successful way of getting clients in this niche?
• What is your niche looking for in someone like you?
• What’s your “unique selling proposition” in this niche?
• How important has picking a niche been to you?
• What advice would you give fellow creatives who are choosing their niche?

So here’s what really happens when you pick a niche….

Opportunities appear for which you are clearly the best possible choice — not only client projects but also marketing opportunities that you wouldn’t have a chance at as a generalist.

Here are actual (and recent) experiences from Marketing Mentor clients: 

• H. was quoted on an industry blog because her niche is healthcare and wellness.
• Because J. R. chose the nonprofit niche, here’s what her latest Facebook post says:
  "It's been a busy month. Earlier this week, I was helping facilitate a daylong staff retreat at a University's Division of Student Affairs on the connection between planning, assessment and marketing. Today I led a storytelling workshop to help nonprofits get their message out — to help them tell engaging and effective stories. Next week I'm leading a 'Brand Basics Bootcamp for Nonprofits,’ and in early June I'm giving a talk on infographics for the social sector, at a conference in DC."
• Because her niche is alumni magazines, F. got an astonishing 90% response to her very first warm email prospecting efforts. The only explanation that makes sense is that her message hit the right target, thanks to her niche.
• When he struck out on his own at age 62 in 2011, J.G. wasn’t sure that the aviation niche would be big enough for him. But now he has 4 retainer clients, 9 freelancers on his team and is making more than he did when he worked for a big, big ad agency, because his niche is aviation (and there isn’t a lot of competition in that niche).

It’s practically guaranteed — none of this will happen without a niche.

“I know this works because I’ve done it.”
Ilise Benun, Program Partner for HOW Design Live and Founder of Marketing-Mentor.com

When I first started my business I had no idea that I needed to focus. For the first 10 years, I wasn’t focused at all. I worked with whoever came along — actors and fine artists and singers but also exterminators, dentists and an actuary. “I can work with anyone,” I thought, “because everyone needs to promote themselves.” (Still, you have to draw the line somewhere. When a port-a-potty company contacted me for marketing help, I knew that was outside of my market. I said no.) 

You see, the process of focusing starts by saying “no” to the things you know you’re not competent at, so you can really home in on things you know you are competent at. As you narrow your focus, you become more and more competent, and therefore more and more confident to go out and get those dream clients. That’s where the magic is.

So these days, when I ask a new client (all creative professionals) why they chose me over the other mentors, consultants and coaches out there (and believe me, there is more competition now than ever, which makes having a niche even more important), the one response I hear over and over is this: “I chose you because you understand me, you know the creative market.”

In fact, I would bet that right now, you are reading this because the Pick a Niche Kit speaks to you, to your specific needs, not to any old generic market that needs to pick a niche (and everyone really does.)

So let’s go back to the original questions:

• Are you making enough money from your existing clients?
• Do you know where to find the best prospects and most lucrative projects?
• Do you know which events will bring you into contact with them?

If any of this makes sense to you and you want to be able to say “yes” to these questions…then it’s time to download the Pick a Niche Kit.