The Power of a Well Identified Niche
For any freelancer, finding ways to market your unique skills and services is essential for winning over potential clients.
While it may be tempting to aim your skills at a wide and very general audience in the hopes of appealing to the largest number of people possible, this actually isn’t the best way to build a stable and reliable base of quality clients.
The Difference Between General and Niche
Like we discussed in my 3 Types of Freelance Clients article, there are multiple different reasons why clients seek our freelancing services. While there are clients looking for generalized services, a resounding number of potential clients are actually on the lookout for services that fit their specific niche (whether they know it or not).
Here is an example of what I mean:
Let’s imagine you are a client on Upwork and you are looking to hire a content writer to write weekly real estate blog posts for your growing company. While you are sorting through the applicants, you come across two very strong candidates. As this client, which client would you be interested in messaging first?
Freelancer #1 - The Generalist
This veteran freelancer has been writing blog content for their clients for over five years. They approach this job explaining their experience and provide samples of their work that stretch over a wide variety of topics.
Freelancer #2 - The Niche Writer
Before starting their freelance writing career just under a year ago, this writer earned their real estate license and was working in the industry. Because of their background, this writer often only writes content about housing, real estate, and property management.
For most clients, this choice is pretty easy to make. Even with less experience, a freelancer who displays insider information into a specific area directly related to their industry will always have a leg up on the others.
Our clients want to know that the people that they are paying will be able to create quality content that is both factually correct and designed for their particular audience. A writer with background knowledge of an industry (and experience writing in that niche) will trump even the best generalized writers almost every single time without fail.
How to Identify Your Niche
Especially for those who are just starting out freelancing, the idea of narrowing their audience can be a little frightening. And while it is true that freelancers who work within a specific niche area will reach a smaller audience who would be interested in their services, the clients who are in the need of their specific services are much more likely to hire you for (and pay more for) your services.
When it comes to choosing your niche, a great place to start is your education, experience, and areas of passion. In my case, because I am a registered nurse, I started out offering medical writing services because it was an area that I felt like I had a strong knowledge base in. But you do not need to have a degree or certificate in a specific field to offer niche services. Some examples of ways to specialize your freelancing services include:
Introducing yourself as a 3D animator for educational videos instead of a digital animator
Choosing to market yourself as an executive assistant to top-performing female CEOs instead of a generalized virtual assistant
Changing your title to business success consultant for start-up founders instead of wasting time trying to get hired by more general business clients
These small changes to your self-marketing can make a world of difference for the number and quality of clients you can attract to your business. If you are just starting your freelancing career and are feeling very frustrated about the number of great clients that seem to be passing on your services, I highly recommend spending some to identify your service niche. With time, you will be able to build a reputation as a voice of authority in your chosen field, which opens the doors to charging higher rates, working with amazing clients, and so much more.
Happy specializing!