Are you nervous about choosing a niche because you don’t want to leave anybody out? Here’s the thing, if you are marketing to everybody then you are marketing to nobody. Narrowing your focus will save you time, money and energy because you are dedicating your resources to one area. And it will give you the opportunity to hone in on the specific needs of your clients, so you can better advise them on next steps in their business.
Here are 5 steps to help you define, and find, your niche.
1. The first step is to do a thorough assessment of your skills and match them with your passions. If you love sports, what are some skills that you can provide to personal trainers or athletes? Do you love architecture and exceptionally skilled at budgeting and process improvement? Working as an outsourced CFO for architect firms may be your jam. Start by making a list of passions, your skillset and circle the ones that stand out to you.
2. The next step is to choose one industry to focus on for the next 90 days. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen (and I’ve been guilty of this too!) is that accountants can tend to jump from one niche to another if they don’t immediately see traction. Or, even worse, they market to everybody. Which is draining - both emotionally and financially. Choose one industry to focus on and stick with it for at least one quarter. At the end of the quarter, you can assess if its worth sticking with that industry or moving on to another one.
3. Now that you’ve defined your niche, it’s time to go find them! The first place to check is your local market. Use Yelp to get a sense of how many of these folks are within a 50 mile radius from you. Although you can work with anyone in the world due to technology, establishing a home base will help you create a solid foundation and springboard once you are ready to expand.
4. Choose the Top 10 listed on Yelp as your research subjects. I recommend creating an Excel spreadsheet that lists the name of the company, the name of the CEO, the name of your potential main contact (if different than the CEO), the website address, and social media accounts.
5. Once you have created the sheet, do a LinkedIn search of the CEO and your main contact. Join any of the groups that they are a part of and read any articles they have posted on the profile. Start engaging with them by leaving a comment on their articles or on their group posts.
2. The next step is to choose one industry to focus on for the next 90 days. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen (and I’ve been guilty of this too!) is that accountants can tend to jump from one niche to another if they don’t immediately see traction. Or, even worse, they market to everybody. Which is draining - both emotionally and financially. Choose one industry to focus on and stick with it for at least one quarter. At the end of the quarter, you can assess if its worth sticking with that industry or moving on to another one.
3. Now that you’ve defined your niche, it’s time to go find them! The first place to check is your local market. Use Yelp to get a sense of how many of these folks are within a 50 mile radius from you. Although you can work with anyone in the world due to technology, establishing a home base will help you create a solid foundation and springboard once you are ready to expand.
4. Choose the Top 10 listed on Yelp as your research subjects. I recommend creating an Excel spreadsheet that lists the name of the company, the name of the CEO, the name of your potential main contact (if different than the CEO), the website address, and social media accounts.
5. Once you have created the sheet, do a LinkedIn search of the CEO and your main contact. Join any of the groups that they are a part of and read any articles they have posted on the profile. Start engaging with them by leaving a comment on their articles or on their group posts.
After you build relationships with your contacts, you can begin to market and offer your accounting services to them.
