Why Have a Niche? With 5 Steps to Find Your Best Coaching Niche | By Steve Mitten, MCC

Originally Posted on The Coaching Tools Company as Why Have a Niche? With 5 Steps to Find Your Best Coaching Niche | By Steve Mitten, MCC

Watching hundreds of coaches develop their businesses, I have come to the opinion that a good niche increases your marketing effectiveness by at least 3 fold (sometimes as much as 10 fold).

In other words, the sooner you pick a group or people (vertical niche) or a process/solution (horizontal niche) that’s a great fit for your passions and strengths—and allows you to package coaching as a solution to some of the existing challenges faced by your prospects—the better.

And having helped my share of coaches find their own niche, I have streamlined the process to 5 steps.

Here are my 5 Steps to Find Your Best Coaching Niche

1. Identify your top 5 niche possibilities.
2. Rank these niches on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of the following sub-categories. How well does each niche:
   1. Honor your passions, values and interests?
   2. Honor your strengths, training and expertise?
   3. Provide a solution to a pressing need or problem?
   4. And lastly, how accessible and able to pay for your services are the people who fall within that niche?
3. Research your top niche ideas. Understand more deeply:
   1. What are the people in your niche’s greatest needs?
   2. How you can best access those people?
   3. How can you position yourself as an expert in that niche?
   4. And how can you best package your coaching as a solution to your niche’s greatest need?
4. Test market your solution. Create a program eg. a 1-1 coaching program, online classes, workshops, etc. to try out your content, gain testimonials and learn more about your niche.
5. Roll out your finished product while seeking every opportunity to speak, write, present or otherwise share your knowledge with your target audience to increase your exposure and solidify your position as an expert solution provider to this niche.

Wrap-up

Developing a great niche takes time. The good news is that it’s not all up to you.

As long as you do your part and get out there to see where you can passionately add the most value, the world will do its share—and meet you part way.

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