NARROW your NICHE BY MAYA ELIOUS

NARROW your NICHE BY MAYA ELIOUS

Feel free to print a copy of this document for personal use. Otherwise, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the author. Requests to the author and publisher for permission should be addressed to the following email: me@ mayaelious.com Limitation of liability/disclaimer of warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this guide and workbook, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, promoters, or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. All content is copyrighted by Maya Elious, www.mayaelious.com 2015 BRNDWCH LLC MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 2

Do you know who your target audience is? If your answer is everyone, you re welcome in advance. Often when people begin their business, they want their target audience to be everyone. When everyone is your target audience, there is no actual target. It s like trying to catch ten rabbits that are going in different directions. If a photographer wants to cater to everyone, they must be able to photograph food, nature, pets, families, fashion models, music artists, products, and anything else excellently. If event planners want to plan events for everyone, they must master planning baby showers, bachelor parties, anniversaries, engagement parties, birthdays for babies, birthdays for kids, birthdays for adults, etc. You don t need to offer everything to everyone to make money. Offering everything would be outrageous. You would have to know everything about every aspect of your field. It s a novice business mindset to think that by not offering everything you ll miss out on every possible opportunity to make money. Offering everything doesn t mean that everyone will do business with you. It s important to remember that while you could offer a wide range of services, you shouldn t. Highlighting what you specialize in rather than trying to reel everyone in as a customer, works out better for your AND potential customers in the end. Most clients want to hire a specialist someone who is highly skilled in a particular subject. Just because you CAN doesn t mean you SHOULD. I specialize in helping creative entrepreneurs build a personal brand online. Having such a narrowed focus means that I don t work with people like lawyers, doctors, and dentists who need help growing their business. Just because I offer business coaching, doesn t mean that I do it for ALL businesses. I ve found a specific group of business owners that I like working with and that like working with me. Because of this, I don t waste time and money marketing my services to a wider range of people who probably aren t interested in my services and who I m not interested in servicing. MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 3

Narrow down what you do into what you do well. Just because you re a portrait photographer doesn t mean you photograph babies well. If you offer services that you don t excel in, you give yourself and your business a bad reputation. People don t want to pay for mediocrity, so don t offer it. If you need help narrowing your target audience and market, use my exclusive Narrowing Your Niche Map. This worksheet will help you go from general to specific. You ll notice that I included a pre-filled example that breaks down what BEST fits MY niche. I marked some categories with an X that I still discuss in my content, but are not my primary focus. It doesn t mean that I can t touch on these subjects in a blog post, but I wouldn t offer services based on those topics. It s important to remember: If you don t know enough about a topic to give away plenty of content on that subject for free, you have no business charging for it. I ll talk about social media growth, but I wouldn t feel comfortable creating paid products around social media since that s not my specialty. Make sense? This exercise is to help you determine the PRIMARY thing you want to be known for. MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 4

your target market WHAT YOU RE GOOD AT DOING your niche WHAT SOMEONE WILL PAY YOU TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO A niche is the specialized product or service you offer to your ideal customer. A target market (or target audience) is the ideal client or customer looking for what you have to offer. In short, your niche is your very specific WHAT and your market is your very specific WHO. Once you identify one, you ll have a clearer understanding of the other. For most, pinpointing your what makes it easier to figure out who would like it. MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 5

What do they need help with? 1. how to get more clients 2. how to start a business 3. how to increase sales 4. how to navigate digital spaces 5. how to create free and paid content 6. how to grow an online audience 7. how to have a better presentation Branching Out Content Topics for Your Niche Navigating the digital space 1. how to use Twitter to build a following 2. how to use Pinterest to build a following 3. how to use Periscope to build a following 4. how to set up a blog 5. 25 topics to blog about 6. how to create other content besides written blog posts Better presentation 1. how to easily create Pinterest graphics 2. how + why to create a brand style guide 3. how personal style aligns with a brand image 4. how to choose fonts + colors for your brand How to grow an online audience 1. how to drive more traffic to your website 2. how to write blog posts people want to read 3. 5 tools to help you write better emails 4. how to grow your social media following in 30 days MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 6

What do they need help with? Branching Out Content Topics for Your Niche SPECIALITY #1: SPECIALITY #2: SPECIALITY #3: MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 7

TOP TIER GENERAL CATEGORY Business coaching GENERAL SUB-CATEGORY GENERAL SUB-CATEGORY GENERAL SUB-CATEGORY Brick + mortar Online business Multi-level marketing biz SUB-CATEGORY physical products SUB-CATEGORY WHICH SUB-CATEGORY OF THE PREVIOUS SUB-CATEGORY best FITS? WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE NEED THIS SERVICE? IS THERE ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THEM? digital products + services seo sales branding market research social media 1. authors 2. bloggers 3. coaches 4. speakers creatives 5. consultants 6. designers 7. artists WHAT DO THEY NEED HELP WITH? HIGHLIGHT THE ONES YOU SPECIALIZE IN 1. how to get more clients 2. how to start a business 3. how to increase sales 4. how to navigate digital spaces 5. how to create free and paid content 6. how to grow an online audience 7. how to have a better presentation I help creatives build their personal brand by teaching them how to create content and products that will get them noticed and paid online. MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 8

TOP TIER GENERAL CATEGORY GENERAL SUB-CATEGORY GENERAL SUB-CATEGORY GENERAL SUB-CATEGORY SUB-CATEGORY SUB-CATEGORY WHICH SUB-CATEGORY OF THE PREVIOUS SUB-CATEGORY best FITS? WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE NEED THIS SERVICE? WHAT DO THEY NEED HELP WITH? HIGHLIGHT THE ONES YOU SPECIALIZE IN IS THERE ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THEM? MAYA ELIOUS NARROW YOUR NICHE 9