“Your market is bigger than your target.”
I heard this quoted today by Chris Do in a Clubhouse room today on positioning (attributed to Blair Enns). It really resonated.
The fear of picking a niche (small target market) is a very real experience.
The quote mirrors something I’m finding true in my business—that despite how small my focus is becoming, I still get people signing up and/or reaching out from outside of my core targets.
When you’re just getting started, your primary advantage might just be your specificity. Bigger players have to cast a wider net to keep growing.
In doing so, their content becomes more generic and less specific to one audience or another. That’s your advantage.
Another thing Chris said today was, “don’t be ‘a’ be ‘the’…“, implying that you want to be the go-to person for your ideal target—not one of many.
This level of differentiation via niche specialization allows you to break into a market and own a position. You can always grow from there later on.
Without it, not only are you undifferentiated from others, you’re also less credible than the people who have been doing this a lot longer than you.
Get so specific that you’re the go-to person in your niche. Claim your ground and build your own market.
And remember, your market is always bigger than your target.