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Declaring an Authentic Market Niche

Written by: Molly Gordon

Article Overview: Find out why choosing your market niche will free you to be the biggest, most authentic, and most complete offer possible.

Declaring an Authentic Market Niche

niche … 1. A recess in a wall, as for holding a statue. 2. A cranny, hollow, or crevice, as in a rock. 3. A situation or activity specially suited to a person’s abilities or character. 4. Ecol. a. The set of functional relationships of an organism or population to the environment it occupies. b. The area within a habitat occupied by an organism.
The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition

For years I struggled with the concept of niche. I knew that choosing the right market niche was considered essential to business success, yet for me, as for many professionals, choosing a niche felt like the kiss of death.

When we dig in our heels against choosing a niche, we are probably responding to the first two definitions above. After all, who wants to do business in a hole in a wall or in a tiny, rocky place? If you believe that defining your market niche means choosing a hard, cramped, and confining space, no wonder you resist.

People who bring their heart and soul to their work will resist niche marketing that tells them they must restrict the ways in which they offer value to the world. The good news is that choosing your market niche will do exactly the opposite: it will free you to be the biggest, most authentic, and most complete offer possible.

Consider the third and fourth definitions of niche. When you look at niche in this light, you will see that your perfect market niche is that location or domain in which you are most readily accessible to the people who are most likely to benefit from (and thus value) the offer that you are and in which you are simultaneously most free to exercise your brilliance.

YOUR MARKET NICHE IS THE PLACE IN WHICH YOU HAVE A NATURAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE BECAUSE YOU OCCUPY THE RIGHT PLACE IN THE RIGHT ECOSYSTEM.

A good market niche is one in which:

-- You are highly visible and easily accessible to the people who are most likely to benefit from your work, including prospective clients and customers, prospective collaborators and partners, and others with whom value-adding activities are most likely to be mutually beneficial.
-- You can employ the widest range of your talents, skills, and training (your offer.)

There's a paradox in naming your market niche. When you give people a category to put your products or services in, it is easier for them to get a handle on what you do and to remember it. It's also much easier for them to appreciate how you differ from other professionals in that category. In other words, by putting yourself in a category, you can also make yourself stand out because you distinguish yourself from others in that category.

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Visit AuthenticPromotion.com to find more sound advice on niche marketing: learn how you can benefit from differentiating your market niche and offer and find how focusing your niche market actually expands your appeal to clients, increases referrals, and leverages your unique background and interests.

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