When it comes to defining a specific niche, many business owners and entrepreneurs have trouble narrowing their core message down. They feel that limiting themselves will cause them to lose out on potential clients. They decide that staying more general will help keep their options open. Some entrepreneurs even choose to define several niches in the hopes of obtaining a broader audience.



Who do you listen to more? The person who is giving you advice when they are speaking one-on-one with you like a friend, or the person who is standing in front of a large audience speaking generally trying to sell you something?

Defining one narrow message doesn't mean that you can't accept work outside of your niche. Once you become a true success, potential customers outside of your niche will still find you and try to convince YOU that you should help them. What one core message does mean is that you are limiting who you need to market to and network with.

I have been a web developer for years. I work as a consultant. If I market my services as being just a developer, I wouldn't get many clients. My clients need to know that I'm specialized to a certain type of programming. I am actually a Web Application Developer working with Adobe Flex. This is a very specific area of development. I have taken on other projects outside of my niche, but I don't need to market to those clients. They find me.

I market myself to clients who are in need of that specific type of development. By keeping my core message narrow, I accomplish two major things:

1. It is easy to find my clients and place my marketing efforts where they are looking.

2. I am telling clients that I am an expert in this one area, and this causes me to be in high demand. I can charge double on any given project just because I am marketing myself as such an expert. As it turns out, there are thousands of developers, but there aren't many developers in my specific niche. My work is great and clients know it is hard to replace me, so they keep hiring me back. These are the best types of clients to have.

What is your core message? Is it narrow enough? Does it resonate with you and fit with your skills and experience?