A while ago I wrote about how important it is to identify your ideal clients ? the people you really want to work with and who really want to work with you. Click here to read that blog post. Once you know who your ideal clients are, you can take it a stage further, by identifying a niche.

What is a niche? It is a really narrow market in which you specialise. It is a way of positioning yourself as an expert in your field. It is a way of helping other people to network on your behalf and send you referrals to your ideal clients. For example, your ideal clients might be women in corporate jobs and your niche ? your specialism ? might be helping them to lose weight and get in shape after having children. Or your ideal clients could be companies that want to sell their products online. Your niche could be retail shops within a 15 mile radius of where you work. In my case, my ideal clients and my niche are very close ? we work with coaches, consultants and trainers and provide them with marketing services to help them grow their businesses.

So why do you need a niche? Surely if your focus is too narrow, you?ll risk losing business from other potential clients? You might, but if they?re not your ideal clients and they?re not in your niche, chances are you won?t do a really great job for them. It?s a competitive market out there, so if you stick to your niche, you can position yourself as an expert in that field. This will help you stand out from the crowd of all the other people who say that they do what you do.

When you have a niche, you can use it to position yourself as an expert, and then you can do things like speak to audiences about your subject ? click here to find out about a workshop I?m running for coaches, consultants and trainers who need help with their marketing. You can even write a book about your niche ? click here to read about The Client Magnet ? How to Market Your Services as a Coach, Consultant or Trainer.

So what?s your niche? Do you have a really narrow focus that will help you become an expert in your field? If you need some help working out your niche, tell me in a comment and I?ll send you some feedback.