Why You Shouldn’t Try So Hard To Niche Down

One of the most misunderstood advices out there

This is me, trying to niche down — Photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash

“Niche down”

“Find your niche”

“Find the single person you want to help”

“Writing to everyone is writing to no one”

I almost feel that one of my obligations as an aspiring writer is understanding and breaking down what “niche down” means.

You might think it’s simple:

To niche down means to write for a specific audience.

But if that’s the case, why people who say “niche down” didn’t niche down?

Writers on Twitter are an excellent example of this. There are quite a few of them.

Don’t get me wrong.

They give incredibly useful writing advice for the general writer audience.

Kieran Drew — ex-dentist, wrote 0 things about being a dentist.

Adi Verma — ex-banker, wrote 0 things about being a banker.

They don’t go like: I teach single moms to write better copy.

So remind me, why niche down?

What is a niche?

I think the “niching down” process is a myth. Or misunderstood at best.

But let’s say I’m niching down and only appealing to people like me-the software engineer who decided to write more besides coding. I know I’m not alone in this, although it’s not a crowded group. I’d say one of them is Louie from The M&Ms Newsletter. I don’t see much programming from him, but he writes a ton.

There is no upside in helping only this group with writing advice because most of it is general-purpose. Also, once you dive into the frameworks, the routines, and the tips & tricks of writing effectively, you realize it’s the same for every niche. Whether you’re teaching fitness coaches, SaaS folks, or agency owners to write better.

So, by niching down to only helping SaaS folks write better blog posts, you risk missing out on helping other people to become better writers.

On the other hand, think about what you’ll become at the end of this journey: a writer.

You’ll have very little association with programming, so why even bring it into the game in the first place?

What does niching down mean?

My current best definition of niching down is something like this:

1. pick a thing you do at no matter which level, beginner or expert
2. talk about it consistently over time

This is too broad, you might say, but it’s not because:

1. it’s you doing the thing, and we do things different
2. when you talk about it, you use your own words (hopefully)

Boom! You created a specialized market — niche — with one offer: you. Your approach and style that you developed by doing and talking about the thing you picked at 1).

We’re carving out our niche with every tweet, every newsletter issue, and every blog post.

Here. I contributed to my niche by asking this question after seeing the term “niching down” over and over again. And seeing people do the opposite.

I questioned if niching down is really what I think niching down is.

And with this, you and I got closer to the answer.

“In a world where everyone is trying to be something other than themselves, it is a wonderful thing to realize you already are what you need to be.”

Thanks for reading my blog! I appreciate every minute you spend here!

Cheers,

Akos

Originally published at https://akoskm.substack.com.