What is a niche and why do you need one? Well first off, it helps you to target specific types of businesses – use the kind of language they use, pitch services to them which they are likely to need, and show off your expertise in their field. And secondly, for the clients it allows them to justify paying you a slightly higher rate since you are THE virtual assistant for their field and a specialist. But how do you develop your niche and find those clients within it? Firstly, think about your areas of expertise – did you work in a specific industry? do you have existing clients who you already enjoy working with? is there an area you’d really like to work in?
To find these clients, spend 20 mins this month thinking about your ideal customer:
- Who are they? M/F? Age?
- Where are they based? Locally/internationally? Home office/business centre?
- Which of your services do they use and why?
- What do they do? What sector do they work in? Do they play golf? Do they use facebook? Are there any forums they frequent online or networking events they attend? Are they a member of an organisation or industry body?
- Are they technical people? Would they use email, phone or face to face meetings when communicating? Would they be able to add an attachment to an email?
- How much do they earn? Bear in mind their turnover should be enough to pay your salary plus their own. And that past a certain amount of turnover, they may well have an office staff…
- Do they have other people they work with? Would they have an office already or would you be their admin staff… Perhaps they work with other people doing the same thing they do?
- What sort of brands do they buy? Sounds like an odd question, but are they a Waitrose shopper or a Lidl shopper? What sorts of other brands do they buy – clothes, cars, tomato ketchup…
You should have some idea about what this client is like now… Don’t worry too much about being overly picky at this point – we want to create a profile of your typical person who would use your services, but it won’t stop others who don’t fit that profile exactly from using your services! You might have a number of different target markets – that’s okay, do them as separate exercises.
Having a picture of the type of client you want to attract will help you to shape your marketing around attracting that client – next month: getting those all important leads!
PREVIOUS SVA PREMIER POSTS:
- https://www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk/?p=1338 – Nov 2011 “Price Crunch Clients – how to say NO!” Password: no-man
- https://www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk/?p=1319 – Oct 2011 “Gut feelings about outsourcing – the rules of the game!” Password: chimps
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- https://www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk/2011/08/14/you-too-could-have-a-6-figure-income%e2%80%a6/ April 2011 “Earn a 6 Figure VA Income”
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