How to Choose Your Niche Within Mindfulness So You Can Reach More People
If you’ve ever researched strategies to most effectively market your services online, you’ve probably come across this advice at some point:
create an ideal customer profile
create an ideal client avatar
know your target audience
choose a specific niche
Whichever of these terms you read about, they all boil down to one thing: having a clear understanding of the people you want to help. Why is this advice so popular? Because if you try to reach everyone, you're unlikely to reach those who could benefit from your help the most.
Everyone could benefit from more mindfulness in their lives. But who are you most likely going to resonate with based on where they are in their life?
You want to help as many people as possible. You and I both know that working with you will improve their lives...yet no matter how much time and effort you spend marketing your services, you're not getting nearly as many sign-ups as you'd like.
If that's the case, don't worry - it's not just you. Many who start offering their services online often find this hard. I've been in the same boat - afraid that if I niche down too much, I won't be able to help as many people.
But here's what I found on my conscious marketing journey: niching down has actually helped me have a much greater impact. That's because it allows me to understand and serve my audience (mindfulness teachers) on a much deeper level.
BENEFITS OF MARKETING TO A TARGETED AUDIENCE
The most common misconception about niching down is that it limits who you offer your mindfulness services to. This is not true! When you niche down, you're simply directing your marketing efforts towards a set of people you can easily focus on helping. Other like-minded souls will be drawn to your services naturally - and you never have to turn anyone away.
Here’s how niching down benefits both you and the people you’re trying to help:
1) Save time with a more focused message
Having a niche saves you time, effort, and frustration in your marketing because you no longer have to try to speak to everyone.
When you know the people you want to connect with, you can do your research. Learn where they hang out online - and then hang out there too so you can reach out to them. Learn about the things they're most struggling with and show them how working with you will help them overcome these.
You can address their pain points more specifically because you know what they're going through! This allows you to connect with them on a more personal level with the wording you use throughout your website, social media, blogs, or emails.
2) Market yourself more authentically
When you connect with a niche that you feel called to help most, your natural passion comes out. People will feel that passion and will be naturally drawn to working with you.
You don't have to worry about saying the "wrong thing" or being perceived as "salesy" because you can be yourself with this audience.
You know and trust that there are people out there who are listening and who are ready to work with you. When you try to make your message generic, you might miss out on speaking directly to these people because they're not sure if your approach will work for them.
3) Help solve their problems more effectively
When you understand what most of your target audience struggles with, you can provide more specific and catered strategies to help them overcome these with mindfulness.
Think about it from your own perspective. If you’re a business owner, for example, and need help with your taxes, wouldn’t you rather hire an accountant who deals specifically with business owners rather than one who works with everyone?
This allows them to understand all the complexities that go along with being a business owner so they can provide you with more personalized advice.
Providing mindfulness classes, programs, services, or coaching through your business is similar. Imagine a mother with four children who takes care of the household while wanting to build in time for self-care too.
Do you think she’d rather learn mindfulness from another mom who’s been able to do the same? Or from someone who’s never had any children and whom she probably doesn’t connect with on a similar level?
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR NICHE IN MINDFULNESS
So how can you figure out what niche you should focus on so you can impact more people? Here are some ideas to get you started so you can have a meditation niche that helps you start or grow a successful mindfulness business:
1. Consider your career/past work experience
What background did you spend your working years in before you started teaching mindfulness (or maybe still do if teaching mindfulness on the side)?
Perhaps you were or are a teacher, a lawyer, a therapist, a business owner, a nurse, a police officer, a pilot, a yoga teacher, a social worker, or a psychologist? Whichever field it is, can you think of others in that field who are stressed and could benefit from more presence and mindfulness?
If so, then maybe teaching mindfulness in the workplace - to that particular audience - could be an option.
2. Consider related and shared demographics
Are you a parent? Are you a woman of color? Do you identify as LGBTQ? Are you of a certain cultural descent that you deeply connect with such as Hispanic, Jewish, or Native American? Do you feel a connection to a certain age group - children, teens, the elderly?
Do you find yourself relating really well to people who fall into a similar demographic category? If so, consider how you could market your services specifically to these people based on your shared connection.
Don't worry - you can still be inclusive and non-judgmental when you choose this approach. Again, you're not turning anyone away. What you're doing is talking directly to one group whom you know best.
Look at it from this standpoint: if a doctor specializes in knee surgery and markets to those who need help with their knees, he's not discriminating against those who might have heart problems. He's simply focusing his expertise in a way that best helps him serve those who share a common struggle.
3. Turn your past obstacles into a source of help
Is there a specific obstacle or challenge that mindfulness has helped you overcome? What was it that initially caused you to commit to making mindfulness part of your life? Are there others out there who are still struggling with this? If so, perhaps they could be the ones that could most benefit from your guidance - because you've been where they are now.
You can then choose a specialty within mindfulness to focus on such as:
Anxiety and stress
Trauma
Substance abuse/recovery
Relationships
Grief and losing a loved one
In addition to these, you may have a special interest that you know others are also passionate about. Perhaps you feel very drawn to nature and helping the environment. Or maybe you have a special knack for the arts or music. Maybe you really enjoy emphasizing the Buddhist aspect of mindfulness practices? Can you find others who feel the same passion and who are also interested in mindfulness?
USE YOUR NICHE TO SAVE TIME & SIMPLIFY YOUR MARKETING
Anytime you write content for your website or social media, put yourself in the shoes of your ideal client. Can you use specific examples that they can relate to? When you do, you will connect with them on a much deeper level - and they will be more likely to want to work with you!
The opportunities are limitless, kind soul. There are over 7 billion people on this planet. The ones who need your help most are out there. They are waiting for you to make yourself and your services visible so you can start helping them feel the beauty of this life, of this present moment.
Now that you know who you want to reach, the next step is having a strategy that has people excited to sign up for your offerings and services. Learn the key steps to effective online marketing in the Online Marketing for Mindfulness Teachers course today!