One of the most important things that you should do is to learn how to select a niche market to focus on. Your marketing efforts need to be laser-focused to ensure that the right people are getting the message.
At first glance, you may think that picking a particular niche to focus on may be counterproductive. After all, you would be narrowing the number of businesses to market to. Here is the issue though.
Let’s say that you are starting your own bookkeeping business and you get your website set up letting others know that you are a bookkeeper and you are there to help anyone with their bookkeeping needs. On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with that message. After all, you would be more than happy to help anyone, no matter the type of business they have.
Here’s the problem with marketing this way. The first is that you are not marketing yourself as an expert in a particular field. Business owners are not going to see you as being any different than any other bookkeeper out there.
The other issue is that generally speaking, your marketing efforts are going to be much harder. let’s pretend that a small business owner hops online and does a search to find a bookkeeper. What are the chances that they are going to find you? Not very good!
Now, what if your marketing your bookkeeping business to dentists specifically. What you are doing is twofold. You are instantly making yourself an expert in the field of doing bookkeeping for dentists.
Going back to our example, what if that same business did a search for a bookkeeper that specializes in dentistry and you have your marketing set up to cater towards dentists, the chances of that business finding you AND choosing you becomes much mich greater!
No matter what your business is, choosing a niche to focus on can be a daunting task. Let’s dive in and check out my 9 tips on how to select a niche market for your home business.
This may be one of those sticking points that is keeping you from learning how to start a bookkeeping business to begin with. I get that! After all, as an affiliate marketer, I had to deal with the same things. I really had no idea what kind of website I was going to have when I first began my journey.
The most important thing was that I simply started learning how to do it and along my journey of learning the ins and outs of affiliate marketing I was able to determine what my niche would be… hence, this website, Bookkeepers Paradise was born.
Just know that it is okay if you have no idea what your niche is going to be before you get started. In my experience, it’s after you dive into the learning process and focus on starting your business that you will realize what niche market you want to target.
How To Select A Niche Market
- The biggest and most important point that I can point out is that you need to have an interest in it! I cannot stress enough how important this is. If you do not like the niche that you have picked, it is going to be very difficult to maintain your focus to drive home your marketing efforts.
- It is helpful if you have experience in that field. This experience can come in many forms. Maybe you worked directly or indirectly in a particular field that interests you. Maybe you have needed to use a certain profession as a consumer on a regular basis. For example, maybe you have had to use a lawyer on a regular basis throughout your life. Maybe not the type of experience you want to have in this case but I think you see what I am getting at here.
- You already have a network of contacts in a certain niche. This doesn’t have to mean just on a professional basis. This can also be through someone else that you know. Maybe you have a brother that is an engineer and you occasionally hang out with him and all of his engineer friends.
- You have a mutual association and people like you. In other words, people in this particular niche not only know you but they respect you as a person.
- Less complex bookkeeping. This may be one that you are not familiar with in the beginning and that is okay. Manufacturing would be a good example here because of the high turnover and the constantly changing work environment to meet demand.
- Businesses that do not employ a lot of minimum wage workers. Typically, these types of small businesses may not have a large enough net income to make it worth your while for you to offer up your services to them. There may well be exceptions here but it is something to keep in mind.
- Lean towards service industries. Find a niche that focuses on not so much a product but one that offers a service for a fee. I will get into a list of the top niches to pursue in a minute.
- They have professional associations. For example, dentists have The American Dental Association. If you have ever watched a toothpaste commercial you have no doubt heard of this before. Why is this important? Once you get your foot in the door, the referrals that can come your way can blow you away.
- They have at least fifty thousand businesses. The reason for this is simple. If you narrow your niche down too much you are going to find it very difficult to build your business to the level you want simply because there are not enough businesses for you to reach out to. Keep the numbers in your favor!
Research Methods For Your Bookkeeping Niche
Once you find a niche that you think you would like to focus on the next step is going to be researching it. Remember, your ultimate goal here is to become the absolute best bookkeeper in a particular field and one of the ways to achieve this is to arm yourself with information.
When it comes to research, Google is your best friend! Use it! Check to see if your niche has any industry trade organizations or publications. You can do this simply by typing in your niche in the search bar followed by the + sign then trade publications (example dentists + trade publications).
Another important factor is finances. How many employees are there? What is the net income?
Is your niche seasonal or cyclical? While there is nothing wrong with your niche possibly being seasonal, if this is the case, it may be a good idea to have a backup so that you are not having an offseason with your business when things slow down or stop with the niche that you service.
Is your niche thriving or dying out? If you are focusing on businesses that sell typewriters then you may want to reconsider your choice. Yes, this is an extreme example but you catch my drift.
Is there competition? This is a good thing to see when doing your research. Competition means that it is worth it for you to pursue it.
Below is a list of some top niches to consider:
- Medical
- Dental
- Veterinarians
- Attorneys
- Engineers
- Architecture
- IT Consultants (software)
- Digital Marketing
- Construction
- Coaches
- Brokers
- Non Profits (Churches)
- Agents
How To Start Your Bookkeeping Business
You may have read this and now feel completely overwhelmed. At first glance, this may seem like a lot to consider but in reality, it simply comes down to who YOU WANT to focus on. When considering what possible niche may be right for you it’s very easy to overthink think the process and end up paralyzed not knowing which direction to go.
The good news is that there is a way to seamlessly go through the process to make things flow much easier for you. There is a course available online that covers everything in great detail for you. If bookkeeping sounds like something that you may be interested in then, just like choosing your niche, you are going to want to do some research.
A great place to start is to head on over to my complete review of the best bookkeeping course online. Here you will get a complete breakdown of the course, and the founder so that you can see for yourself the value that is built into it.
You will have the ability to learn not just everything about how to do bookkeeping, but also how to start up and market your own bookkeeping business.
These 9 tips on how to select a niche market are just one step in the process of owning your very own business. Check out the full rundown of the course to see if this career is right for you.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to drop them below in the comments and I promise to get back to you as soon as possible.