If you’re having trouble articulating the value you bring to your ideal coaching clients, that could be a sign you need to niche down. When coaches serve too many clients, it makes it difficult for them to promote their coaching program because it offers different benefits to different types of clients. Niching down allows you to focus on one type of customer or one type of problem so it becomes a lot easier to express what your ideal coaching clients stand to gain from your coaching. Let’s talk about niches for coaches.
What Is a Niche
A niche is a small group of people who represent your ideal coaching clients. Your niche could be focused on a problem you solve or the type of people you like to help. Alternatively, your coaching niche could be a combination of the two.
Examples of problem-focused niches would be:
- I help people heal from eating disorders and develop a healthy relationship with food
- I help new business owners convert their first 50 clients
- I help people eliminate negative self-talk so they can develop a positive mindset
Examples of people-focused niches would be:
- I am a fitness instructor who works with new mums
- I am a business coach who works with female drop-shipping entrepreneurs
- I am a financial coach who works with engaged couples
Examples of niches that are both people-focused and problem-focused would be:
- I help young women who have just graduated from university find a job they love
- I help young men who feel angry or lost find and work on the root cause of those feelings
- I help couples living together for the first time communicate and find solutions to make their home a comfortable place for both of them
Pick the type of niche that works best for your coaching business and you as a coach. A problem-focused niche would be suitable for a coach who likes to work with clients at various life stages. A people-focused niche would be suitable for a coach who likes to help a specific type of person with the various problems they may have.
Why Coaches Should Niche Down
Often business owners are reluctant to niche down because they don’t want to limit the number of coaching clients. Surely, narrowing the pool of potential coaching clients means fewer coaching clients, right?
Wrong. Niching down allows you to create marketing and coaching programs tailored to your ideal coaching clients. This means that people in your niche can see how working with you will change their life. Your marketing will feel like you are speaking directly to them and that you understand how they are feeling. Your coaching program will be at the right price point and help them to avoid anything that may hold them back.
Even after niching down, you are likely to get enquiries from people who don’t fit your ideal coaching client criteria. You can decide whether to work with them or not on a case by case basis.
Another benefit of choosing a niche for your coaching business is that you become an expert in that niche. When you work with the same type of client or the same type of problem, you become really good at it. This means you’ll start to spot patterns and act on them. You can create resources or amend your coaching program to address common issues your coaching clients have when implementing your teachings. You’ll increase the odds of your clients achieving long-term success, which translates to better testimonials for your coaching business.
Effectively, when you niche down your coaching business, you become a better coach to your ideal coaching clients.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Niche
Not every niche will be right for you or your coaching business. You need to think both short-term and long-term when choosing a niche for your coaching business. Here are some factors to consider when selecting a niche.
Life Experience
How does your life experience intersect with the life experience of the people in your niche? It’s not strictly necessary to be a member of the niche or be closely connected to members of the niche, but it can help build trust with your ideal coaching clients. Your coaching clients will see you as someone with first-hand experience with their struggles and needs.
Having life experience that intersects with your niche also creates passion that will help you to get through tough times – and in business, there will be tough times. It is a lot easier to weather setbacks when you find purpose in what you do.
Skills
Look at the skills you have and how they may help different coaching niches. Some skills may be more valuable to certain niches than others.
By the same token, some coaching niches may require skills that you don’t have. That doesn’t rule that coaching niche out completely; it just means that you will need to invest in learning those skills in the near future.
Your Personality
Your personality should be a major factor in choosing a niche for your coaching business. It will impact your ability to thrive in a particular niche.
For example, someone who needs novelty to stay interested may prefer to select a person-focused niche so that they solve a range of problems for their ideal coaching clients. You get the benefits of a coaching niche without sacrificing novelty.
On the opposite side, someone who likes a certain level of predictability and wants to learn everything they can about a particular topic may prefer a problem-focused niche so they can focus on fixing a simple issue. There will still be a degree of novelty with the different personalities of your coaching clients and different secondary problems, but a problem-focused niche is more predictable.
Favourite Coaching Clients
If you’ve already worked with coaching clients, think about your favourite coaching clients and jot down what you liked about working with them. This is a great way to spot commonalities that could become a coaching niche.
Competition
Consider the level of competition in your niche. While you shouldn’t let competition scare you off, it’s important to see who else is serving similar clients. You could still find great success in a high-competition niche. The key is to make sure you offer something different from your competitors so that your ideal coaching clients aren’t making comparisons on price alone.
Profitability
Is there room to make enough profit to support the life you want to lead in your coaching niche? There are a number of things that will influence the profitability of a niche:
- Budget of ideal coaching clients
- The value of solving the problem (from the ideal coaching client’s perspective)
- The price range of existing resources and solutions
- How well your offering helps your ideal coaching clients solve their problems
For example, if there are a lot of free or lower-price solutions on the market currently, your solution will need to add more value to be considered. It could offer faster results or lower the potential for failure, thus providing more certain results.
The value that solving the problem would bring your ideal coaching client is the main indicator of profitability. Look at what the problem currently costs your ideal coaching client in terms of money, time, stress, and loss of opportunities.
Future
An important factor to consider is the future of the coaching niche. Do you believe that you will be happy to work in this niche for 5+ years? Is the coaching niche evergreen, or is it possible there will be less demand for your services in the future? Is there room to pivot in the future if circumstances change?
How to Find a Niche for Your Coaching Business
Nobody can tell you what the best niche is for your coaching business. The best niche will be dependent on your needs and preferences. Here is how to find a coaching niche.
Brainstorm All Possible Niches
Start by listing every possible niche you can think of, whether you want to work in that niche or not. Searching social media and search engines can help you find possible niches that you haven’t considered.
The reason why you want to brainstorm all possible coaching niches is because an unsuitable niche may spark inspiration for a suitable one. Once you have your list, use the factors above to exclude unsuitable ones until you have a shortlist of 10 or fewer possible niches.
Research Competition
Take your shortlist and start researching your competition. Who is the biggest coach in your niche? Look at what different coaches specialise in and the types of coaching clients they serve. Are there gaps in the market? How many coaches can you find who offer the same services that you do? What is the price range?
Analyse Opportunity
This could take many forms depending on your niche and your coaching business goals. Here are some examples of opportunities to consider:
- Opportunities to bring something new or different to your industry
- Opportunities to become a thought leader (industry publications, accreditations, etc.)
- Opportunities for growth or pivots in the future
- Opportunities to make a huge difference in your ideal coaching clients’ lives
Conduct Market Research
Research your ideal coaching clients until you feel like you understand everything about them. What are their hopes and dreams? What are their struggles both with your coaching area and outside of that? Where do your ideal coaching clients hang out both online and IRL? Why do they feel they can’t achieve their goals in your coaching area? What kind of help do they need?
If you would find it helpful to get a second opinion on your shortlisted niches or would benefit from talking it through with a fellow business owner, you can book a Pick Our Brain Call for £199 per hour. During our call, you can ask questions, and we will provide recommendations and perspectives you may not have considered.