CHOOSING YOUR NICHE

Finding a niche can be a bit overwhelming. Is it too broad? Is it too specific? What the heck is even a niche, you might be asking yourself. Let's talk about that for a minute and why it's important to find one. A niche, by definition, is a service that appeals to a small population. So for your case, with your real estate business, instead of trying to target everyone and their mother to market to, you would pick a group of people with a preference of one interest or another, and market directly to them. Build a business directly around them. This could be a focus on animal lovers, military personnel, millennials, Gen X, luxury consumers, mothers, etc. 

Now having a niche doesn't mean you only EVER work with that one crowd of people. Not at all. You just use your time and money to market directly to them. Why is it important to have a niche? Because your money on advertising and time invested will have a much better ROI than trying to spend that same amount and market to a broad audience. And please DON'T get stuck in the scarcity mindset that if you only make your brand about one niche, you'll lose a ton of business. Yes, some people may not work with you if they don't connect to the interest you are marketing to, but I promise you, the results will show themselves in the long term aspects of your business. And heck, even short term! When I created businesses in the past that tried to capture a large audience, it flunked. When I stopped being so terrified to focus on a small group of people and just build a business around them, my business blossomed. And yes, even if you live in a small town, niche marketing is important. It doesn't mean no one else will work with you, it just means you're building a strong circle of influence with those you connect with on a personal level. You'll have an easier time getting business from people you have a connection with through the niche, a much better experience during the transaction process, and a bigger loyalty for referrals. Humans love connection, make that connection. It'll make your business soar!

Now to figure out what niche to go with... When I first got into real estate, my goal was to become a luxury agent. Now that's fine and dandy, till I realized that I didn't really have a personal connection with people for being "rich." And I realized, that even in my hot market, it takes a lot of effort and money to move a luxury listing. I also noticed that the majority of luxury clientele were much older than me, and I felt almost not trusted due to my age. So that really nipped that in the bud. Sure having a few million dollar properties under your belt is a great feeling, but it's more for boasting rights than it is business sense. So I decided to make my niche millennials, but millennials are still a bit too broad. So even more specifically, millennial women. I realized that I like the speed of transactions when working with clients in that price point, the ease of text communications, and the comfort of being able to use modern technology with them. And they are of course the #1 market on my favorite marketing platform: Facebook.

Now if a niche sounds borderline discriminatory, don't worry, it's not! Because you don't refuse business from people who don't fit into the niche, you just market directly to them because it's a wise business decision. And don't complicate or overthink finding a niche. Take a look at yourself and find out what you love to do. Do you love animals? Do you love being a part of the military community? Do you love being a part of the first responder's community? Are you a part of the art community? Etc. Find out what type of brand you love, the community you love, then pick your niche from there. You want to pick one that you have a personal level connection with, or you won't remain consistent and passionate about it.

One of the biggest doomsday theories we hear in our industry is, "that's too girly," or "that won't connect with older generations," or "that won't connect with younger generations," or "don't dye your hair pink, someone may think you're unprofessional." And I have to ask, why do you take advice from people who have an 80% statistical rate to fail within 2 years? If the person you're taking advice from started their business 20 years ago, then don't! Because what works in branding and marketing is a light year difference today. If they just started yesterday, then don't! They don't have the experience to share with you how to brand. If they boast they have 500 followers on Facebook, woop-de-doo! How many of those followers engage with their page? If it's dead, then don't take advice! When I got into real estate, you know where I went to learn about branding? Not real estate coaches, no.. all the info was too outdated for my taste. I went to beauty bloggers, YouTube vloggers, etc. to learn what they are doing to build a brand in TODAY's day and age, and flipped the script to make it about real estate, and boom! Business skyrocketed. Now you don't have to decipher through thousands of beauty videos to figure out how to have a successful brand, that's why I've created these courses. 

Download our niche assessment file below, print it, sit down with a glass of wine or coffee, and figure out what niche you really will connect to the best!