“Anjali, how important is niche when it comes to content?”
If you are a beginner content writer, you have heard of this term called “niche”.
And if you are scratching your head, wondering what niche is and how important it can be to your success as a content writer or creator. Well, you have come to the right place. My young padawan, not less than a year ago, I too was a beginner content writer.
In this blog, I have complied all I have learnt from industry leaders like Supriya Jain and Rachel Lawton, read online- especially on LinkedIn, and learnt from experience.
So, let’s talk niche.
What is Niche?
Niche is the area and form of content you specialize in and love to work in.
But let’s expand.
Have you heard of genre?
In book marketing, genre is basically the tropes, settings, characterizations, and such your book fits into for marketing purposes. While both Star Wars and 2001- A Space Odessey have science fiction elements, the first is a space opera as it deals with more personal themes such as family, while the other leans heavily into science fiction horror, thanks to Hal.
But why am I talking about genre, a tool for classifying books and movies for marketing purposes, when we should be lasering in on niche.
Well, that’s because niche is essentially your genre as a writer.
If you don’t know what means, allow me to explain.
As a content writer or creator, you can develop content on a variety of topics, in several industries, and various formats. From case studies on personal finance to sustainability long-form blogs, the options are almost endless.
And niche is essentially where you specialize.
For me, you guessed it, it is sustainable blogging, despite me having written on education, marketing, writing, healthcare, and more.
The type of content you write, in what form, and industry, all these are parts of your niche.
And don’t worry, you can have a broader niche or take time to explore and focus on the smaller parts.
Being Arjun is good but today is the age of intersectionality and being a jack of all trades.
So, we know what niche is.
Now, let’s decode the term further and figure out how to find your niche.
How to Pick a Niche for Content Creation
Supriya Jain has a quick trick for the figuring out your niche. It boils down to an intersection between your like, what gets you money, and what your skills are.
- Figure out what you like
When you decide to focus on one area for your entire work day and life, you will be reading about it a lot. Ensuring it is something you are eager to learn about is essential. That is how you build credibility, get better at figuring out which sources are good, and more important keep the spakr alive for your work.
But not everything you like is scalable.
- Choose what makes you money
Not something I did with my primary niche but Supriya Jain recommends you choose something from the list of topics you like which is a flourishing industry where content is in demand. For example, tourism or finance or healthcare.
But Anjali, sustainability will boom in the next few years.
Sure, it will and I look forward to that but currently my niche is also sustainable startups in India which makes it tough to scale based on just that.
But liking and economics aren’t enough…for you need to be skilled at delivering what you promise.
- Pick a scalable niche that you like, which you have the skills for or can develop the skills for
For me, blogging is second-nature, so that became my niche in terms of the primary kind of content I write. For you it could be scripts. Or perhaps you feel social media caption has more money and you like gender issues, so your niche becomes content about gender issues on social media…which balances out because while not many companies might be looking for gender related content actively, most want social media content and you can offer that part of your niche to other industries too. Of course, this is just an example, and not a commentary on whether companies want to write about gender issues. Many do.
Should You Stick to One Niche
Finally, the big question of the day. And yes, experts say that you should stick to one niche. While that can be valuable, I will not be doing that.
For one, I love bringing intersectionality into my work, which I feel comes from writing in various niches. Yes, I can do that with just a broader focus on sustainable living and development for that requires a holistic view, variety is the spice of life. I want to be able to write on several topics while primarily helping sustainable brands and encouraging realistic sustainable living.
Second, what happens when the industry you decide to champion goes down? Sure your skills are transferable but you will have to begin at a lower knowledge level…unless you have become crazy good at research.
But that is not to say niching down doesn’t have an advantage…you can build a personal brand easier for one. It is easier to become an expert and gain a name in the industry.
My trick is to niche down in one field, but keep it going for others too at a smaller scale. But that’s also a me problem sometimes.
At the end of the day, we have to evaluate what we bring to the table and make decisions based on that. Our priorities, our finances, our hopes and dreams, all play a role.
And that my friends, is all about niche in writing and content creation. Can it scale your content efforts? Is it important? Can you have multiple niches?
All answered in 1000 words or less.
Let me know your thoughts in the comment below!
Author’s Note: Thanks for reading! If you find it valuable, do consider sharing, or leaving a comment. There’s a subscriber only audio version of this topic and others I have covered on my blog or YT channel on my buy me a coffee page , if you are interested.
