Niche

What most people mean

“Riches are in the niches.” “Serve a niche within a niche.” “Niche, niche, niche.”

They paint this picture of laser-focusing on a teeny-weeny slice of the market, usually defined by industry or demographics. Pick one vertical. One job title. One company size. Narrow until you dominate.

Where the definition breaks

It’s enough to make you believe you need to squeeze yourself into a box labelled “Marketing Consultant for Left-Handed Chiropractors Who Treat Only Dachshunds.”

Here’s the thing: they’re wrong. You’re told to squeeze yourself into a box so small you can barely breathe while your creativity, and joy, dry up and die. You’re not building a brand that stands the fck out; you’re building a fcking cage.

Of course it feels restrictive. Just like advising a French rapper to write lyrics only for teenagers who are into street art. The way you’ve been taught about choosing your niche is restrictive.

The trap: niching by industry or demographics forces you to define your market by superficial similarities. But your best customers might span four generations (like LatinUs Beauty’s customers, aged 17 to 57). They might come from completely different industries (like my podcast listeners: marketing creators, retail CMOs, Broadway producers, photographers, lawyers, real estate agents). What unites them isn’t a demographic. It’s a struggle.

How we define it at STFO

We don’t use the word “niche.” We use “segment.”

A segment is a group of people you can serve in a way that gives you a distinct advantage against alternatives. The people in the segment have struggles in common that only you can solve in a specific way.

Obsessing over a specific segment frees you up to channel all your energy toward a group of people who are much more likely to care about what you have to say and offer. That’s what niching down is really about. This way of thinking feels much more natural, and much less restrictive.

I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a business that went too narrow. Like, ever. It’s almost always the opposite. Going too wide and drowning.

And if you do go too narrow? You’ll notice quickly (there won’t be enough customers). Then you’ll learn from it and adjust course. The very act of focusing attention is what gives you a distinct advantage and the ability to grow. Focusing on a specific segment is a strategic move, not a permanent limitation.

What it is NOT

• Not an industry vertical (your best customers probably span multiple industries)
• Not a demographic box (age, title, and company size are arbitrary)
• Not permanent (segment definitions evolve as you learn)
• Not a cage (if it feels restrictive, you’re defining it wrong)
• Not something to fear going too narrow on (too narrow is almost never the real problem)