249 | Why you need to niche down with Sadie Teper, Twentysome Design
A common mistake I see among young creative businesses is that they are talking to everyone, rather than a core group of interested customers. This comes out in their product creation, their marketing and even to some extent the branding for their business.
Today we’re going to talk about why it’s important for you to niche down and know who your customer really is. Because when you get clear on who you’re talking to… it’s much easier to create, market and sell your products.
Sadie Teper is my guest today. She’s the founder and designer behind Twentysome Design, a lady-powered feminist stationery and gift brand. Sadie’s design background enables her to create bright and colorful hand-lettered designs that empower and inspire others to spread a message of positive change, while still encompassing some wit and feminist fun. Sadie is also a Paper Camp alum and Proof to Products LABS member.
On today’s episode, we’re talking about how Sadie niched down in her business and why it is important that you do, too.
She provides ideas and examples of niches that you may want to explore and strategies for how to reach your ideal audience once you have honed in on a niche. We also talk about fears and concerns that may be holding creatives back from niching down and how to push through these.
Today’s episode is brought to you by LABS, our 12-month group coaching program that was built for product-based business owners who want to streamline their systems and streamline their revenue.
The Importance of Niching Down
Are you trying to connect with a broad audience rather than niching down to a core group of customers to connect with?
When it comes to product creation, marketing and even branding for your business, finding your niche can provide so much value.
When you get clear on who you’re talking to… it's much easier to create, market and sell your products.
Creating a cohesive product line involves finding your niche. It is important for both your brand messaging and connecting with your customers. It not only allows you to create a brand that resonates with your customers across the board, but it also allows you to better define who your audience is.
What It Looks Like to Niche Down
When it comes to finding your niche and creating a product line that fits into your niche, ask yourself, “What makes your product special?” If your answer is something along the lines of “It’s cute,” that’s not enough.
For Sadie, her female empowerment products are all value-based, which is what makes them special.
Other ways you can niche down your product-based business are by:
focusing on a love for a certain hobby, like plants, camping, books, cooking, etc.
location-based (part of the country, specific state, or national parks)
culturally based on a group you identify with or even a voice for an underrepresented group.
This allows you to connect on a personal level with your ideal customer.
It’s also important to understand that with polarizing niches, like Sadie’s brand for feminists, you may not be loved by everybody—but you’re selling to the people who love your brand and that’s what matters in your business.
You can’t please everyone—you’re better off having a really strong connection to a core group of people than having a mediocre connection to a lot of people.
How to Make Your Niche Resonate With Your Audience
While you may be passionate about your niche and the art you’re creating for it, you may struggle to connect and resonate with your audience. If this happens, consider how you can strike an emotional chord with someone.
For example, if your niche is drawing flowers, how can you connect with someone personally?
Consider offering custom wedding bouquet portraits. This will create a personal and emotional reaction to your products, making them more inclined to purchase your products.
When you find a way to connect with your audience, they’ll resonate with your products and feel the need to purchase either for them or the person your product reminds them of.
Concerns and Fears in Niching Down
As artists, we love doing a ton of different things. There may be a way for you to tie them together in your niche, but when you can’t you have to be open to not including everything in your brand.
Additionally, another common fear is that artists are afraid to “sell out” by building a business rather than creating art. You have to consider what’s going to make a viable business.
For most of us, a few of our products are making a good portion of the sales—so you can create fun things that may not sell or really work for your brand.
How to Find Your Niche
If you’re still struggling with what your niche could be, below are a few things you can do in order to find and better connect with your niche.
Write down a bio of your customer. If you can’t tell you who that person is, no one else knows. Once you have a clear picture, it makes it easier to find your niche. It also makes it easier to know what keywords to use for the products you create for online sales.
connect with people based on their interests on social media. This could mean engaging with people who follow brands within your niche or like accounts that hold the same values as your brand. By interacting with them they’ll see your brand and be interested in purchasing your products.
In conclusion,
I want to emphasize something Sadie said… she said “It’s always customers first.”
When we know who we’re talking to and who we’re designing new products for, it is much easier to come up with creative ideas and market and sell that product.
I want you to think about this from the standpoint of who your core audience is and how you can best reach them through your products, your marketing on social, and generally how you talk about your brand.
Quick links:
Here is a recap of episodes mentioned in this podcast that you may find helpful when niching down your product-based business.
Today’s episode is brought to you by LABS, our 12-month group coaching program that was built for product-based business owners who want to streamline their systems and streamline their revenue. If you’re ready to join this program, make sure you join us inside the community!
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MEET SADIE:
Sadie is the founder and designer behind Twentysome Design. Twentysome is a lady powered feminist stationery and gift brand. Sadie’s design background enables her to create bright and colorful hand lettered designs that empower and inspire others to spread the message of positive change. While still encompassing some cheeky wit and feminist fun.
CONNECT WITH SADIE
WEBSITE: twentysome.design | INSTAGRAM: @twentysome.design
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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