Niche down until it hits: Advice for coworking operators and community builders

Brand strategy best practices say you should “niche down until it hurts.”

But let’s flip that.

What if we niche down until it hits? Until our brand and offerings resonate deeply with our target audience and community; until our business is perfectly aligned with our own vision, values and vibe; until we know exactly who we’re talking to and how to best communicate with them.

It’s not easy to let go of serving a broad market segment to niche into serving YOUR market segment. Fear comes up around niching down too much: becoming too specific, excluding people who have money to spend, painting yourself into a corner.

These fears are backwards.

If you want sushi, do you want to go to a restaurant that serves a little bit of everything, including sushi? Or do you want to go to the best sushi joint in town? If you want to learn about the local music scene, do you want a publication that covers a bit of everything, or one that covers the local music scene? If you want to take the family to a pumpkin patch, do you want to take them to the bins in front of the supermarket, or do you want them to experience a fun pumpkin patch?

The “little bit of everything” approach doesn’t work for sushi … and it doesn’t work for coworking and community building.

So be brave, figure out who you truly serve (not just who you think you should serve) and niche down until your brand hits their hearts, minds and needs.