Narrow the Niche
Most humans hate the idea of marketing.
It takes a lot of work to become good at it. You never graduate. It's an infinite game where you may never be able to know if you've won or lost.
It's also a huge frustration for most founders. They want to build "the thing" without having to convince others that the thing is for them.
I'm here to make the marketing a bit less taxing, which is why I'm starting a 3-week series all about marketing.
Week 1: Narrow the niche
Week 2: Pinpoint the pain point
Week 3: Market to your members
Let's get started.
Creating a niche community is a strange business. At the start, you won't quite know if your niche is too specific or too broad.
Something I learned in grad school that's stuck with me was something called "The Ladder of Abstraction."
Coined by a linguist, the ladder of abstraction illustrates something fascinating. It was made to describe how language transitions from concrete to abstract. It shows in ascending order how language is concrete at the bottom and abstract at the top.
I use the ladder to apply to a community's branding. Note that the ladder behaves akin to a sales funnel, but it remains distinct. Traditional sales funnels track the journey potential customers go through on their way to purchase. But the ladder of abstraction begins abstract and slowly becomes more concrete.
Niche communities are concrete communities.
Let's say we have an entrepreneur who loves fitness. This founder wants to start a fitness community. Even with a compelling differentiator (like a workout of the day for busy executives), it will fail to take off. Unless it becomes more concrete. Here's how he might conceive of this differently:
Fitness enthusiast (Way too abstract)
Crossfit bros
Crossfit for dads
Crossfit WOD (workout of the day) for new dads (Good level of niche)
WOD for overweight first-time fathers
EMOM (Every minute on the minute) WODs for busy, overweight, C-suite first-time fathers
EMOM WODs for overweight, CTOs who happen to be first-time fathers new to Crossfit with less than 10 minutes a day to spare. (Way too concrete.)
This is actually easier said than done to arrive at this level of niche: "Crossfit WOD for new dads." But it will work.
The reason I know it will work is because this community appeals to potential members to think:
For new dads: "One workout a day? I can do that. I need to do that."
For existing Crossfit bros: "I need to find a way to make Crossfit work as a new dad."
Anything more specific than this may apply to more individuals out there somewhere - But there's little chance they'll ever hear of your small niche community. There's also less reason for the community to exist because it may not be relevant for long.
Once your niche is narrowed, you'll want to validate it.
I suggest doing this by finding real users in your network that the niche would apply to.
If you can't find them in your own network, it likely means you've gone too niche. If you can find more than 10, your concept is likely too abstract unless you've been working in this niche for a long time.
Whether you're already post-launch or you feel that your niche may be too vague, try this:
If you're leaning too abstract, test out more exclusive offers within your community. Try to become more specific in why you exist. The wrong people will likely churn and self-select out. But that's good news because it means the right people will engage deeper and more consistently.
If you're leaning too niche, this is harder to solve. You should reevaluate what makes your community unique. Discern which aspect can (and should be) erased. To use our example above, does the Crossfit community HAVE to apply to first-time fathers? What happens when they have a second kid? The goal isn't to exclude the right people from joining and engaging in a community that is ideal for them.
A well-defined niche will clarify your community's purpose. It will keep members engaged because they have their own unique group that understands them. Most people feel like they've struck gold when they discover this kind of community.
As a founder, now you can market much easier to them. This will help you to personalize your future offerings to resonate with both existing members and better yet, new members.
If you feel you've articulated the right level of niche, you're ready to start thinking about your ICP more.
