Find Your Niche to Grow Your Nutrition Business

Chances are as a nutrition entrepreneur you’re sick and tired of hearing that you need to find your niche.

But you do.

Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be one of the few that can get by and be successful helping anyone and everyone, but more than likely you won’t.

Picking a niche isn’t about trying to pigeon-hole you. It’s about helping you hone in your marketing efforts, allowing you to speak directly to the type of client you want to attract, and making sure you appear as THE expert to hire (because you are!).

Narrowing your focus can feel scary at first. Turn down a client?! What? No way! But I promise you, you’ll get more clients in the long run if you can be very specific about what you offer – and you can do exactly that once you find your niche.

Think about it this way. You go to a neighborhood barbecue. You just moved in and you don’t know anybody. What’s the first thing people ask you? “Oh, what do you do?”

Quick, don’t think too much: What’s your answer?

Did you say “I’m a dietitian?”

Ok, that’s great. You are. But did you really tell them what you do? Did you make them want to hire you or refer a friend to you? Probably not.

Let’s try again. This time you say “I’m a pediatric dietitian and I help kids identify and overcome food sensitivities that affect their behavior in school.”

Ok, now the friendly neighbor can call Sally over and say “Oh you just have to talk to her about Stevie’s diet & ADHD”.

Or how about this: “I coach endurance athletes on how to best fuel their bodies in order to maximize performance, decrease recovery time, and shave minutes off their race times.”

Now the triathlete down the street wants to talk to you.

(Ok, maybe you wouldn’t sound quite like a walking elevator pitch, but the point is – identifying a niche + target client can help you figure out what your “elevator pitch” + marketing copy should be!)

You get the idea. Picking a niche doesn’t mean you can’t take on someone outside your focus, but it let’s you be clear and specific about what you do. It also helps you streamline your systems – if you are always working with triathletes, you already have that precise knowledge ready to go. You have handouts already created and you don’t need to start from scratch with each client. Your forms are tailor-made to gather the right information and you don’t have to go back to ask more questions. You know exactly what you’ll cover with each appointment or program. You can have multiple program offerings that meet the needs of each client, or programs  you can offer once they would have been finished working with you. [See more on why you need scalable income in your nutrition business.]

BOTTOM LINE:

You’re not hearing about finding a niche ad nauseam for no reason. Although it may feel like it will limit your clients, in reality once you find your niche it really helps you attract more. Better yet, it helps you attract the clients you WANT to work with.

Need help picking that niche? Download this FREE worksheet to get started: