Let’s turn to welding and Jeff Goldblum

I’ve written before about wanting to become a journalist and naively imagining I’d just walk into a job at Vogue instead of barely scraping 3rd editorial assistant at Poultry World magazine.

It was only after approximately 519 applications that I finally got a job (not actually at PW) but it was during that process that I learnt just how many niche publications there are out there. From Potato Review to Wind Tunnel International Magazine there are an awful lot of people with some very niche interests.

When it comes to marketing your business however, narrowing the focus down so you only attract a niche audience is seen as risky.

This is understandable.

It’s all very well trying to engage with an ‘ideal’ client, but what if that puts off others?

I’ll let you into a secret, you can have both.

💥What welding can teach us about marketing

This week one of my team came across this YouTube Channel about Welding while doing some research.

Yes, welding.

The thing is the welders have over 500k subscribers and have clocked up 4.5 million views in the past 30 days.

On one level this is completely bonkers, but on another, it makes complete sense.

The thing about this is that with internet scale, you can’t be too niche

It’s not just that you can work from a barn conversion in Somerset while serving clients in London or wealthy expats in the Maldives… 🏝️

With location independence, also comes freedom from constraint about who to work with and who to target.

You can hone in on exactly who you want, competing for the entire pool of dentists or tech workers or wind tunnel enthusiasts regardless of where you or they are.

👯‍♀️ The best of both worlds

But how do you maintain this approach without saying goodbye to your existing brand and business – which might already be well known and loved?

You simply grow a new skin.

Nothing Jeff Goldblum related (do not click on this if you’re eating).

By skin I mean a microsite, a mini website, a ‘brand-within-a-brand’, which is tailored specifically to your niche.

You skin(s) can be connected and feel very similar to your main brand, the difference is that only speak to the issues and problems that your niche faces.

You can test your skin by creating FaceBook ads, showing that brand to your niche, and seeing how they respond.

This might sound as sci-fi as The Fly to some (really want to see that film again now, but too scared). But these are the kind of opportunities that are very real in an internet-first environment.

Which is where we now live.

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