How to pick your niche (should you?)

One of the biggest struggles for writers

January 11, 2023

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“I’m struggling to find my niche.”

I’ve heard this countless times from people who want to write more and build audiences.

Somewhere online, you’ve read that you need to “niche down.”

You’ve been told you “need a niche” if you want to build an audience.

You’ve heard writing about many topics doesn’t work.

So today, I want to relieve your anxiety around the topic of niche.

There’s only one rule for writing and audience building:

  1. There are NO RULES

You can pick a niche or not.

You can follow the popular tactics or not.

You can do what the “big creators do or not.

It doesn’t matter.

For me, only two things truly matter:

  • You write about topics that give you energy

  • You commit to consistency and not quitting

If you do that, you’ll figure the rest out.

With that context set, here’s my perspective on niches.

“Niche” generally implies you write about a singular topic.

But human beings are multi-faceted.

None of us care about only one topic. We care about many topics.

If you’re niche-focused, you’re thinking how to write about your ONE topic.

For example, how many ways can I write about email marketing.

I find it much more helpful to focus on WHO I’m writing for (I wrote about this more here).

Let’s use this newsletter, The Daily Creator, as an example.

Who I’m writing for: people who want to become better writers and build online.

Because people are multi-faceted and have different goals, that opens up many different needs. A few off the top of my head:

  • Tools to use as a writer

  • How to build newsletters

  • How to grow your audience

  • How to write more effectively

  • How to communicate concisely

  • How to write better in business

  • How to build an online business

  • How to share engaging messages

I’m just rattling ideas off the top of my head.

As you can already see, these are all different topics (and each one has many sub-topics), but they all map up to WHO I’m writing for.

You could argue my niche in this newsletter is the description of who I’m writing for, but here’s the difference:

  • Niche is topic-focused

  • Who I’m writing for is people-focused

That nuance changes everything. It opens up your world.

So, if you’re currently struggling with your niche, here’s my advice:

Think less about topics and more about people.

Define who you’re writing for.

List out the problems, challenges, goals, dreams and desires they have.

Then think about all the ways you could help them solve or achieve those things.

That’s your content.

Write those ideas for 90 days without worrying about your “niche,” then step back and analyze what resonated with your audience and what you enjoyed writing about.

Then follow that signal.

Action Item

Spend 10 minutes this week defining WHO you write for.

Forget about the idea of a niche.

You don’t write about topic.

You write to help a person.

Don’t overthink this.

Work with Teddy

  • 1:1 coaching: I'm looking for CEOs, executives and entrepreneurs who want to become better writers and grow their presence online. I will work with you 1:1. If you're interested, please reply to this email with "coaching."

  • Team training: If you're interested in having me train your team on writing, content creation, social media marketing or audience/community building, please reply to this email with "team training."

  • Speaking: I'm doing some speaking in 2023 on digital writing, digital media and building online audiences and communities. If you're interested in having me speak to your team or at your event (remote or in-person), please reply to this email with "speaking."

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Thank you!

Previous Issues

If you missed them, here are a few previous issues of The Daily Creator you may enjoy:

Helpful Resources

  • If you need a newsletter platform, I recommend Beehiiv

  • If you need a LinkedIn analytics tool, I recommend Shield

  • If you need a social publishing platform, I recommend Hypefury

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