How do I define my niche?
I understand after months of working on just the product that I need to define a niche.
I realise now that I should have done this in the beginning.
But I have never been clear with exactly what my niche is as I have just been building it by myself.
Does anyone have any good resources, people or pieces of software to help me define my niche?
My app is https://streakoid.com. It's helps you build better habits to live the life you want.
My current guess is my niche is 25-35 year olds interested in books like Atomic Habits, Mastery, and the Power of Habit. Who are trying to pursue a life focused on living and not just working. Does that small like a niche? Or is that just a random group of people?
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You should be embarrassed by your first niche [how small it is] -- once you've nailed down that one, you'll see how to enlarge it / expand etc.
It's hard, I still struggle with this myself after few companies and I still wonder [almost everyday] wether I'm currently making that mistake again haha.
Yeah it's something I didn't take too seriously, but my brain is starting to get a grasp of what I need to do. haha
Thanks for the advice!
Cool website. Love the design/color scheme.
I guess in my opinion, less about 'niche', but moreso questions like - what made you get started on these habits? why?
i.e., i started these type of habits bc i quickly realized the way i was living was not sustainable day2day and needed better habits to accomplish certain goals as well as maintain/grow my marriage. The latter being the most important.
Thanks @jessegrownup. Very helpful I was thinking I had to define a certain demographic of people, when the reality is I need to target people who understand they need better habits to accomplish their goals.
{Sorry this isn't directly answering your question}
My issue with these habit apps is you need to build the habit of using them to track the habit you're trying to build... It adds another level of meta that just makes the game that much harder.
Todo apps + a habit tracker make a really sweet combination, because you can log your non-habit todos (like send thank you note for a bday present) alongside your habit tracking (e.g. drink 2L of water everyday).
With todo apps, because the content is so dynamic, its easy for me to build the habit to check them everyday since my tasks change day to day. Habit tracking apps are boring. Its the same content everyday. They don't actually add much value in my life like todo apps do.
{answer to your question}
I think the only way you can get more niche would be if you hyper targeted one of your niches with a mix of content and habits. Providing structure/habits for a specific niche. Like MyFitnessPal says if you track your calories every day with their easy to use calorie tracking tool, you will accomplish your fitness goals (Niche content + habit tracking tooling).
I would definitely pay for a general todo + habit tracking app and I would help you build it. Todoist is the closest I can come and it still sucks for reflecting on habit progress and mid-term planning. If anything I've said vibes with you and you wanna talk about todo+habit tracking + goal planning tool, shoot me an email: [email protected]
@KevinColemanInc interesting, I don't think Streakoid is for you then :) How do you build better habits outside of apps? Note pads, calendars or anything?
I don't think it's a winning game for me to try to persuade people that aren't interested.
I'm ok - but good luck!
All of the apps that I consistently use have content that my brain doesn't know. Notepad apps have the details of something I forgot. The calendar app has my events for the day that I don't remember.
Habit tracking apps have been around for 10+ years (and feel free to prove me wrong) have never really taken off. My bet is they have a crazy high churn rate b/c most people love the idea of tracking their habits, but for all the reasons I said above, they don't.
Yes a lot of people give up afer a day or two. But then others use it everyday. So I have hope :)
Here's a way to understand niches better - as vertical slices of the market. Freshbooks, for example, allows users to send invoices to customers who can then pay them online. That's... pretty broad, right? A LOT of people do that. Wave, Xero, the list goes on.
But Freshbooks positions themselves primarily as the best way for small business owners and creatives to send invoices and get paid. Designers, freelancers, etc.
And Joist (my day job) does a very similar thing, but focuses on Contractors.
Focusing on these two different niches means different features get developed, the product is advertised in different ways and on different sites/podcasts/trade shows, etc.
So if you are looking to target a niche, think of "types of people who need to build better habits" and then figure out a) if they'll pay you for that, and b) what you need to build and how you need to market to get them to pay you.
Some ideas:
@DanHulton this helps a lot - thank you!
Do you think people who want to be high performers or are driven to squeeze the most out of each day is a niche?
From your answer, I think no. As that isn't as easily categorized as athletes. But I don't know how a social habit builder works just for college students. (However there is a high chance I'm an idiot and just don't want to commit to something as clear cut as that.)
I'd also say "no." At least, that's not really a niche you can target easily with marketing. Do "high performers who are driven to squeeze the most out of each day" hang out together, read similar literature, visit the same sites? Probably not, unless by accident.
That said, you're at least on a good path with your marketing ideas. One place a lot of people get hung up on is trying to sell products on their features, when they should be trying to sell them on the benefits of those features. i.e. you don't want to be selling a "habit-building app", you want to be selling an app that lets you squeeze the most out of every day.
But if you find a good niche, you can go one step further with those benefits and that marketing, and then you'll know you've found something. To re-use my previous examples:
Knowing the niche you want to target makes it much easier to figure out how to market your app, since you should have a clear understanding of what they want to get out of it.
Great clarification!
My problem is I don't know which niche to target because the features at the moment are agnostic of group.
I think I'll take what you've said and create content for specific niches leaving the features to be used how the user deems fit (whoever they are.)
Is that a valid approach? Or am I just ignoring your wisdom? haha
You're like... 80% of the way to getting it. =)
The idea isn't that your app currently should be perfect for a niche, it's that you should identify a niche you can serve, and then develop the features and marketing to satisfy them better than anyone else.
You can definitely just leave your features generic and try to write more-specific marketing, but then you're competing against all the other habit-tracking apps out there. If you become, say The Best Habit-Tracking App For College Students, by developing the features that College Students need to have in their apps, then the other general-case apps just can't compete anymore.
@reecekidd Hey Reece, I don't think you necessarily have to define your niche by demographic characteristics like age, gender, etc. In some cases, these characteristics might be obvious or even inherent in the product, but in other cases not. You could define your niche by other characteristics. For example, in your about page you talk about struggling with consistency, lacking time, being motivated to stay on track through social pressure/participation, and in one of your responses here you say you are using the app to become the person you want to be in five years. So, you could take those and turn them into a niche: Streakoid helps those who are trying to be the best future version of themselves by making and sticking to daily habits but who struggle with consistency and lack of time and are most motivated by publicly committing to their goals with a group of like-minded people to help them keep on track. Next, you might want to create a couple customer avatars. This is where you would get into specific demographics to create an image of your ideal customer. So you might create one male and one female or even multiple, but give them a name, age, hobbies, struggles, specific job, what their big pain/s is/are as it relates to what your app can do for them, etc. This helps you make them ''real'' and meaningful as you develop and market your app, but you also understand that they are just example users, and not all your users will or must look like them. I hope that helps.
@nathanrodgers thank you, this was amazing!
You hit the nail on the head - I was thinking I had to define demographics.
This section was like a lightbulb moment for me:
"Streakoid helps those who are trying to be the best future version of themselves by making and sticking to daily habits but who struggle with consistency and lack of time and are most motivated by publicly committing to their goals with a group of like-minded people to help them keep on track"
The avatars are a great idea, I've been trying to keep customers in mind but not defining anything makes it to easy to make mistakes.
Don't limit your niche to 25-35. I'm 42 and your app would appeal to me. Lots of older folks are trying to learn new skills and develop habits during the pandemic. You should include them in your target group.
@SlickNick26 my bad! I agree, I'm confused because I'm not sure if a niche is an age demographic, personality type or buying habits of users.
Hey Reece,
Why not ping your users and start a conversation with them? As you do this, you'll start to learn about who they are and from there you can determine the demographics of your users. Patterns will emerge.
Let them tell you who Streakoid is for!
I talk to a few via WhatsApp but I'm unsure what we represent.
For example there is one 22 year old student, who I would classify as a high achiever, into stoicism and in it for the long term.
A data engineer who is into achieving long term goals and enjoys the accountability.
And myself who wants to make sure I'm doing tasks each day so that I can become the person I want to be in five years.
Am I revealing anything about my niche without realising it?