Should I specialize/niche down as soon as possible as a start-up?

[Kelvin]

Hey everyone

New member and new to business !
To provide some a quick summary I am building my business, which is an automation agency (currently one man band), wanting to save time by helping businesses streamline processes using tools such as Make, Zapier, Airtable and so on. (Implementing workflows, CRMs, Chatbots, etc).

I began my approach quite blindly with some cold outreach and speaking to people in my network.
Whilst I was able to speak to a few people the results weren't great and I put it down to a few things:

• Didn't make my offer clear enough
• Didn't target the right audience
• Didn't speak to the right people
• Didn't niche down specialize

One thing I realized it's that because I was targeting different industries I was spending time researching and my focus was being stretched trying to solve those challenges and since I didn't have direct experience I'd wouldn't come up with concrete solutions.

So it makes me wonder whether I should niche down to a specific industry (ecommerce in my case) and just research and tackle challenges that I can solve, because when you think about it even within each industry there could be different verticals to focus on.

In the end niching down would potentially help me tackle the below:

• Laser focused targeting of audience
• Exposed to similar problems
• Become potentially the go to person, "expert" within that field
• Have a clearer offer which will resonate to who I'd like to provide my services

On the other hand since I am starting out and not having clients can I really afford to limit my services to one specific market rather than try accepting "anything" to build my portfolio?

Especially as I believe the service is industry agnostic, so happy to go into a different niche altogether

The reason why I'd be going for ecommerce it's because the last role I worked in was an ecommerce company, however I can see myself coming up against answers such as "we already have tools that can automate everything"

I would really appreciate any guidance and insights on this.

 

[fisicx]

Yes!

The more focused the product the more likely you are to get people looking for your exact solution.

If you are targeting eCommerce you need plugins and extensions. Consider the millions of woo commerce installs. If just 0.1% install your plugin that’s still thousands of customers.

 

[Shopclicks]

If you can add value for eCommerce clients, I would suggest that you target web developers and eCommerce site owners.

however I can see myself coming up against answers such as "we already have tools that can automate everything"

This is why you need to get the attention of developers. eCommerce clients with a big enough budget to afford your service will be using a developer or at least asking their developer if they need what you're offering.

 

[Kelvin]

Yes!

The more focused the product the more likely you are to get people looking for your exact solution.

If you are targeting eCommerce you need plugins and extensions. Consider the millions of woo commerce installs. If just 0.1% install your plugin that’s still thousands of customers.

Thanks for this,

So in my case since I am not offering a product but a service I'm assuming the same applies? Need to find that "small" customer audience within the ecommerce space and target them?

 

[Kelvin]

If you can add value for eCommerce clients, I would suggest that you target web developers and eCommerce site owners.


This is why you need to get the attention of developers. eCommerce clients with a big enough budget to afford your service will be using a developer or at least asking their developer if they need what you're offering.

Thanks for this.

That's a great point because developers will definitely be aware of tools that I use but not every eCommerce site owner.

Wouldn't developers work against me though? Because technically I am providing a service that "no code" is needed

 

[fisicx]

Thanks for this,

So in my case since I am not offering a product but a service I'm assuming the same applies? Need to find that "small" customer audience within the ecommerce space and target them?

You may need to narrow down even further. What sort of e-commerce? What size of business? What platform?

The service requires something to be installed. The plugin just automates the install.

Marketing to web developers can work but it’s still a big mountain to climb.

Consider this: people don’t want automation. They want lower costs, simplified processing, better stock management, easier ordering and so on.

Your success won’t depend on how good the tool. It’s all about how good you are at marketing.

 

[Kelvin]

You may need to narrow down even further. What sort of e-commerce? What size of business? What platform?

The service requires something to be installed. The plugin just automates the install.

Marketing to web developers can work but it’s still a big mountain to climb.

Consider this: people don’t want automation. They want lower costs, simplified processing, better stock management, easier ordering and so on.

Your success won’t depend on how good the tool. It’s all about how good you are at marketing.

Okay so for basic example I need to focus on ecommerce retail brands built on wordpress with over 100SKUs making 20k a month that want to save time on their stock management processes

Would this the type of narrow select I need to target?

If so how would my marketing go about this?

 

[Shopclicks]

Wouldn't developers work against me though? Because technically I am providing a service that "no code" is needed

That's going to depend on your offer and as @fisicx says how well you sell it.

How are you going to charge for your offer?

 

[fisicx]

If so how would my marketing go about this?

Spend a ton of cash on advertising.

There is no simple way to sell this product. There are already a number of automation tools both free and premium. You need to be top of Google and prominent in the Wordpress plugin search. You need to have excellent support which may mean getting more developers on board.

Do you have a demo up and running you can show potential users?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

As mentioned, start with a niche you know and understand and then move on from there.

Create re world scenarios where your system can help people.

If aiming at end users, explain the benefits, not the features. The more technical, then add features.

 

[Mark T Jones]

In marketing terms, it is always best to niche as tightly as possible.


And, has been suggested, talk in the language of your customer, not of your product

 

[Kelvin]

That's going to depend on your offer and as @fisicx says how well you sell it.

How are you going to charge for your offer?

Currently would work on a hourly/daily rate, which will cover the initial implementation setup + monthly support (optional)

 

[Mark T Jones]

Currently would work on a hourly/daily rate, which will cover the initial implementation setup + monthly support (optional)

Be aware that most small businesses are going to want a good idea of actual cost and outcomes

 

[fantheflames]

It does seem like catch 22, but I think you cleverly answered your own question too!

Narrowing down your audience and being a niche service would be the best way to go in your situation. That way you can talk to more of your potential clients, understand their pain points, and assess the competition more efficiently.

I think ecommerce is a good choice. You can develop content that addresses common challenges in the ecommerce space and showcase how your automation services can help them. I hope that helps!

 

[fisicx]

Currently would work on a hourly/daily rate, which will cover the initial implementation setup + monthly support (optional)

Nope. A business will want to see a $99/month type subscription. Support is free.

If you are offering a bespoke/custom service you need to rethink your whole approach.

For example, if you are targeting developers building ecommerce sites they will only be interested if it's a simple install. They won't even want to talk to you.

If you are targeting existing ecommerce sites you will need to a fixed price.

If everything you do is custom then you will struggle to find a single client.

 

[Kelvin]

Spend a ton of cash on advertising.

There is no simple way to sell this product. There are already a number of automation tools both free and premium. You need to be top of Google and prominent in the Wordpress plugin search. You need to have excellent support which may mean getting more developers on board.

Do you have a demo up and running you can show potential users?

The product is not a plugin per se, it's more of a service

In terms of demos I wanted to start by showing use cases eg:

Track your inventory with Airtable + Monday

Or I guess if I need to focus on benefits

Track all your inventory in less than 2 hours per day

 

[fisicx]

The product is not a plugin per se, it's more of a service

Which is why it's going to be difficult to market.

Why do I need you when I can go direct to Airtable?

Or just install this:

WP Inventory Manager

Manage products, equipment, and more in your WordPress website. Perfect for car dealers, art collectors, parts dealers, etc.

en-gb.wordpress.org

or this:

ATUM Inventory Management for WooCommerce - Wordpress Plugin

The most advanced WooCommerce Inventory Management Solution for serious shop owners. Download the latest version of ATUM plugin for WordPress

stockmanagementlabs.com

Right now you aren't offering anyone anything useful. You need to show me how you will save me 5 hours/weeks (or is it 100 hours/month).

 

[Kelvin]

Nope. A business will want to see a $99/month type subscription. Support is free.

If you are offering a bespoke/custom service you need to rethink your whole approach.

For example, if you are targeting developers building ecommerce sites they will only be interested if it's a simple install. They won't even want to talk to you.

If you are targeting existing ecommerce sites you will need to a fixed price.

If everything you do is custom then you will struggle to find a single client.

That's fair I can definitely come up with a 3 level package deal depending on the service they need, my initial concern with that was what if the scope increases but I guess I need to include that in the costs

 

[Kelvin]

Which is why it's going to be difficult to market.

Why do I need you when I can go direct to Airtable?

Or just install this:



Right now you aren't offering anything anyone useful.

Because you may not want to deal with the whole setup and implementation of it, and also may not want to look at all the automation cases that can be integrated so you'd outsource that part of the business to someone like me, especially if being technical is not your focus or strong point and rather pay attention to something else

 

[Shopclicks]

The product is not a plugin per se, it's more of a service

In terms of demos I wanted to start by showing use cases eg:

Track your inventory with Airtable + Monday

The more you talk about this project, the more sceptical I get about it's viability in the format you've outlined.

Are you demonstrating any of this on your own website?

 

[fisicx]

Because you may not want to deal with the whole setup and implementation of it, and also may not want to look at all the automation cases that can be integrated so you'd outsource that part of the business to someone like me, especially if being technical is not your focus or strong point and rather pay attention to something else

But if you are not technical you will have a developer looking after the site. And the developer will go direct to the app provider. They don't need you. They won't even be looking for someone like you.

Remember, they don't want automation. As I said:

They want lower costs, simplified processing, better stock management, easier ordering and so on.

Rethink your whole approach. Stop trying to sell the service and start finding what people actually want. Find the pain points and offer a solution.

It's all about marketing. You need to be better at marketing than you are at building automation tools.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Because you may not want to deal with the whole setup and implementation of it, and also may not want to look at all the automation cases that can be integrated so you'd outsource that part of the business to someone like me, especially if being technical is not your focus or strong point and rather pay attention to something else

Think customer, not product/service

I'm a small e-commerce business selling widgets to engineers for 2 years. Ticking along but wanting to get to the next level

Why do I need you?
What will it cost?
What will the outcome be?

 

[Kelvin]

It does seem like catch 22, but I think you cleverly answered your own question too!

Narrowing down your audience and being a niche service would be the best way to go in your situation. That way you can talk to more of your potential clients, understand their pain points, and assess the competition more efficiently.

I think ecommerce is a good choice. You can develop content that addresses common challenges in the ecommerce space and showcase how your automation services can help them. I hope that helps!

Yes quite tricky but thank you, yes that's definitely one of the ways I'd like to show some awareness

 

[Kelvin]

But if you are not technical you will have a developer looking after the site. And the developer will go direct to the app provider. They don't need you. They won't even be looking for someone like you.

Remember, they don't want automation. As I said:


Rethink your whole approach. Stop trying to sell the service and start finding what people actually want. Find the pain points and offer a solution.

It's all about marketing. You need to be better at marketing than you are at building automation tools.

You are right, thank you

I definitely been focusing mainly on the automation aspect rather than the providing solution so need to really shift my mindset into being a problem solver and knowing how to market it

I have a lot to think about for sure

 

[Craiglincs]

Use make.com instead of zapier perhaps. Unlike zapier it lets you create community plugins so you could extend it into the API of an unsupported program. Then you are selling a product. You can look up what integrations are needed and try to find people using that tool and make.com and find out what info they need to pull out/push in.

 

[Jeff Morton]

Okay so for basic example I need to focus on ecommerce retail brands built on wordpress with over 100SKUs making 20k a month that want to save time on their stock management processes

Would this the type of narrow select I need to target?

If so how would my marketing go about this?

For this, specifically, you can use apollo.io to create a list of all Wordpress ecommerce business sites making over $20k/mth.
Export the Linkedin Urls for the business owners/CEO's/CMO's/Ecommerce Directors, and use an automation tool for outreaching them via Linkedin (offering your service).

You can send 400 connection requests per month - you can expect to receive 15-30 responses per month - which should convert to 1-5 new clients per month.

When you refine your process and achieve consistent results, you can scale by adding more Linkedin profiles to your outreach process.