How to Create a Niche in the Events Industry (and Why You Should!)

I'm a guest blogger on EliteMeetings.com. Here is one of my recent contributions.

I think that creating a niche in our industry is incredibly important. Most people tend to think that offering a wide variety of services will bring them more opportunities, but while that sounds intuitively correct, it’s actually the opposite. By narrowing your market to a very tiny segment, you’re more easily able to market yourself and be branded. It’s important in a very competitive industry to be as niche as possible, so here are a few tips on how you can find and brand a niche that works for you.

Find what you love
One of the great things about the events industry is that every planner is so different. We all have different passions, strengths and skills. Something that might be really interesting to me is probably a drag to someone else. For me, this interest is technology. I have a very unique interest in how technology impacts events and how it can be used throughout the event planning process, but clearly this is not the same passion for everyone in the industry. For some, it’s design. For others, fundraising. Whatever the thing is that you love, you’ve got to find a way to hone in on that.

Market that niche
The reality is that marketing a niche is far more simple than marketing broadly. If you are a technology focused event planner, all of your content, social media and marketing can circle around that. If you’re trying to stretch yourself too thin, you have to market weddings, corporate events, Bar mitzvahs, birthday parties and more. It’s simply stretches you too far. Instead, make sure that all of your marketing collateral and social media/content marketing is about this one thing.

Be consistent
They say that your brand is not what you say it is, but what other people say it is. And how does a user identify your brand? It’s through their experience with your brand through your marketing. The more consistent you are with your marketing, the easier it will be for your target audience to pick up on your niche. You can always decide to take events that are outside of this niche for the money or the experience, but you may choose not to showcase them as prominently on your website or in your social media.

If you have trouble believing me that you will get more business by marketing more narrowly, just trust me for six months. Dive into a single category and see the impact you can make!

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