Want to stand out from the competition? Do what this famous beer brand did...
Published 29 days ago • 3 min read
The Tiny Tribes🪶 Email-Only Newsletter
Everything else is noise.
Hey, Tiny Tibers!
“The riches are in the niches.”
“A business niche allows you to be a big fish in a small pond.”
These are factual statements, but if you want to stand out, go beyond simply picking a niche.
To niche or not to niche
While some popular online writers recommend against picking a niche for writers and urge you to “write about whatever you want,” ....that’s terrible advice for most writers.
Why?
Because writers are humans, and all humans develop interests and areas of deep interest.
For some, it’s business or woodworking; for others, it might be travel or everything you ever wanted to know about Excel spreadsheets.
That last example makes me feel a little ill… but that’s just me.
Amusing titles need not apply
It’s not enough to call yourself the Emperess of Excel or the Wizard of Woodworking.
While there’s nothing wrong with either niche, both are too broad to be very interesting.
If only there were a way you could make a broad, dull niche sparkle like a shiny new bauble. 💎
Introducing: The Micro-Niche
A micro-niche is what it sounds like: a subset of a larger, more generic-sounding niche name, like these:
Travel Tips ——> Budget-Friendly Travel Tips
Sales & Marketing ——> Sales & Marketing for Soccer Moms
Email Tips & Tricks ——> Email Tips for Non-Profits
Contrast these two ways I could describe my micro-niche:
Option 1: Boring Niche 🥱
I’m Baz, a copywriter specializing in the newsletter genre. I can help you boost your monthly subscriber rate by 30%.
That's straightforward, but it neither tells the entire story nor adequately differentiates my business from another newsletter copywriter.
Option 2: Micro-Niche 💎
I’m Baz, a copywriter specializing in newsletters. Instead of ghostwriting articles, I carefully craft the copy on three pages on a client’s Substack, Ghost, or Beehiiv newsletter site; this increases their new monthly subscribers by 30-50.
This option differentiates me from any other newsletter copywriter.
Why the micro-niche works
Anything we can do to help total strangers understand what we do is a Win.
That’s because we too often get cute or clever when naming our newsletters, domain names, or products and services.
Cute and clever is for high school, not for business.
In the land of the confused, clarity is king.
Strive to be clear, not clever.
A CASE STUDY IN MICRO-NICHES
Miller Genuine Draft— a brand from the Molson Coors Brewing Company line of beers— had a problem.
They were like any other beer.
They already had two longstanding and successful brands, ‘Miller High Life’ and ‘Miller Lite.’
However, the ad execs knew they needed to differentiate the new brand.
The mission was to be unique enough to attract the attention of other brand loyalists. After doing so, they’d position advertising featuring new brand loyalists to drive sales.
In a marketing meeting, a junior copywriter, who usually only spoke when spoken to, suddenly piped up… mainly to break the awkward silence.
“What about saying something about it being cold-filtered?” she offered.
“Every beer is cold-filtered,” replied her boss derisively.
The Executive VP perked up with interest.
“What did you say?” she asked, nodding to the junior staff member.
“Uh,” stammered the junior staffer, “Well, I uh... I read in the specs that we filter the beer as part of the brewing process. Cold-filtered just had a ring to it… but since all beer makers cold-filter, it’s probably nothing…”
The Executive VP grinned, made a quick note on her pad, closed her leather portfolio, and walked to the door before facing the group.
“With one big difference… no other company mentions it.
Well done, let’s go with that.”
Miller Genuine Draft is still known for being cold-filtered, partly because it wisely chose a micro-niche (cold-filtered beer) of a generic niche (beer).
How to nail down your micro-niche
First, identify your generic (boring) niche.
Let's say it's knitting.
Look for a slight difference that can differentiate your business from the next business like yours.
You can use location, Target Audience (TA), or a process to micro-niche.
Knitting for Non-Knitters (TA)
Vancouver Knitter, Unite! (Location)
Slow Knitting for Arthritic Hands (Process)
Speed Knitting (Process)
Mindful Knitters (TA, Process)
More examples...
Micro-niches are home to the mega-riches!
Speaking of Micro-Niches…
You can start earning with this service in 2 weeks.
Profits To Pages is a four-week micro-niched copywriting training that equips you with a DONE-FOR-YOU problem-solving service you can market to generate immediate cash flow.
If you charge $500-$1,000 for this problem-solving DFY service (that takes about 3 days to turn around), you could quickly achieve your goal of five-figure monthly revenues.
That's much better than asking for $8/month on Substack, right?
In this FREE SATURDAY WORKSHOP (see a link to register), I'll review the four-session training so you can decide if it's a good fit for you.