Should Copywriters Niche Down?
There are many good reasons for copywriters to niche down. Niching down means delivering targeted value to clients and staying ahead of industry news, trends, and developments.
To niche down is to write for a specific industry or specialty. For example, a copywriter may choose to write a specific type of copy – landing pages, email nurture sequences, sales pages, print copy, and more. You can also be a copywriter who offers services to a specific industry or target demographic as I do – the pet, animal health, veterinary, and lifestyle sectors.
Think about journalists who cover a specific beat, an area of specialization where sources and expertise have been developed. Similarly, niche copywriting is aimed at a particular audience(s), industry, or market segment.
So should copywriters niche down? Here are the pros and cons of niching down and how you can decide what is best for you and your business. Plus, I’ll explain why I decided to niche down.
Should Copywriters Niche Down?
If you are new to copywriting, it might be best not to niche down as you get started. According to the Nicki Krawczyk who founded Comprehensive Copywriting Academy, get experience before you decide to niche.
“You need to get as many different types of samples in as many different types of industries and for as many different types of clients as you can,” Krawczyk says. “Collect samples for ad agencies and in-house agencies, for B2B and B2C, for banner ads, emails, newspaper ads, brochures, websites, magazines ads and anything else you can.”
At first, she recommends viewing copywriting as your niche, with projects in everything from landing pages to SEO on websites, paid ads on Meta to writing in a brand’s voice.
My colleague and friend Pam Foster, Learning Chief at AWAI (American Writers & Artists Institute), says picking a niche industry can help attract more clients. Pam has been a mentor to me over the years, and she herself has found freelancing success through niching down.
Pam says the best way to choose a niche industry for your writing business is to, “start with a niche you already know about and give it a shot – don’t worry about being locked into it for life.”
As an experienced copywriter, my advice is to choose a profitable niche (or two or three) if that’s something you feel adamant about. I know some copywriters never niche down, as they prefer to generalize and write copy for any niche and any specialty. If you prefer to niche as I do, here are the pros and cons.
Pros and Cons of Niching Down
Pros of Niching Down
- Reputation. Prospects will get to know you as the go-to person for your specialty, which also helps with referrals.
- Stand Out From Your Competition. For example, if you are a tech copywriter, your clients are anyone in the tech space. However, if your audience/niche is more specific, you’ll stand out in a flooded pool of tech copywriters. Perhaps you become a UX copywriter who specializes in user experience and SEO.
- Targeted Audience and Expertise. Niche copywriters understand the pain points, needs, preferences, and more of their target audience. Unlike a general copywriter who is learning about an industry as they sign clients, a niche copywriter is a specialist. Personally, this specialized knowledge, staying current with industry trends, and being immersed in specific niches allows me to bring a dedicated voice with experience to all my clients.
- Enjoy Your Work. If you spend all day writing copy for a specialty you are not interested in, things will get pretty dull or frustrating. I tried it, so I know. Choosing a specific niche that is both profitable and gives you joy is key, especially if you are freelancing. Most freelancers work for themselves so they can choose the projects and clients.
- Higher Value Proposition. If you’ve ever gone to a family doctor and they refer you to a specialist, you know there are generally higher fees involved. Commanding higher rates is possible because of this specialized knowledge, experience, and skill set.
Cons of Niching Down
- Broader Client Opportunities. Generalists can choose from any industry and any project. This does not mean that, as a niche copywriter, you only have to stay in your niche lane. Generalists, however, may feel they have more opportunities.
- Flexibility. Generalist copywriters may feel they can more easily adapt and pivot to different industries and trends, which can be advantageous as technology changes.
- Limited Client Base. Although this has never been my problem, focusing on a specific niche that is too narrow may limit the number of clients to pitch.
- Burnout Potential. As a generalist copywriter, you may thrive on the different types of clients, markets, and projects and avoid feeling burnout from working in one niche.
- Difficulty Expanding. If you work as a specialty copywriter and decide to transition to a generalist, it may be challenging. You’ll need to update your skill set to transition to other niches. However, most generalist copywriters are not specialists in any one field; rather, they take on projects and learn as they go.
How Being a Specialty Copywriter Serves My Clients
You wouldn’t ask your veterinarian to perform open heart surgery on your dog. General practitioners refer their patients to specialists for a reason — the pet’s issues fall outside the expertise they can provide.
That’s the way I view niching down. I had a potential client contact me recently. She was disappointed in the results of hiring a general writer and not someone with pet industry experience.
I was asked to rewrite a few projects for her – from a tone and brand guide to product descriptions and Amazon listings.
Tired of broken promises and words that fell flat, eager clients contacted me to disrupt the old way of doing things. Smart Dog Copy was born. My niches are pet, veterinary/animal health, and lifestyle. When a potential client wants work in those niches, they know who specializes and contacts me.
Is Niche Copywriting Boring?
In a word, nope!
On any given day, you’ll find me working on things like:
- Tone and voice guides
- Product descriptions
- SEO-optimized blog posts
- Instagram and other social media content
- Emails and funnels
- Press releases
- Creative content strategy and content marketing
- Video scripts
- Speaking engagements
- …and much more
It’s never boring.
How I Became a Niche Copywriter
I’ve worked in the pet industry since 2009 as a writer, blogger, and copywriter. I didn’t realize that many of the clients and projects I worked on were actually copywriting in nature. I just called it ‘writing.’ You could have knocked me over with the feather when I realized I’d been leading up to my dream all along.
Before working in the pet industry, I was always a writer in some capacity – from medical writing to working as an inside sales rep and writing papers on a corporate level.
I’ve always been a dog lover of the highest order and knew I wanted to plant my roots and be a leader in the pet industry. You can’t achieve your dreams until you define your mission.
My mission is to use my words and actions to help myself and pet-related brands make the world a better place for dogs, cats, etc.
Leveraging my experience in pet PR and Marketing for the last 15 years has been instrumental in driving the growth of my clients in the pet industry, animal health, and lifestyle sectors.
Advice For Finding Your Copywriting Niche (Why It Works for Me)
- Don’t niche down if it doesn’t feel right. Niching down requires a lot of thought, so don’t rush it. Ask yourself what you can see yourself doing every day. Maybe you like writing emails and email funnels. That’s a niche. It doesn’t have to be industry-specific. Some people prefer working with personal coaches on their copy. That’s a niche. Try different things. I recommend taking a year to experiment if you have no idea what to do. You can’t know what you like until you try different things, like ice cream flavors.
- Niching down makes you a specialist. Your goal should be to fill in the blank of this sentence: When someone thinks of _______ for copywriting needs, I want them to think of me.
- When you niche down, word gets out. People talk. They recommend you to others. You can ask them to recommend you and have clients refer you. Your niche becomes your golden lasso, like Wonder Woman, or the red cape, like Superman. It’s your specialized weapon of sorts that you own.
- There’s plenty of room for everyone in the niche-down world. Let’s take the veterinary medicine, for example. There’s a company that manufactures tables with a built-in scale for veterinarians. Then there are the veterinarians they sell them to and all the brands that veterinarians’ offices work with – from big names to medium-sized companies to holistic treats. Don’t forget about pet toys, all the items you’d find in a pet supply store, and all the companies they deal with. The possibilities are endless once you start making a client list to pitch.
- Listen and be you. Listen to your gut, but base your decisions on practicality. Make sure the niche is profitable through research. Talk to others in the space, hop on LinkedIn, and join groups there and on Facebook. You can lurk and absorb.
- Open doors. One of my initial fears was “closing doors” meaning walking away from opportunities when I decided to niche down. Niching down opened doors for me by getting specific. A colleague once told me the market is flooded with generalists. I’ve never been one to be general about anything, especially in a sea of generalists.
In a future blog post, I explain what you need to do to become a copywriting specialist.
Whatever you do, take steps forward to the niche you love. You need to LOVE it because it will become a part of what you do and who you are. Oh, PS, if you hate it, that’s cool. The neat part about life is you can try something else.
How to Work With Me
Let’s put your brand ahead of the pack. View my portfolio and let’s talk. I work with all sized brands in the pet, animal health, veterinary, and lifestyle spaces.
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