3 Simple Steps to Finding Your Craft Business Niche [and why you need one]
Ugh…Niche.
...you know, the thing that everyone keeps saying you need but you keep avoiding.
You’ve been avoiding finding your craft business niche because it feels like you’re being asked to pick one creative thing to do for the rest of your life and that sounds terrifying, limiting, and worst of all, straight-up boring.
This is particularly scary because you’re an artist. You don’t just have one art medium you want to stick to, you have a million ideas and projects you want to jump into at any one minute!
The very definition of an artist is someone who creates, and that often happens in a lot of different ways.
I know all about that hallway closet you’re afraid to open for fear of getting buried in a pile of yarn, paint, glue, old magazines, sequins, and bolts of fabric. (I have the same problem).
I know you have at least 5-10 half-finished projects lying around the house at any one moment.
And I know that picking your niche is the last thing you want to do because you want to make ALL THE THINGS and sell them ALL in your shop because that’s what feels good to you as a creator.
I totally get it. This is the natural response that almost all creatives tend to have when they’re ready to start a business.
But I have to warn you, there’s a big downside to following this path, and here’s the problem:
By attempting to try and appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one.
Running a business requires a lot more strategy than just making random cute things and listing them in your online shop, just like picking a craft niche requires more than picking a random craft to make and sell.
Because ultimately, by making and selling a million different things you’re confusing your customers. As a result, you’re also making the huge mistake of unknowingly blending in with everyone around you.
Why You Need to Find Your Craft Business Niche:
Reason 1 - It demonstrates your expertise on a specific topic
If you bought an expensive antique wooden vanity and your friend thought it would be neat to leave her burning hot 120-degree curling iron laying on it for long enough that there are now marks on the surface, would you call some random fix-it guy to help you refinish it?
Of course not! You would go find someone who specializes in refinishing antiques and understands the importance of old beautiful things and knows exactly how to fix it.
Yes, it will be more expensive because this person is an expert, but to the owner of the vanity, it’s worth the price to have their treasured item repaired correctly.
Here’s the lesson:
People seek out experts. Be an expert on something, and charge accordingly.
Reason 2 - It prevents your customers from being confused
The goal of your product line, your social content, and all your marketing should always be to let your customer know that they are in the right place and that the products you sell are made with them in mind.
Imagine that your customer is searching through Etsy and comes across a cute screenprinted pencil pouch that you made. They click on the listing and they like what they see.
Unfortunately, it’s not exactly what they need so they click through to see your full shop, assuming that you have another design, size, or other cute printed office accessories.
Instead, they find a smattering of random products. There’s one other pencil pouch but it’s too big, and it seems to be buried amongst a mishmash of products like coffee mugs with sayings like, “But first, coffee”, beaded bracelets, dog toys, and bookmarks.
Your shop is the online bodega of handmade. A one-stop shop for all their coffee cup and dog toy needs.
...but your customer is looking for a pencil pouch, and you don’t have what they want...so they’re off to find someone with more available options.
See the problem?
Reason 3 - It helps you stand out in the market
By choosing a handmade business niche and getting specific, you now have an edge over everyone else who refuses to do the same.
Imagine you’re searching online for a very specific need. Let’s say you want to grow an herb garden in your kitchen window and you’re looking to buy a long thin planter that runs the length of the window.
So you start searching through pottery websites and large chain store sites filled with regular circle-shaped pots...because that’s what most people sell.
But then you come across a website that ONLY makes herb garden planters. They come in a few different shapes and sizes, but they have a whole section of planters that are specifically made for kitchen herb gardens.
You quickly skim through the options, pick out the perfect planter, and input your credit card details. This purchase was a no-brainer because this business had exactly what you were looking for and stood out from the other 25 sites you searched.
Examples of a Good craft Niche
Now that you know why finding your niche is so important, let’s talk about what exactly a niche is and isn’t. We know we need to get specific...but how specific?
If you’re new to this, you might think that your niche could be something like:
- Handmade dog toys
- Handmade soap
- Handmade veils
After all, these are semi-specific products that will help you stand out from the big box stores which is great!
However, there are still 105,000,000 results that pop up in Google when you search “handmade dog toys” (see below).
I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s ok to get a little more specific :)
Instead, you can try narrowing your niche by trying something like:
“Handmade dog toys for pitbulls”
This query still brought up 28,000,000 search results, but it appeals directly to the person searching for a handmade dog toy that can withstand the thrashing of a powerful pitbull.
The customer has a problem (needs a tough handmade toy) and your product can solve it (tough handmade toys for pitbulls).
When that person sees your product, they’re going to feel like they hit the jackpot and you made it just for them (which you did) because it’s very specific, you will have less competition, and it’s exactly what they’re looking for.
This is how you win at niche-ing and selling.
Here are those other 2 examples I mentioned earlier, but niched down a step:
Handmade soap >> lavender based handmade soaps for sensitive skin
Handmade veils >> colorful handmade veils for artsy brides
Are these pretty specific? Yep.
Will your products catch the attention of those pitbull-owning, sensitive skin struggling, artsy brides? You betcha.
Getting this specific not only defines your message and purpose, it also helps your customer find you and connect with your products much more easily.
3 Steps to Finding your craft business Niche:
Now that we know what a niche is, how do we find and commit to one niche only forever and ever? I know it seems impossible and claustrophobic, but you gotta do it!
The good news is that once you pick your handmade niche, you still have a ton of wiggle room to have fun and keep you motivated...even though it doesn’t seem like it. (Hang tight and I’ll show you how after we go through my 3-step niche finding process.)
Finding your niche is a balance between what you’re passionate about, what could be profitable, and what you’re good at.
Here is the simple, yet effective niche finding strategy I use with my creative business clients to help them find their perfect niche.
Step 1: The Brain Dump
The brain dump process is a very therapeutic exercise in which you will take every single business idea you’ve ever had and get it out onto paper.
This doesn’t need to be done in one sitting, you can continue to come back and add to this list as long as you need to. You get to decide when you’re ready to move onto the next step, so take your time and don’t censor yourself.
Examples of what this might look like:
- kids socks and matching beanie sets
- plant themed paper goods
- year-round holiday wreaths made from dried flowers
You can write down product ideas or even just general thoughts you want to expand on later. Whatever feels good to you.
If you just have a vague idea of a niche that’s ok to write down too, you can always make it more specific in step 3.
Important: No idea is too small or dumb to make the list. Anything goes. You’ll edit things down in the next step.
Step 2: Elimination
Now it’s time for the hard part. This step might take a while, but it’s the most important step so don’t rush it.
Take time to think through each idea on your list and slowly start eliminating them, one by one. You’ll probably find that once you look at the list as a whole, some of those ideas won’t seem that great anymore when compared to others.
At this stage, you’ll want to ask yourself a few questions about each idea:
- Could this be a profitable niche?
- Am I passionate, excited, and knowledgable about this niche?
- Could I talk for hours on end about this topic?
Ask these questions of each item you wrote down and continue the elimination process until you narrow it down to your top 3 niche ideas.
Step 3: Compare & Contrast
Once you narrow it down to your top 3, go through each one and list out product ideas, price points, and weigh them against each other in terms of what you’re most excited about, what sounds the most fun, and which you think would be most profitable.
Then pick a winner.
After you pick your handmade business niche, if you still feel a little unsure about it, that’s ok. If you feel about 75% sure it’s a good idea after going through this detailed process, I would say just go ahead and start anyway.
The reason I say that is because if you’re fighting the process in general, then nothing you land on will feel 100% certain. You won’t know for sure what the right move is until you jump in and try it.
Plus, you already went through the first two steps, so this is actually your best idea. Resist the urge to make excuses because now it’s time to take action.
In the worst case scenario, you’ll try it out, decide it’s not for you, then switch directions quickly before anyone knows the difference.
Don’t put too much pressure on this decision. The best thing you can do is jump in, see how it goes, (gain major clarity) then make the next best move.
This is the first of hundreds of decisions you’ll be making as a new handmade business owner so it’s good to move quickly and be decisive.
Is My craft Niche Too Specific?
You may think that niching down will drastically reduce the number of potential customers you’ll be able to reach, but that is often a myth.
Here’s how to check if you took it too far -
Head over to Google and type in your niche topic. For example, “tie-dye dog clothes for 3 legged chihuahuas” (ok if you have a minute, this is actually a really cute search result!)
What results come up? Do you see any other businesses selling similar items? Or is there nothing coming up?
If you can’t find even 1 business selling that product, or a business with a similar niche you might think that’s a good sign because you’ll have no competition, right? Great news!
Just kidding, that’s actually a terrible sign, and here’s why -
If you can’t find anyone selling what you want to sell that is a good sign...that there is no demand for your product. Which means you will have a hard time finding customers.
In this case, you can just dial it back a notch. Instead of “tie-dye dog clothes for 3 legged chihuahuas”, try “clothes for 3 legged dogs”, or “tie-dye dog clothes”.
It’s still very specific, but you’ll also have plenty of customers.
How to get a lot of variety within your craft business niche:
If you decide on “watercolor embellished office products for busy moms” as your niche, you might think that that would limit you to only doing painting and graphic design on boring office supplies until the end of time.
But here is a list of a bunch of other things you could venture into that still fall very much within your niche:
teach watercolor classes
selling office sets in different styles
collaborate with another office-related seller for a giveaway
membership program (members get a custom notepad 12x a year)
sell wholesale in gift shops
create custom personalized calendars
Etc, etc.
This is just a start. Never feel like whatever you choose will hold you back from being creative in your business. There a million ways that you can expand within one area while still staying true to your niche.
Once you’ve found your perfect niche...celebrate!
This step must not be skipped! You just made one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make in your business and you need to give yourself credit for doing the work.
You’re about to embark on a crazy adventure that is going to be mentally and emotionally challenging. If you don’t stop and celebrate the little things along the way, you’ll never survive the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship.
Congrats on taking the first major step in your craft business and finding your handmade niche!
Next, share your niche with us in the comments, then download my free workbook below to start organizing your ideas and to take the first step in starting your craft business today!
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