Having talked about this since what feels like the beginning of time, at least from the time since the interwebs began, the resurgence of “you are the niche” has tickled me pink.
During my workshop days, when I used to host workshops on the subject of building your personal brand online, I use to attempt to make it amply clear to all my gracious attendants that they themselves were the brand.
The all-pervading advice of “niche down” or “you need to find a niche to do well on social media” etc., never quite sat right with me. Why would anyone force themselves into a tight little box? Why would you force your life into a tight little box? When you had all of your life to choose from?
Take me, for example, a photographer who also published a blog and also published her work and other things on social media platforms. Then “Influencer Marketing” became a thing and I found myself on all the “Influencer” lists of PR companies and they were all trying to fit me into a box to decide which client work would be most suitable to hire me for.
I didn’t exactly make it easy for them because I did everything. I could go anywhere and produce great photographs. I could write about those photographs and the subject of those photographs. I could photograph myself using / wearing client product and talk about those. I was great in video and audio. It seemed that I could do everything.
And for a while, work came my way precisely because of that. And then, I believe, it dwindled too, because of that. At some point, and this is my current opinion, PR companies and clients began focusing on hiring those that had a niche. It was easier, less work, than to figure out what to do with me! (I have no idea if any of this is true, I’m just guessing because it’s fun!)
It is such a delight to me, to now see so many voices saying and living the “you are the niche”.
Each one of us is a whole being. We live a whole life. With a variety of experiences and interests. We enjoy food, travel, conversations, paper cranes, diamond art, growing chillies, and everything else under the Sun! Why wouldn’t you want to share that?
Watching another being live their life authentically. There is something compellingly addictive about that. About following them along on that journey. About keeping tabs on how they are doing. About hope. For all of us.
