Niching down…….
Today I wanted to write about niching down.
When I first started my interiors journey, there was all this talk about having a niche — a particular area that you specialise in. I listened to so many podcasts and read many a blog about it.
How do you make yourself stand out from the crowd?
As an interior designer in a rural area, I find this a little hard to apply to myself. I feel that in a regional town I need to be flexible in what I offer and diversify when necessary.
What I mean is that I have strengths in many areas and could niche down, as they say in the industry, into one particular area. In a city, this might make a lot of sense as you're competing with many more designers. In a regional area, however, this may actually limit you. There may not be as many designers to compete with, but there also aren't the same number of projects that would keep a particular niche afloat.
Some of my strengths are creating designs in 3D and designing kitchens. However, I can also use those same skills to help someone design a hallway, mudroom or laundry. These projects may be less complicated, but they're still important spaces that people need help with.
Being flexible in this industry, particularly in the current economic climate, and offering clients whatever it is they need, feels like a better way to go than focusing on one niche service alone.
The sort of help I mean might be specifying tiles and tapware for a bathroom. A client may simply be struggling with those decisions in their project. It could be a colour scheme, as many people find choosing colours overwhelming. It might be selecting furniture or working through a space-planning issue.
Breaking down a project and offering help in a specific area, at a specific time, is something I'm very happy to do.
Things work a little differently in a country town. Wait times on trades can be longer, projects often get stretched out over time, and people may not need a full interior design service from start to finish. Sometimes they just need help with one piece of the puzzle.
Over the years, I've realised that rather than trying to fit my business into what the industry says I should do, it's more important to respond to what my clients actually need. For me, that means being adaptable, offering practical solutions, and meeting people where they are in their project.
And perhaps that's my niche after all.
Much Love
Kiri
