B.I.G niches

Just as my fingernail slid under the edge of the shiny foil label, he ripped the New Era hat from my hands and pushed it close to his chest…holding it like an injured child.

Where I came from, the “breaking in” of a ball cap was an art. There were rubber bands involved.

I was a pro at accelerating the process with some Exactoknife fray and a kick around a dirt infield.

That’s not how it worked in Queens, NY apparently.

I assumed the label was still stuck to the still unbent brim because the hat was new. But this boy– the one 19-year-old Abbey was falling for– made it clear with his mouth-agape exasperated stare that I had committed some sort of baseball cap sin.

Everything about him was delightfully foreign to me.

He called pizza a “pie.” He could parallel park so well that when he parked my car, I’d have to call him to come get me out of the spot. He could tell a fake pair of Jordan sneakers from the real thing a block away.

And this boy burnt me a set of educational CDs.

Tupac. 50 Cent. And Biggie.

This offering of love… with “KB’s Mixed Tape” 1, 2, 3, and 4 scrawled in Sharpie on the front was the most sentimental act that college freshman ever performed for me.

So with that, I’d like to introduce:

The “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” Approach to Finding Your Market.

The two most common questions I get from beginner copywriters are

One: How do I find my niche?

and

Two: What do I charge?

I think most copywriters think of the word “niche” in the wrong way. “Health” is not a niche. “Coaching” is not a niche.

And deciding in your first month as a copywriter what your “specialty” is doesn’t really work in my experience

Here’s just a sampling of the products I’ve written for over the last decade.

Life Coaching⬥ Dog supplements⬥ Woodworking⬥ Fitness⬥ Kids Technology⬥ Parenting⬥ Resumé Writing⬥ Solar-powered Generator⬥ Disaster Response Charity⬥ Strength & Conditioning⬥ Coaching⬥ Hypnosis⬥ Disney Vacation Planning⬥ Horse Racing⬥ Coin Collecting⬥ Corporate Training⬥ Graphic Design⬥ Radiology ⬥ Dance Instruction⬥ Choreography⬥ SaaS⬥ Real Estate⬥ Home Goods⬥ Back Pain⬥ Make Money Online⬥ Make Money Offline⬥

Each of these product categories have profitable niches within them. And by profitable, I mean profitable for the product creator, and profitable for the copywriter.

Here’s what I mean.

Last week, I reached out to an art student about creating some custom Superhero drawings for me.

These are the prices she sent me:

What was interesting to me was not that her prices were laughably low, but her response when I called her out on it:

Instead of giving her a price, I asked her to think about the “Mo Money Mo Problems” framework.

 

You need a market that has money and that has a problem to be solved.

College students typically don’t have either.

Who does Superhero art solve a problem for?

 

When you’re solving a problem, your prices magically become higher.

But what about experience?

I’m not advocating you overcharge. But I do want you to think about the value you bring to the table. Value that has nothing to do with your pedigree.

How did I land on “Voice” as a topic?

I’d worked with dozens of business owners who were losing money every month because their copywriters couldn’t write in their voice.

High-level business owners — Mo money, mo problems.

Superhero art. There is a woman who charges $300+ to event organizers to create custom art for their event. The marketers want to stand out from all the other events out there.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

I’m working with a company now in the software space that has been marketing to beginners and is trying to redo all their messaging to hit more intermediate buyers and increase customer Lifetime Value. This change is potentially worth millions in revenue each year.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems.

So… if you take away anything from today’s post, remember, you’re not supposed to peel the sticker off a New Era cap but you are supposed to look for the pockets of your market with the most money and the most problems.

-Abbey

P.S. We settled on $70 per piece for the artwork. KC was thrilled that I negotiated paying 5X MORE for one of our vendors, but sometimes you gotta Stack mad chips, spread love with my peeps. Ya know?