As you’ll know if you’ve ever met me or read my About page, being a writer was all I wanted to do from a really young age. Making the decision 18 months ago to focus my business solely on copywriting has been hugely rewarding personally and professionally, and I’ve been fortunate to work with some great people. Until a month ago, though, I hadn’t clearly defined my niche.

One of the best things about being a writer is the variety of companies you work with, from sole traders serving their local community to international businesses and entrepreneurs. However, I’ve been increasingly aware that I need to drill down further into who I work for and what I do for them, to make my offering as focused and targeted as possible for a niche market.

Sweet Spot

I’ve long been a fan of the notion of a sweet spot – the meeting point of what you enjoy, what you’re good at and what people will pay you to do for them. I’ve racked my brains trying to work out mine, and had assumed that writing was sufficient. It wasn’t, of course, and my sweet spot/niche finally came to me in the early hours of the morning a few weeks ago, taking me completely by surprise.

Much of my career as an employee was in social care organisations – NHS, CQC, Mencap, social services – and this has continued as I’ve been self-employed. I’ve written for a nutritionist, a stress management and resilience coach, a healthy organisations adviser and a charity for people with anosmia (no sense of smell).

I realised that what I was doing successfully for each of these companies was simplifying the complex – taking the research, medical-heavy jargon and dull conferences and making it easy to read, relevant and interesting to the regular person, who isn’t a medical expert. Me, in other words.

So that’s my niche. Working for more of this kind of business and making it as straightforward as possible for patients, clients and casual readers to grasp what they do.

A New Strapline for 2017

I’ve given this a lot of thought, as I want my strapline to make it clear who my ideal customers are, but to be broad enough to show that if you’re in a related field, we can work together. So from January 2017, Gudrun Lauret Copywriting will be using (and concentrating on) the following strapline:

“Helping health, wellness and social care organisations communicate their message clearly and simply.”

So What Does Finding My Niche Mean for Clients?

For my existing clients, not a lot. Work will continue in exactly the same way, and I will continue to strive to meet their needs. For potential new clients, they can be assured that I’ll be bringing my expertise to providing them with the copy and content services they require.

It DOESN’T mean that I’m excluding other sectors and industries, as if I think we’d be a good fit I’d love to hear from you. I want to work with high-impact entrepreneurs and people who are looking to change the world in a big or small way, and I feel that health organisations (in all manner of forms) contribute to that.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think, and especially if you’re a health, wellness or social care business who’s looking for a copywriter.