The following is an adapted extract from Jill Poet, the CEO of Organisation for Responsible Businesses‘ book, ‘It Really Is Just Good Business – The art of operating a responsible, ethical, and PROFITABLE small business’ – available now! Check out the reviews and sample pages on Amazon.
Niching
If you have ever attended a marketing workshop, you will no doubt have been told that you need to ask yourself the following questions before you develop your marketing strategy:
- What problems do you solve for your customers?
- Who is your perfect customer? (Demographic, specific habits, goals and priorities, communication preferences, career, industry, gender, pain points, etc.)
- Could you focus on niching by segmenting your markets?
- What is your specific area of expertise?
The essence is that if you have not clearly identified your perfect customer, you could potentially be wasting time and money marketing to individuals and companies that are never likely to be interested in your products and services.
I am extremely excited to witness the birth of a new breed of marketing: niching in a way that says loud and clear:
‘I only want to work with companies that are aligned with my values.’
A values-led niche
How this is packaged and the words used varies, but this type of niching is invariably the key feature displayed eloquently on their website.
Most importantly, the companies I am talking about here are not specifically in any of the ethical/social or environmental sectors because clearly, their potential clients are either already passionate about those issues or, at a minimum, eager to improve and embrace change.
No, these are ‘ordinary’ businesses: accountants, copywriters, business consultants, virtual assistants and many more.
Why finding a values-based niche is worth it
It is a brave step, and I know many people who have taken this step have initially been very nervous about doing so. But the results have been amazing. These businesses have thrived not only financially but also physically and mentally in an environment where working with like-minded people provides pleasure on a daily basis.
Below are three examples of small businesses in different sectors that have taken this step. There are loads more I could share. It is a big step to take, but the more we define who we want to work with, the more we’ll drive the movement for a better way of doing business, so please do consider how you might be able to be more selective in who you work with.
As you will see, two examples showcase vegans who proudly showcase what is important to them. Neither is saying they will ONLY work with vegans, but all these examples are very explicit in who they will work with.
Case Study 1
Chaos Into Calm, an online business management company, is not only flourishing but is expanding both in the number of employees and associates and also the range of services offered.
Founder Sam Roblett explains why she decided to focus solely on working with ethical businesses and the impact it has had:
My reason for starting Chaos Into Calm was to make an impact. After researching the damage animal products cause to animals themselves, the environment and our own health, I made the decision to align my actions to my ethics and go vegan.
The information I learnt showed me how much of what happens is hidden from view with clever marketing. We aren’t told about how products reach our homes and our plates. I was convinced that if people knew these things too, they would choose kinder options, and so I began to talk to family, friends and co-workers.
This was harder than I thought, and people acted like I had been indoctrinated into a cult. At times I felt like I couldn’t be who I really was or express my feelings about things fully. I couldn’t believe people would think that choosing to live my life with the least harm possible could be so radical, but this is a symptom of how our world has evolved.
So, I hit the streets. I joined my local animal rights and environmental activism groups and used my strong communication skills to talk to strangers. But after four years, it still felt like things weren’t moving fast enough. I wanted to make more of an impact, and I wanted to help people see that there were more ethical options to choose.
As consumers, we make choices and exercise our power through the products and services we purchase. This got me thinking…in order to make choices, those better choices needed to be available. With more ethical options readily available, the public would have no excuse but to choose the compassionate option. But with such a high number of businesses failing in the first five years, we needed to make sure that success happened for those businesses that held strong ethics towards animals and our environment.
I founded Vegan Business Networking on Facebook and LinkedIn to sow seeds of collaboration and support for each other, and started my online business management company, Chaos Into Calm, with our aim being to support ethical business owners to continue and grow at the point where everything becomes too busy and overwhelming for them to succeed alone.
Chaos Into Calm provides strategy, business systems, operations management, sustainable development and team support. We have helped values-based businesses succeed when they otherwise would have given up due to lack of structure, organisation, resources and overwhelm.
The vegan, ethical and plant-based market is tough, everything a business does is under greater scrutiny, and they must set themselves the highest levels of integrity. For me, working in this niche and choosing who I will and will not work with means that I can truly live and work in harmony with my ethics. I get to work with inspiring people who want to do more than make profit, they want to change the world. They are here to make an impact, and we are here to help them succeed.
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If this chimes with you and your approach to business, consider applying for membership of ORB or looking at our Responsible Business Standard course and certification options.
Case Study 2
Write Rabbit is a copywriting and content company launched by Tash Morgan-Etty in 2019 when she emigrated to England. Here she explains how her personal ‘Aha!’ moment came when challenged by a client she was working with.
Protecting nature and helping people were ingrained in me as a child. However, although these passions followed through into my private life and hobbies as an adult, I hadn’t found a way to link them consistently to my work life.
During my careers in TV production, journalism, corporate communications and marketing across Africa, I had pushed environmental and social agendas as much as I could but quickly became frustrated at how siloed CSR often is, as well as the common perception of it among management as nothing more than fluffy PR coverage.
In 2019 I took the opportunity of emigrating to England to switch my career to copywriting – something I’d wanted to do for some time. Having excitedly gone about setting up my company and putting the word out there, a sustainability expert approached me needing help with his content planning. He proposed a skills exchange whereby he would help me green my business in exchange for a content strategy. I was sceptical about the idea as I didn’t think there was much about my business that could be ‘greened’. I worked entirely from home on a laptop, after all. I’m pleased to say he proved me wrong! He showed me that there was plenty I could do to improve my business and positively impact the planet. At one point in the process, he challenged me to consider using my services to support planet-positive clients.
That was my ‘Aha!’ moment.
Within days I’d pivoted and niched down to focus on brand messaging and writing for companies with an eco-friendly and/or ethical ethos. So, rather than having a siloed CSR arm or doing random bits of work to support youth or environmental organisations, I now had a business driven entirely by a positive purpose.
I can’t say it was an easy decision, but – having registered the company just a couple of months prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and having no real network within the UK anyway – I figured I didn’t have much to lose. From a strategic point of view, talk of sustainability was rapidly on the rise, and the focus on healthcare worldwide highlighted the cracks in social systems. So, I knew that the demand for planet and people-friendly marketing messages was only ever going to increase. But, to be honest, I mainly made this change because it felt right.
How has it worked out? Well, like a lot of early-stage businesses, it was a bumpy start. However, as soon as I began networking in the same circles as other ethical businesses – through organisations like The Good Business Club, the Better Business Network, and the Organisation for Responsible Businesses – and focusing my marketing on the most relevant social media channel for my audience (LinkedIn), the enquiries began flying in.
Of course, leads aren’t the only measure of success. Aside from steadily building a positive reputation among the types of businesses I serve, the most rewarding result of niching into this space has been the people. It’s not something I’d thought about when I’d pivoted, but it’s been great to find that fellow business leaders operating in this space are genuinely the loveliest bunch of folks you could ever wish to meet. The fact that I get to work directly with them and support their purpose-led missions feels like a huge privilege.
I’d strongly encourage anyone considering focusing on supporting this sector to give it a go. I look forward to welcoming you to the Light Side.
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If this chimes with you and your approach to business, consider applying for membership of ORB or looking at our Responsible Business Standard course and certification options.
Case Study 3
The Vegan Publisher, founded by Mitali Deypurkaystha, is a book consultancy and publishing company dedicated to helping vegan, ethical and responsible business owners put their mission, movement and message on the map so ‘together we can change the world, one book at a time.’
But as Mitali explains, that was not always the case:
When I started in 2020, I was a publisher for all kinds of business owners. I’ve been vegan since 2012 for ethical reasons, and I loved the idea of working with vegan, ethical or responsible business owners. But ‘nailing my colours to the mast’ frightened me. What if it put off some people from working with me? What if I was niching down too far and my business would fail because of a lack of customers?
The turning point came in May 2021. After releasing my book, The Freedom Master Plan, I was inundated with messages from many vegan, ethical and responsible business owners asking me to join their networks. They would question why I did not mention anywhere in my book, website and social media that I was an ethical vegan.
I realised that I’d been foolish. I’d made a very basic mistake in business. And that is, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. From that day on, I decided to focus on working with people who align with my values.
My clients don’t have to be vegan to work with me. In fact, more than 50 per cent of my clients are not vegan. But they are ethically minded, value-driven and strive to do the right thing when possible. Publishing a book is a momentous occasion, and if your book is raising awareness and creating a bigger impact, it makes sense to work with someone who believes in your values as much as you do.
I’ve been able to double my business within a year. I also rebranded as The Vegan Publisher from Let’s Tell Your Story Publishing (although that still is an imprint) and released the second edition of The Freedom Master Plan, specifically for vegan, ethical and responsible business owners.
Not only that, making the conscious choice to work specifically with value-driven business owners allowed me to come into contact with incredible people who have furthered my understanding of what more I can do. For example, I got to know a vegan and ethical design company who then designed my website so that it emits a tiny 0.29g of carbon per page. I’m currently talking with an ethical payment gateway that promises to plant a tree per transaction. The list goes on.
Every day, I’m inspired and uplifted because I’ve chosen to surround myself with people who have the same drive to create a fairer planet. I’ve made lifelong friends. When you have the same values, it’s inevitable!
I wish I knew back in 2020 what I know now. When you stop trying to please everyone and focus on what is right for you in terms of your values, you start to attract what you deserve in abundance.
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If this chimes with you and your approach to business, consider applying for membership of ORB or looking at our Responsible Business Standard course and certification options.
Jill Poet, CEO of ORB
Jill Poet’s new book, ‘It Really Just Is Good Business’, introduces a different way of doing business – a better way! A way that combines profitability with embedded ethics and values.
In today’s society, customers increasingly want more than good products and services. They want to know that your company cares about people which in turn means caring about the environment. It may not be the primary consideration for everyone, but it can certainly be the deciding factor in most cases.
Running a responsible business also means having appropriate systems to ensure operational efficiency, reduce risk, and meet and exceed legislation.
By adopting Jill’s pragmatic, broad-based, holistic approach to responsible business, your company will flourish and be more profitable and sustainable for the longer term.