How to Quickly Find Your Niche as a Content Marketing Writer

When I told a writer friend who was asking about content marketing writing that she needed to find a niche, her face was overcome with panic at the thought. But I immediately explained that she most likely already had a niche or could develop one with very little effort.

You may think that you don’t have a niche that can translate into content marketing, but I bet you do. If you have written parenting articles, you can use any clips you have on nutrition or exercise to market yourself to brands selling healthy foods. Or if you have written on travel, consider contacting brands that organize tours to destinations you have already written about and pitch the idea to write a travel blog for their website with tips about their destinations.

Here is a quick way to find a niche without writing another article:

1. Look at all of your current clips and create a list of topics.

Go through all of your writing clips and create a list of the general topics that you have written about. Be sure to go through even older clips and those no longer available online. Make a list of all of the topics that you have written about and keep track of how many times you have covered each subject. Look deeper than just parenting or travel, but list specific topics within general categories. Maybe you have written multiple articles on mealtimes with children. Or perhaps you are a personal finance writer, but have a number of clips on saving money while on vacation.

2. Identify topics you have written about multiple times.

Once you have a list of topics that you have written, look through the list and determine what areas you have at least three to five clips in, preferably more. Be sure to consider secondary subjects within articles as well. For example, I recently wrote a story for Hospitality Technology about optimizing websites and one of the topics that I discussed was responsive design, which is a new trend in websites. So, I would put this article in the category of technology, web design, hospitality, and responsive design.

3. Determine the audience you have written for on these topics.

Think about who the audience is for the topics you’ve written about. For example, I have a number of articles that I have written about a variety of hospitality topics in trade publications and small business websites. Most of the articles are written for a hospitality audience, and I have developed a good understanding of their needs and daily life through working with sources and editors.

4. Brainstorm brands that are marketing to these audiences.

Identify brands that would be marketing to the demographics you’ve already written for. I brainstormed about what types of brands would be marketing to hotel and restaurant owners and decided that hospitality management companies would be another great niche for me to target. I currently have a list of potential markets and working my way through sending out targeted LOIs.

What is your niche? Tell how you created your niche and any advice you have for writers still discovering their content marketing niche.

6 Comments

  1. […] it is especially important to concentrate on a content marketing niche. Look through your clips and determine brands in need of content marketing that you have experience with. For example, I write about practice management for lawyers and do lawyer profiles, so I am […]



  2. […] marketing writing requires more thought leadership (more on this later this week) and expertise in a field, so brands care more about a Klout score than editors of consumer and trade publications. So, yes, […]



  3. […] ability to easily understand the needs of audience or your social media expertise. If you have a content marketing niche, be sure to mention it as well as include any relevant industry experience.  Be sure to also […]



  4. How to Set Your Income Goal for 2014 on December 30, 2013 at 10:11 am

    […] If you are transitioning into content marketing this year and don’t have a lot of experience or are working on defining a niche, you will definitely want to take this into account when setting your goals since earnings may be […]



  5. […] among other writers and you will be more likely to get the work. I’ve talked previously about how to find niches among your existing clips. But what about if you see a need for content marketing in a specific area, but don’t have the […]



  6. Laura on April 17, 2016 at 3:52 pm

    Hi Jennifer,

    I just discovered your blog today and have spent the last hour or so reading through the wealth of information you’ve provided. Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge — it is very helpful!

    One question I have is, what if your niche isn’t the niche you’d like to be in anymore? In my situation, I took a writing job in the agriculture industry 3 years ago because I just needed a job, so most of my experience and samples are about farming. The niche I’d like to get into is health and fitness, but I don’t have as many clips in that area. I’m thinking I could leverage my personal experience in this area (running marathons, following nutrition plans, etc.) to demonstrate my knowledge. What do you think?