Why “Find Your Target Audience” Is the Wrong Business Advice
Your audience is your marketing. Your niche is your mission
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Introduction
Most entrepreneurs think of their niche as a target audience.
“Millennial men who collect Hot Wheels.”
“Women aged 25–35 who love fitness.”
“Freelancers who need productivity tools.”
That thinking is incomplete and dangerously shallow.
Because your niche is not your audience, it’s the problem you solve.
The flaw in the traditional value of the niche
Traditional niche theory focuses on who you serve.
It sounds logical, “find your people and market to them.”
But there’s a catch: audiences change. Trends fade. Platforms shift. Demographics evolve.
If your business is built only around who you serve, you’ll be forced to constantly chase where they go next. A real business doesn’t just follow people. It follows problems. Because problems never disappear. They only evolve.
The problem-solving approach to defining a niche
A sustainable niche is born at the intersection of three things:
01 - The Problem:
The deeply felt pain point or unmet need that truly matters in the market.
02 - Your Solution:
The unique product, service, or approach that directly resolves that pain.
03 - Your Excellence:
The distinct way you deliver results better than anyone else, your skill, quality, or differentiation.
Niche = A unique solution to a painful problem.
The people you serve (your audience) are simply the ones who have that problem the most.
Audience vs. niche: The crucial difference
Let’s make this distinction clear:
Your audience shapes how you market.
Your niche determines why your business exists.
When you start with the problem, you build a business with purpose, not just promotion.
Why does this approach create stronger businesses?
When the problem defines your niche, three things happen:
01 - Your message becomes magnetic:
People immediately recognize you as the go-to expert for that specific issue.
02 - Your innovation becomes focused:
You evolve your products around solving the problem better, not around chasing trends.
03 - Your value becomes durable:
Problems outlast fads, meaning your business foundation stays relevant even as audiences shift.
KitchenAid: The perfect example of a problem-solving niche
Most people think KitchenAid’s niche is “home bakers.” But that’s only the audience. KitchenAid’s real power lies in its problem-solving niche. Let’s break it down.
The problem
Home cooks struggled with the effort, time, and inconsistency of manually mixing and kneading dough, a physically demanding process that made baking feel more like labor than love.
The solution
KitchenAid created a heavy-duty, multi-functional stand mixer that delivers consistent, professional results with ease, freeing users from physical effort while enhancing creativity in the kitchen.
KitchenAid’s problem-solving niche
To eliminate the physical labor and inconsistency of serious food preparation, transforming the amateur home cook into a confident, efficient, and creative baker or chef.
That’s the niche, not the audience.
The audience (“serious home bakers and cooks”) is simply the group who benefits most from that solution.
How does this redefinition change your business?
If you stop defining your niche by who you serve and start defining it by what you solve, everything shifts:
Your positioning strengthens:
You move from “selling to people” to “solving for people.”
Your messaging clarifies:
You speak directly to pain points and outcomes.
Your marketing simplifies:
Every campaign ties back to solving the same central problem.
And most importantly, your business gains longevity because the foundation is timeless.
How to apply this in your business
Try this simple 3-step exercise:
01 - Identify the Core Problem:
What’s the biggest frustration your ideal customer faces, one they’d pay to remove?
02 - Define Your Unique Solution:
How do you address that pain better, faster, or more efficiently than others?
03 - Pinpoint Your Excellence:
What is your distinct strength or capability that makes your approach superior?
Your audience, the people who most feel this pain, will naturally reveal themselves.
Food for thought
Audience defines your reach.
A problem defines your purpose.
Trends will shift. Algorithms will change.
But problems persist, and people always pay for relief.
So don’t build your business around “who.”
Build it around what you solve.
That’s how you build something that lasts longer than attention spans.
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Prompt used to create the image for the note
P.S.: Image made on Meta AI using the prompt, “Create an image of a business strategist or entrepreneur analyzing a whiteboard with overlapping circles labeled “Problem,” “Solution,” and “Excellence.” The tone should convey clarity, insight, and strategic focus. Use soft daylight, neutral tones, and a horizontal (16:9) layout with negative space for title overlay. No text, logos, or watermarks. --stylize 210”