Another important consideration in becoming more targeted is whether ‘to niche or not to niche’. I mean becoming highly specialized in a certain area. There are certainly pro’s and con’s to creating a niche practice. If you do carve out a niche practice area it will allow you to target your audience more effectively. In becoming an expert in your field you will fully understand the needs of your audience. That’s a plus. The downside sometimes to having a niche practice is your audience will be smaller. There won’t be as many potential clients for you. So if you are going to niche, you’d better do a very good job of building your profile and becoming known at the ‘go-to-lawyer’ in this field.
If you stay broad in your focus, the upside will be that you will have a larger pool of clients to draw from. But I see several downsides. First, it is virtually impossible to market yourself and your services effectively over several markets. You won’t have the time to be everywhere at once. Depending on your practice area, by staying broadly focused it’s harder to become known as the go-to for every area you are practicing in. Consider what you really enjoy and what you’re good at. If there are complementary practice areas that go hand-in-hand and you enjoy all of them, maybe it makes sense for you to stay broadly focused.
