Kyla Kirkpatrick is The Champagne Dame, an ambassador for the region of Champagne; she is the only qualified female cognac master in the Southern Hemisphere. Kyla has carved out a fascinating and very successful career doing what she loves and speaks passionately on the power of being niche in a business and adding personality to big businesses. Currently nominated for Telstra Business Woman of the Year and about to publish a new book, Kyla has taught the virtues of Champagne to some of the most powerful people in Australia.
Here the MC and Business Speaker shares her expertise and tips about businesses being in a niche market.
My niche
There are two definitions for ‘Niche’ in the Oxford dictionary and it is my firmly held opinion that one leads to the other.
‘Niche’ as per Oxford Dictionary
Definition 1: A specialised segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.
Definition 2: A comfortable or suitable position in life or employment.
We live in a world where people want to know more details about their own lives and the products they consume. People want to know who made their furniture, where their fruit comes from, where their coffee is grown and they want to understand what they are drinking. This world is contrary to the hyper – mega market phenomena which is a model in trouble in many markets around the world. Right now, when humans want to buy something they go to an expert in their field and being niche is at the very core of this movement.
I fell into my niche with no real intent but it has taken me on the most incredible journey. I have the most unusual but extraordinarily pleasurable job of being an educator and presenter specialising in Champagne – a woman’s dream job (and quite a few men too!). Of course I am so niche that there is only a handful of people in the world in this field and as a result I have endless work and I have built an incredibly successful career in my chosen discipline.
My story is somewhat of a fairy tale. It was 2005 and I was enjoying a successful career in finance, after returning from London where I worked at the Nasdaq, I was continuing my rapidly paced career in Australia. Then one day, out of the blue, I read an article on the first Emperor of France, the mighty Napoleon Bonaparte. I became fascinated with his story and his connection with the Champagne region, so I picked up a book on Champagne and started to read more.
Fascinated with Champagne
At first, my fascination with Champagne was not just with the bubbles and the wine itself but with the extraordinary history that has intertwined with it, stories of kings, conquerors, extraordinary women and war. I decided I wanted to know more about the region, so I read another book, then another until I had devoured all books that I could get my hands on including some quite obscure books but I still had questions. So I decided that I would put pen to paper and write a letter to a gentleman in France who had written my favourite book. And to my absolute surprise he wrote back to me inviting me to France so that he could answer all my questions in person.
So I decided to end my life as I knew it – I left my long term partner, quit my job, sold my house and bought a one way ticket to Paris. I picked up and moved to France where my new world began to unravel with utter glory. My sliding doors moment had arrived and I was suddenly in a new world of glamorous soirees, princes, chateaus and Champagne – creating far too many stories to tell. I spent 8 months in France on my first trip when I caught the eye of luxury goods conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. Of course, they wanted to know what a young Australian girl was doing wandering through the vineyards of Champagne, asking many questions. I was soon after called into Paris, interviewed, almost immediately recruited and trained to be an educator specialising in Champagne. A decade later I am now an independent ambassador for the region working across all aspects of Champagne – I am particularly niche and I have positioned myself quite strategically as an expert in my field.
I believe this model of focusing on niche sectors can apply to big business and to entrepreneurs. In my ten years as a businesswoman within my sector of Champagne I have mastered the art of carving out a segment and positioning myself as an expert. There is a process and a technique to mastering the art of being niche, which I now love to share, but in short you need to zoom in on one area of an industry and be the best you can at servicing that specific field.
Divide and conquer
Take a leaf out of Napoleon Bonaparte’s book and ‘divide and conquer’. Slice up a segment of a larger market and focus all of your energy on that smaller segment. Aim to have 50 percent of that sub-segment instead of a fraction of the larger market it sits within.
Position yourself as an expert within this field
Be seen at the conferences, events, seminars and any other market activity relating to your sub-segmented market. Work diligently to be seen as an expert in your field by penning articles, create content and speaking about your field of interest prolifically to become ‘a go to’ figure in your arena.
Power in niche
We have strong competition in almost all market segments today but by focusing in a niche you can help position yourself as an expert within a category and you will have a greater chance of being successful within your domain.
It is better to narrow your focus and dominate within this space than by being broad in approach and only attracting a small amount of a larger group of customers. Live it, breathe it and own it. Being niche is powerful.