I firmly believe that going narrow or catering to a specific niche is not all that it's cracked up to be. At least I did for over 20 years until I figured out that I always have been catering to a narrow audience - I just had to rethink the way I looked at it. Traditionally photographers specialize in industry segmentation: food, hotels, fashion, product, cars, …
I just couldn't get myself to do that. My clients are all over the board from Fortune 100 food companies to local hotels, fashion catalogs, just about every product you can imagine and even a bus company (although I did turn them down at first since I'm not a 'car photographer'), which I like especially when one of those market segments is having a bad year and I see my traditionally specialized colleagues struggle through the tough times.
I finally figured out what my specialty is: I am not a photographer. I'm a mindchanger. All the visual content I create has one and only one purpose: to influence my client's customers behavior. 'Buy this.' 'Learn about that.' 'Stop doing something.' 'Support something else.'
All of a sudden I found my niche. If you're looking to hire a visual content creator to just make something that's beautiful with no purpose behind it, don't hire me. If you want people to watch one of my videos unchanged, I'm not your guy.
But if you're looking for photography or cinematography that really affects it's viewers, that makes them feel like they need to do something, when they've finished watching my work, then let's talk. I am a specialist in this niche, although your product or service can be as general and fit into any category you can imagine.
Don't believe me? I bet that I can change your mind in the next 16 minutes. Here's what I want you to do. Take 30 seconds and write down what you think about Afghanistan. Just a word or two. Then take 15 minutes out of your day and watch my first documentary On Wings of Hope. When you're finished write down what you think about that country now and I wager that I have changed your mind.
Don't be surprised you're not the only one who's mind got changed. Here's how I changed 100 minds in 15 minutes.
