Niches in the Things We Do

We should have niches in the things we do

My patriotism has a boundary. When I bought a DSTV decoder, it wasn’t because I needed one as such. It was rather because local radios and television channels were failing me. While the program standards were crashing, I stayed on, hoping they would pick up, some day. But rather than pick up, standards continued to crash until I started doubting if there would be a turn in the positive direction at all. 

By what we are writing here, we don’t mean to disrespect anybody. What we are writing is just meant to bring attention to a room for perfection that has come to our notice.  We want our city to grow, building an excellent culture of high standards, thereby making us confident and helping to wade off derision and scorn.

This morning, there was no electricity to power my Multi-Choice decoder. Hence, I turned to a battery-powered FM radio receiver, listening to a comedy show, Comedy Kings, on local radio. The guys anchoring the show are highly talented. But as it is often said, more heads are better than one, and a few trees cannot make a forest. On the Comedy Kings, I still see a constant problem: the absence of niches. 

The disregard for the need for niches is costing us a lot, including a rush to foreign channels and the money we lose to the foreigners who own the foreign channels. A niche is something that is a most, if your brand must compete and stand out. So, what is a niche? A niche is the quality of distinction or uniqueness in what you do, be it music, comedy, movie-making, broadcasting, etc. 

I will try to give an example of how a comedian can create a niche for himself. Since the mimicry of accents is one way comedians create humour in Nigeria, I will like to use that as an example. So, one way you can create a little niche for yourself as a comedian is by mimicking the weird accent of someone important a big tribe. A lot of comedians build their humour in this way. However, most are not consistent. He mimics Hausas now. The next minute, he mimics Igbos. In one show he mimicks a dozen accents. It means that he is unaware there is the need for him to be consistent. It the end, it would mean that he has no niche. A second way one can create a niche is by specializing on a subject. He could, for instance, specialize on discussing issues of corruption and nothing else. Such a comedian should be interested in issues of corruption to build an extensive knowledge on the topic. Eventually, he not only builds himself but the society at large.  

When the first radio station was established in Jos, it had to cover everything: news, music, educational programs, agricultural programs, etc. it was the only radio station at the time. Now, that radio stations in the city are growing in their numbers, it is expected that they begin to carve out niches for themselves. Sadly, each time a new station comes up, it replicates almost exactly the programs of the pioneer station. As we see on international channels, TVs and radio stations create niches to stand out, be they CNN, BBC, BET, SKYPORTS, etc. Hence, there should be religious, agricultural, tribal, musical, news TV and radio channels, just to name a few.  

It is important to note that creating niches is not something huge and unrealistic that should scare people. It is as simple as it sounds. All it involves is observing successful brands and watching to understand what they relied on while carving out niches.  Creating a niche is a basic consideration in everything of high standard that humans do. It shouldn’t be different here in Jos. The only other option is to stagger in chaos, failing to take benefit of our full potential in the things we do.