Niche Markets in the Private Investigation Industry

When I first started tossing around the idea of becoming a private investigator, I kept seeing the same advice over and over. Don’t be a jack of all trades. Choose a niche or a specialty.

After considering a few different avenues, I found myself continuously drawn to adoption searches. (If you want to know why, you can check out a few of my past blog posts - I Used a Private Investigator and Then I Became One, An Adoption Search:  Part 1, An Adoption Search:  Part 2, and Dear Birth Mom, and magazine articles - Adoption Searches:  Why and How and Adoption Search Diplomacy:  Why Some Birth Parents Don’t Want to be Found).

Upon spending more time in my car this week than normal, I’ve been listening to several different interviews with various private investigators. They’ve all had one common characteristic. They have each developed a niche market for themselves in the private investigation industry.

Since I think it could be useful for both private investigators and our potential clients to have a long list of niche markets available, I’ve decided to compile one right here in my blog.

Please understand this list is by no means exhaustive. In fact, if you have a niche or have knowledge of one that isn’t listed below, feel free to add it in the comments:

  1. Abductions
  2. Accident reconstruction
  3. Adoption searches
  4. Animal investigations
  5. Arson
  6. Asset checks
  7. Background checks
  8. Bounty hunting
  9. Bug sweeps and detection
  10. Civil investigations
  11. Cold cases
  12. Computer forensics
  13. Corporate
  14. Criminal defense
  15. Divorce and child custody
  16. Due diligence
  17. Elder abuse
  18. Electronic data discovery
  19. Executive protection
  20. Forensic accounting
  21. Fraud
  22. Fugitive recovery
  23. Human trafficking
  24. Identity theft
  25. Infidelity or cheating spouse
  26. Insurance
  27. Interview and interrogation
  28. Litigation support
  29. Malpractice suits
  30. Medical malpractice
  31. Missing heirs
  32. Missing persons
  33. Nursing home abuse
  34. Personal injury
  35. Polygraph expert
  36. Process service
  37. Public record retrieval
  38. Risk assessment
  39. Runaways
  40. Security
  41. Skip trace
  42. Social media
  43. Surveillance
  44. Suspicious suicides
  45. Terrorism
  46. Threat management
  47. Workers’ compensation
  48. Workplace violence