A former colleague of mine used to always say, “It’s impossible to boil the ocean!” Basically, what he meant is that you need FOCUS. In marketing, we often relate this to identifying a niche that will benefit from the products or services you offer. From that, you can concentrate your marketing efforts on the select target audiences that would be most profitable to pursue.
The concept of “understanding your target audience” is, ironically, one of the most misunderstood with SMBs. It is not enough to know whom you should go after, but how you should go after them as well. Different audiences have different psychographic personas, purchasing behavior and media consumption habits. Even within industries, specific businesses differ. Individuals have different titles, departments and job functions. They may even belong to different associations within their industry. All markets are not equal. Understand the behavior and needs of your potential customers so you will have a better chance of capturing them through a tailored message.
We all want to grow our business and grow it quickly, but you can’t conquer all. Start small. Pick your top target audience and then have laser focus to own that market. As you begin to gain traction with your audience, leverage that success to start expanding into new markets.
Here are five things to consider when you think about marketing your business.
- Identify your best target audience.
- Determine how best to reach your target audience.
- Build messaging specific to the audience.
- Start small and then build on your successes.
- Focus! Focus! Focus! Dominate! Dominate! Dominate!
Have you recently refocused? Or determined your audience? What have results have you seen? Let us know in the comments section below.
