What do the following three scenes have in common?
- Valvoline airs a commercial for its synthetic motor oil during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
- Viewers of Bravo's pseudo-realities series, The Real Housewives of Orange County, are treated to short-form infomercials for the contraceptive, Yaz.
- Saturday morning cartoons are saturated with TV spots for the sugary-goodness that is Captain Crunch.
You'd be confused if you were watching The Real Housewives of Orange County -- whose key demographic is females age 18-49 -- and a commercial for the world's most effective performance motor oil came on.
It wouldn't make sense. And it's easy to realize that when the example is so clear.
The delusion of "everybody"
Unfortunately though, small business owners are too often caught in the tempting trap of trying to market to everyone. "Everyone" isn't a target market. And "everyone" isn't interested in what you're offering.
In fact, by marketing to "everyone" you're likely dumbing down your product, rounding the corners, and making your product or service so generic that it won't make a significant splash in an already saturated marketplace.
By maintaining the integrity of your business and focusing advertising monies on specific segments of a population (demographics, geographics, etc.), you're not limiting your growth potential, you're building a loyalty base from which to grow.
You know the "big fish in a small pond" analogy? This is similar. Except this is the "relatively few customers with unrelenting loyalty" example. The alternative is a larger sample of consumers driven by price. And as we've discussed before, consumers driven by price aren't profitable markets.
Who do you sell to?
Take a few minutes and actually write down two or three target markets.
Your target market may be persons over a certain income level, persons that live in a particular zip code, or maybe those people who've shopped with a competitor.
Whatever it may be, tailor your marketing to that population. This isn't about making a product that's for everybody. This is about taking your product and finding those few unique places for it to thrive.
This is important
I'm a huge advocate for all things targeted. Some of my clients may get irritated by it, but in its simplest form, I'm a fierce defender of the way they spend their limited monies -- it has to be strategic and smart.
That's why I wrote an entire chapter on targeted marketing in my book. If this is something that's starting to click with you, pick-up my book, and dive in a little deeper!
_________________________________________________________________
Want to read more great posts like this? Subscribe by clicking below!
_________________________________________________________________
