- They don’t know who their target customer is
- They don’t know what their target customer wants
- They don’t really specialize in anything
- It’s impossible for them to have a marketing plan
Why this Kills Your Marketing
Strategy is not possible
Unless you’re infinitely rich and can afford to market to everyone on the planet, then you have to have target. Everyone is limited by budget. Even huge multi-nationals have a budget and a target market. They know their best customers by age, gender, background, personality, etc. They then cater their product/service and marketing message to engage that target customer. Doing everything for everyone is not a strategy. I once talked with a lady who made gift baskets. Her message was she “customized her baskets to the customer’s needs”. How on Earth can you sell that! What really made this lady different is that she also did candy buffets for Jamaican weddings and had access to specialized candy products. What really made her business different was that she could do Jamaican Candy Gift Baskets. Now that’s a differentiator! Strategy now follows: She could now target a specific community with a message tailored to that target market. While it’s a much smaller market, she could be way more effective at it.
People Don’t Really Want Choice
Sure, there are a small percentage of people who want things exactly their way. This is not the norm. Making a decision causes the average person a significant amount of psychological pain. They have to weigh the options, they worry about their choice, then even after the decision is made, they worry they’ve made the right decision. Help your customers by taking choice away! Do you ever wonder why when people go to a restaurant they ask the waiter/waitress what they recommend? So someone else makes the decision! Define your product or service and package it in a way that’s easy for your customer to understand. Never give them more than 3-4 choices. Plus, make it easy and recommend the middle one. That’s a sure fire way to increase sales.
You’ll Never be “Top of Mind”
Imagine going to a restaurant. You sit down and ask for a menu and the waiter/waitress says, “we make whatever you want”, the customer says, “well, what do you specialize in?” The waiter/waitress says, “what do you feel like?” I think you can see this is leading to frustration for the customer. Why do you do this in your business? If you feel like pizza, you know in your mind who is the best pizza restaurant to order from. The pizza restaurant specializes in pizza! Tell your customers exactly what you’re best at in as simple a way possible. Fight for that top of mind position in your customer’s mind. Your marketing communications should reinforce this.
Why Entrepreneurs Fail at Target Marketing
Entrepreneurs fail at target marketing and differentiating their business for the exact same reason they need to do it. Choice! By choosing a target market they have to make a choice. They have to choose to specialize and service a market niche. While this is the only strategy that will make them successful, it’s also just as painful psychologically for them to make the choice. What if they choose the wrong market? What if it doesn’t work? Aren’t they turning away business if they specialize? These are all good questions, but they only serve to paralyze your choice. Take the leap, decide what it is you do best and who would most appreciate it. After you make this decision, you’ll see how easy it is to design and implement an effective marketing strategy.
Target Marketing Action Plan
- Figure out what specifically you really do best.
- Make a decision: Specialize.
- Figure out who really needs your specialized service.
- Figure out how to find these prospects
- Reach out to them with your marketing message