Who do you love to work with?

One of the most common mistakes we see small businesses make when they get set up is a head long rush to implement some marketing tools. It seems like a good use of time to get into action straight away. Most of us are “doers” and getting going on activity feels good!

However it is often the route to frustration and wasted money. Why? Well, activity is all very well but without clear focus it is often a wasted effort. If you are not talking to the appropriate audience, such activity is likely to be ignored. The frustration this causes can lead to frequent changes of tactics, more money spent in unrelated activity. This is what we call “episodic marketing” and commonly includes activity such as: brochure, website, direct mail, widely dispersed networking activity, joining of groups etc.

The starting point

It sounds easy, in practice it is harder. However you really need to define, specifically and in a targeted way, who you preferred clients are. Not necessarily the ones who pay best (although that may be part of it) but those you have a passion to help. Those that make your day, that you look forward to speaking with. You may be able to find them in your client base now (hopefully you have at least one!) but if you are new in business then it is those that you envisaged helping when you started out.

Spending some time on this will help you avoid the excesses of episodic marketing. When you know who you want to help you can define their problems, how your services make that better, where these people hang out, what they read, what they want and so on.

Sounds easy but it takes work! Spend some time defining who these people are and you won’t regret that time!

Probably of the most often quoted lines from the movies is Yoda from Star Wars when talking to Luke: “Do or do not, there is no try”. Apologies if I mis-quote that for all the Star Wars experts out there.

 I have used this a number of times and usually it is in connection with trying to do something. In other words saying that we will try to do something sets us up for failure, gives us an excuse where we can say: “well, at least I tried”.

However there is another side to this quote that applies to marketing and it’s this: Do or do not are the two options. This is often what we see with small businesses, the desire to do something leads us to carry out a lot of unfocused activity, many of it unconnected to the goal.

The alternative, “do not” is the other thing we see. Paralysis - rearranging the business cards and filing papers because there is uncertainty about what to do next, indeed where to start.

So, it is important that we do things, equally important that we don’t do everything but stay focused on our target market, the flow of our business and the message we want to send. On this basis we can decide to do it or not do it (a particular marketing took that is) and then really do it (or not) and not just try!

I am talking about your business focus of course!

In a previous post (Attention Getting Message), we discussed the merits of keeping your message focused and thinkign about the specific problems you solve for your clients and prospects. There is a obvious objection to that and here it is: “But I serve a wide range of clients with different problems and I want to make sure I cover every possible issue so I don’t miss someone, and therefore miss out on business”.

Believe me, I get that. I’ve done it. The irony is you probably CAN solve a range of problems. However if you focus your message to a few specific areas that you are passionate about here’s the benefit: People will get what you do and if they have a related problem they will ASK YOU IF YOU CAN HELP THEM TOO.

For example our program is primarily aimed at helping small, service companies attract more clients consistently. If you are a manufacturing company can we help you? Probably, it depends on your issues and what you want to do about them. However if you are putting out a vague message (and I have heard people say this) that you can help anyone who “has a house” for example, it is so broad that prospects generally don’t bother to try and qualify or disqualify themselves or others on that basis.

Try it - what are you passionate about? What problem do you ideally want to work on with that best/ideal client. That is probably the message you will benefit from sending - keep it tightly to that and see what response you get…..

Who is your ideal client?

That may be easy to define, but more often than not it can be a challenge. Many of us individually or as a business serve a wide variety of clients. Insurance for example is applicable to pretty much anyone - or is it?

The temptation when we have a service or product that serves many types of client is to say something like: “You are a potential client for me if you have a house or a car” or ” If you want to make more money we should talk”. The difficulty with this is that, although it may be true, people don’t relate to such a message and when you talk in these terms it is hard for them to think of anyone who might be a good referral for you. Why? Well vague out gets vague back - you are asking people to think for you.

So, how do you focus your message? The best I have heard are very specific such as an attorney who works exclusively with men going through divorce, a web deisgner who works primarily with small businesses embarrassed by their website, even a coach who coaches Indy Car Drivers!

These are specific areas of focus and if they apply to us (or someone we know well) we feel it immediately and can see how that service could help us. I know the arguement against this! “Well I don’t want to limit myself because I genuinely can serve that wide range of client”. I am sure that’t true - the trouble is you may not get the chance if they don’t understand the value you offer.

Also, specialization and expertise are attractive. So is passion for what you do. I would argue it is easier to be passionate about something when you have a clear view of who you ideally like to serve. Here’s the deal. When you are specific you will find people will begin to ask questions like: “Can you also do that for…….?” In other words they will relate to what you are saying and ask you whether you also work in other areas - isn’t that better than trying to “tell” people all the time?