Are You Thinking Brick and Mortar, but Working Online?
The first was supposed to be a short phone call with a client about how to get visibility for his book. The second was supposed to be the initial meeting on how to launch a new product.
The question that caused the chaos was simple really …
What group of customers do you want to reach first?
Neither guy wanted to commit. Both were sure that they were meant to sell to everyone.
The problem isn’t who might buy your product, but the visibility, strength, and power of your reach.
Once upon a time, when a store had a location, that a target market was gated by geography. An answer such as
I want to reach every small business.
really meant every small business in a certain in a limited geography. It was too expensive to think much wider than that.
The Advantages of a Location Limited Community
Before the Internet, geographical communities often served as niche markets. Thus the famous mantra, “Location, Location, Location” became important. Location meant traffic and visibility. We could saturate a market simply because it was limited and then go find another market to saturate. Huge companies such as Wal-mart started out just that way.
- Limited geography meant limited competition. People could only walk or drive so far to get to the product or service they wanted.
- Limited geography meant limited reach. The local community shared certain values and only grew so large. Our values had to be their values for us to succeed.
- Limited geography meant visibility and familiarity. When we were the only pizza bar in the neighborhood, the only marketing firm on our street, or the only leadership coach in our neighborhood, location we were a lot easier to see.
We could say that everyone was our customer because everyone was limited to everyone in a certain area. Customers got to know us because we were there every day in the same community.
Do You Know Your Limits? Are You Reaching Customers or Confusing Them?
Now that we’re online and offline, location is no longer geographic. We need to limit our communities in other ways to get that same visibility, traffic, and saturation before we try to conquer a second community.
Now we have to define our limits so that our customers can see us above the competition in a global playing field.
- Limit your playing field. You’ll have a clearer picture of what you need to know and how to reach the people you want to reach. Choose service professionals, corporations, or b2b companies.
- Focus on that specific community or group as your market to raise your visibility and establish your expertise.
- By picking a limited community, you can be everywhere they are. You can can concentrate on them, their needs and how they change with the context of each new environment. You can the knowledge of intimacy, nuance and depth of experince.
Try to reach everyone and the result will be confusion. Lawyers and People who run Day Care Centers just don’t have the same needs. Even small business owners in different industries recognize when we’re being generic with them. We’re all looking for solutions that meet our needs not “sort of” answers that might fit a problem “somewhat like” what we’re facing.
The focus of a smaller niche makes it easier to know, understand, and serve the people who love what we do well. Reach out for the customers who will help your business thrive, not the ones who will take any answer and leave any time.
Having a relationship requires limiting and focusing attention.
Do you know your limits? How do your ideal customers know you’re here for them?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
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