I bet you’ve never heard that one before. It’s something that isn’t celebrated in our culture, nor in our companies. But it begs the question—is bigger always better? Is more always a good thing? I’d submit to you that in at least one area, it’s not: marketing.
If I came into your marketing team today and asked, “Who is your ideal client?”, what would they say? Would they be able to tell me what types of organizations and leaders they were looking to introduce to their sales team? A majority of the organizations that I have worked with couldn’t, and that results in companies trying to be all things to all people. The outputs of this are
- that we don’t know how to truly help our customers,
- we tell a marketing story that isn’t coherent with our vision, mission, and values, and
- we end up overspending to get unqualified leads.
Does any of that sound good?
So, what should leaders of organizations do? They should cast a smaller net by getting really specific about who their ideal client is. Here are some key talking points for marketing teams:
What problem are you trying to solve? I’d suggest listening to or reading content from Donald Miller to learn more.
- Who is an ideal client for you, and what makes them that way? There are an endless number of ways to answer this question, but the organization gets to decide why they would qualify a customer in this way. John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing offers some great tools on how to get really specific on identifying your ideal client.
- Once you’ve decided who the ideal client is, discuss how that client was acquired. Where did you find them? Where can you find more of them? Bob Bloom wrote a great book called The Inside Advantage, and it’s particularly informative when it comes to targeting an ideal client.
I used to run a General Motors dealership, and one of the founding principles of their platform was to offer a car for all people. What they’ve found through bankruptcy, as well many make and model eliminations, is that that strategy actually wasn’t a good one. Now, they are laser focused on who their ideal customers are and on building vehicles that appeal to them, rather than trying to cast a wider net. It’s taken them a while to get to this place, but their market share shows that it’s working. It can work for you, too.
Do yourself a favor and go ask your marketing team who your ideal client is. Then ask how you are currently targeting them.