By Jessica Bledsoe
In the world of business, it is a common misconception to think that casting a wide net and trying to appeal to “anyone” or “everyone” will lead to success. However, this approach often leads to generic messaging that fails to resonate with any particular audience.
In reality, defining your target audience is crucial for the success of your business. Here’s why “anyone” or “everyone” isn’t your customer, and how you can focus your efforts on reaching the right people.
The Pitfalls of Trying to Appeal to Everyone
When you try to appeal to anyone and everyone, you’ll likely find that it’s difficult to create marketing content that actually converts. If you’re not speaking directly to your customers’ needs or pain points, how will they know your business offers the solution to the problem they’re experiencing?
By trying to market to everyone, you end up capturing no one because you fail to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
The Importance of Niching Down
If you’ve ever answered the question, “who is your customer?” with the answer “anyone who (experiences a problem you solve or product you sell)” or “everyone that xyz”, it’s probably because you’re afraid you’re leaving money on the table if you answer with something more specific.
By niching down and really focusing on a specific customer, you’re actually more likely to succeed. In fact, according to a study by McKinsey, businesses that define their target audience are 2.8 times more likely to exceed their sales goals and 3.5 times more likely to achieve best-in-class status in customer satisfaction.
How to Define Your Target Audience
How do you actually define who your customer is? Let’s look at a possible scenario:
If you owned a bookstore, you might say your customer is “anyone who likes books” or “everyone who enjoys reading”.
And, while that is true – anyone and everyone who likes and reads books certainly could be a customer – that isn’t an enticing enough reason for them to shop with you.
But, with a little market research and looking into the data of who they serve, you can come up with a much more compelling customer profile.
For example, if we assume this bookstore is independently owned and offers a variety of new and best selling books, we could say “My customer is someone who enjoys reading new titles and discovering great authors. They enjoy shopping locally and love knowing that they can always get their hands on the latest or greatest novel.”
See how this is different? Now we have a clear idea of who the bookstore serves and can create a compelling marketing plan designed to target this customer.
That doesn’t mean that other customers won’t find and shop at your store, it just means that you’re focused on spending your precious marketing dollars and time on speaking to the customer who is most likely to convert to a paying customer. So, what should you be evaluating in your own business to define your target audience? We’ll go into that more in the next post: How to Create Your Ideal Customer Profile for Your Small Business.
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How to Create Your Ideal Customer Profile for Your Small Business
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