In this episode of Mindset Meets Mastery with Arlene Gale, Arlene dissects how and why a business and business owner can’t be all things to all people in developing profitable marketing and business-building strategies. Examples and tangible action steps that direct us away from the human nature of wanting to please everyone to the success formula and mindset that the “riches are found in the marketing niches” strategy may feel weird, but is more successful. Thinking small for target market opens more doors, not less.
“Reassess your business development, your business offerings, and your business services. And see how that equals to who your primary and secondary and third level target markets are. Because that’s where you’re going to shift mindsets. And that’s where you’re going to learn to master your expertise and become the go-to expert in your business.” -Arlene Gale
Highlights:
00:27 The Business Branding and Market Targeting Myth
06:50 The “All Things to All People” Myth
13:34 Niche Down to Earn More
15:55 Selling to Secondary Level Market
19:19Caution! Don’t Hit the Banks
22:59 It’s Time to Re-asses
Be right on target! @arlene_gale talks about the myths on entrepreneurship and the best solution for each. Scale your business with these few mindset shifts. #entrepreneurialjourney #myths #targetmarket #businessbranding #reassess #nichedown Click To Tweet
Quotes:
“It doesn’t matter if you’re new or you’ve been in business a year or two or 10 years. There’s always a need to reassess your target market. If you don’t change to keep up with market forces or economic trends, then your business becomes less and less relevant.” -Arlene Gale
“If fine is all that you’re doing, you’re probably leaving money on the table. And that’s where refining the target market comes in.” -Arlene Gale
“Your passion can only carry you so long until you get exhausted because you’re trying to be all things to all people.” -Arlene Gale
“The truth is, one of the biggest failure factors is not getting a grip on your exact primary target market.” -Arlene Gale
“The riches are in the niches. If a business wants to be powerful and profitable, they really need to niche down their focus on their target market.” -Arlene Gale
“It’s not that you’re missing anything, it’s that you’re going for where there’s the most bang for the buck first, and you’re expanding and growing beyond that.” -Arlene Gale
“Reassess your business development, your business offerings, and your business services. And see how that equals to who your primary and secondary and third level target markets are. Because that’s where you’re going to shift mindsets. And that’s where you’re going to learn to master your expertise and become the go-to expert in your business.” -Arlene Gale
Meet Arlene:
Arlene Gale is an expert in helping people tell their stories to build business. She combines decades of business marketing, communicating, and writing expertise to direct clients past damaging business mindsets, myths, and misconceptions toward powerful and profitable business-building success. Arlene is a top notch business strategist. She has helped hundreds of clients, in a variety of industries, earn millions of dollars in business as a result of writing & publishing credibility-building books. She helps clients duplicate these results from start to finish, including writing book proposals earning mainstream publishing contracts, before the book is written. If it needs to be written, Arlene can do it, and do it in such a way that it generates income. She has written thousands of feature magazine articles, hundreds of business plans establishing short- and long-term goals, written and produced hundreds of television and radio advertisement, and more.
Website: BookWritingBusiness.com and ArleneGale.com
Email: Arlene@BookWritingBusiness.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BookWritingBusiness/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arlene_gale
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlenegale/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ58NZPGyCdGpn7bcDcY-Fw
Transcription:
Today, we’re talking about business branding and target market targeting. I’ve mentioned before that I have 30 years of business development and marketing experience, and that I combine this with my writing expertise. A lot of what I do is business branding for startups and for people who’ve been in business for a long time because you may think about target market being something that’s really only necessary for new businesses to think about, and to consider, and to quote get right, but I’d like for you to stick around and rethink that myth. Because if you’re a business, it doesn’t matter if you’re new, or you’ve been in business a year or two, or 10, there’s always a need to reassess your target market for one thing. What if the economy or other market forces change? If you don’t change to keep up with those market forces or those economic trends, then your business becomes less and less relevant. Or let’s say that based on your experience, your services or your product offerings have changed, or they’ve been refined based on responses from the target market. So it’s a give and take, it’s an ebb and flow. Business branding and target market targeting should be treated like it’s dynamic, like it’s a living, breathing, malleable soul. Your business does have that soul that needs to be addressed and dealt with in a way that makes it relevant, that makes it drive you and your business, and vice versa. So it doesn’t matter if you’re new to business or if you’ve been in business a long time, but Arlene, I’ve been doing fine and I’ve been in business for a year or two. Well if fine is okay with you, then, you know, then fine, don’t worry about this topic, but I’m here to tell you if fine is all that you’re doing, you’re probably leaving money on the table. And that’s where refining the target market comes in.
For example, I had a client who was an expert in one industry on a specific topic and had pretty much started to tap out that industry as the expert, both locally and statewide, and even regionally. And this specific client figured out that the expertise that he had was something that could be valuable to additional industries. So opening up his expertise and sharing it with a different target market. That’s just one example of how assessing your skills, your services, and your target market, and growth, and viability longterm for your business. Why it’s so important? One example, did you know that there are more than 28 million small businesses in the United States? And that accounts for 54% of all of the sales throughout the United States, 28 million small businesses. So what these business owners all have in common is starting out with a great idea, right? Because we wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t have a great idea and we didn’t think that our skill set, our expertise didn’t set us up to be able to be a valuable contributor to our target market to meet their needs. So new business owners, they jump in based on their passion. They have a niche skill and they have a desire to serve, but they don’t slow down to really consider who it is that they are specifically serving. In other words, there’s no clear or specific niche target market, and that’s why according to the small business administration, about 78% of all small businesses survive only about five years. You know, your passion can only carry you so long until you get exhausted because you’re trying to be all things to all people, but that doesn’t keep nearly half a million businesses from starting up each year knowing that they need to start with more than just passion. This fact alone proves that so many people want that they’re dying, they’re thirsting and hungering for the freedom of owning their own business despite the fact that 78% of small businesses start and fail after only about five years.
“Your passion can only carry you so long until you get exhausted because you're trying to be all things to all people.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetNow, after the first five year survival rate, only two out of those three businesses will fail, let me say that a different way. Two out of three of those businesses will fail during the next five years. So in the first five years, 78% will fail, and then in the following five years, two out of three of those businesses will fail in the next five years. Wow. That’s mind blowing to me and I know that it sounds like I’m saying, you know, the odds are against you. The odds are against you, so you know, why bother? Don’t go into business because you won’t succeed. No, no, no, no. Nothing could be further from the truth. That’s not what I’m trying to tell you. What I’m trying to tell you is those odds are that way because so many people don’t think about their branding and fine tune it to address the specific target market that they want to work with, and that’s where the problem comes in. The truth is, one of the biggest failure factors is not getting a grip on your exact primary target market. I mentioned this a moment ago, but there’s this prevailing idea that when you start a business that you can be all things to all people and that’s not true. That’s a business strategy myth, it’s exhausting, it’s expensive, and it’s unsustainable. By trying to communicate your business offerings, your business services to all people, what really happens, and this is the ugly truth, this is where I’m calling BS on being all things to all people. When you try that business strategy, what happens is no one pays attention because no one thinks you’re talking to them. No one’s going to listen or hear you because you have not addressed one of their pain points or one of their needs, and therefore trying to be all things to all people means no one’s going to care, that’s the sad truth. That’s the number one business myth that I want to talk about today.
“The truth is, one of the biggest failure factors is not getting a grip on your exact primary target market.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetLet me give you an example of one of my clients. I had a client who wanted me to help with branding, and social media content, and a business plan, and all things marketing, and this particular client owned a barbecue restaurant. So we had a sit down meeting and I asked what I thought was a very simple question: “Who is your primary customer? Who is the number one person that you want to come in? Not just the first time, but a second, a third, a fourth or fifth time.” And the client’s response was — and he looked at me like, you know, that’s a stupid question, but the answer was: “Well, of course I’ve got this barbecue restaurant, so my primary client is anybody who eats.” I did my best not to choke the drink of water I had just taken, but I swallowed, and very carefully, and calmly said: “Well, no, not really because I can smell the wood smoke fire and I’m pretty sure that’s not something that turns vegetarians or vegans on. Vegetarians and vegans, they eat but they’re not coming into a barbecue restaurant.” Furthermore, I kind of took a deep breath giving my client a moment to process that information and think about a different answer. And I looked around the restaurant and the decor was, you all seen these, these freebie posters that different companies give out to restaurants and they have scantily clad women on them, or scantily clad groups of people, and these posters are all over this restaurant. It was definitely decorated on the cheap, well on the free. So I turned to the client and I said: “You know, I’m the mother of two and if I look around here, I can tell you that your decor also does not speak to having a primary target market that is centered around families.” Well at that point, the owner became a little offended and defensive because his location was at the one entrance that was in and out of an area that was 95 to 99% single family housing. So families was exactly the target market he wanted to go after, but the decor didn’t set up that vibe that was going to make a family, even if they stumbled on the place, or smelled the good smells from the restaurant when they were out on the street, or at a nearby grocery store. If they came in the first time, they were definitely not going to have repeat business. And not only were they not going to have repeat business from that person, but once the word got out at the local schools, and PTA’s, and grocery stores, and other places where moms tend to shop, or families tend to gather, this restaurant wasn’t going to get those first time businesses or clients in. So after brainstorming a little while and having the client agree that family’s was his primary target market, we brainstormed and we came up with some solutions. And I’m going to share those solutions in a little bit more about how you can specify and think about who your primary, secondary, third, fourth level target market is. As soon as we come back from this short break.
So welcome back. So to finish the story, my client owned a barbecue restaurant and his primary target market he decided was families, but the decor did not speak to families. So when we were brainstorming, he decided that the were going to come down. He was going to paint the walls a different color and find some more family friendly decorations, maybe even decorate the restaurant where different sections were themed base on holidays, for example. The owner decided that maybe one day a week he was going to offer a kids eat free night. So the menu was beginning to change. Once the owner began to think about who his primary target market was, then everything else began to change. His branding began to get solidified from the decor, to the menu offerings, even to the postings on social media, and advertising, and everything else really began to solidify for this business owner who I’m glad to say has been in business for four or five years now, and is primarily serving families. So that’s a success story, and that’s a huge example of what I’ve heard said over, and over, and over again. So I didn’t create this saying, but it’s one that I think is absolutely 100% true and that is “The Riches Are In the Niches.” And what that means is if a business wants to be powerful and profitable, they really need to niche down their focus on their target market. Now I know, I know, I know that it goes against our human nature to believe that less is more, or to believe that the narrower the target market, the more money you can actually make.
“The riches are in the niches. If a business wants to be powerful and profitable, they really need to niche down their focus on their target market.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetBecause I know that what I’m asking you to do as a business owner is to speak to less people. But think about it this way, you’re not really speaking to less people, you’re really speaking to the right people who want to buy your products and buy your services. So let’s say I drop you off in a neighborhood and I say, you cannot come back to this air conditioned van and get out of this scorching heat of the day until you have knocked on a hundred doors and sold our product, or sold our services. Well, it’s gonna take you a long time to knock on a hundred doors and maybe you’ll get one or two people who won’t slam the door in your face, and who will actually allow you to pitch your product or your services. If you’re lucky, you might maybe even get one to buy from you, but that’s one out of a hundred. How different is it if I pre-qualify and put a hundred people into a room for you to come to speak to. These 100 people, know what you’re offering, they know your service or they know your product and they came in to sit and listen to you knowing that. If that’s the a hundred people that you’re targeting, that’s perfect for your client base, then you might sell 20, 30, 40, dare I even be so hopeful is to say you might sell up to 50% of the audience because they came in knowing that they might want or need your product or service. There’s a huge difference there, it’s still a hundred people, isn’t it? In both scenarios. So think about that when you’re thinking about pre-qualifying your target market or narrowing down your target market target. So I get this question a lot: “But Arlene, if we pick just one target market as our primary, and that’s all we’re focused on, does that mean that we’re going to miss out selling to B C, D, F, G target markets?” Well, even if those other people are going to want to buy your services too. It’s all about creating a ripple effect, starting with a refined message, a refined service, a refined product offering, and well, let’s put it this way. Imagine your business this way. You’re holding a pebble in your hand. Now imagine holding that pebble and looking at it, just look at it for a minute. That pebble represents the number one service or product that you offer to your primary target market. So now imagine taking that pebble and you toss it into the middle of a river or a stream, where that pebble that represents your primary service offering or product offering hits, it’s going to create a ripple effect, right? There are going to be ripples that come out from where that pebble landed. So where that pebble landed, you have now hits your primary target market, right square on the top of their heads.
They cannot notice that you exist and that you’re going to be able to provide exactly what they need to solve their problems to emotionally connect, to help them be successful. But look beyond that initial ripple to the second, third, fourth, fifth, maybe even sixth ring of ripples that come out from the center where your pebble landed. Well, what happens is, in your business, you’ve hit your primary target market and they’ve gone out and they told some people what great service you provided, and they told some people, or you begin to grow and you’ve been so successful that other people who were sitting on the outside looking in because they weren’t quite sure what you did and how you did it, now they’re sure. So you’re going to capture that secondary, third, and fourth level target market. But all of that was done because you were right on target with your service or product offering, and you attracted or aimed at the exact right primary target market. So imagine that when you’re thinking about who your primary target market is, maybe sit down and write your first, second, third, fourth level target market. And what changes within those first, second, third, fourth market? What changes is it that the primary needs 100% of all of these things that you’re offering? Or maybe that’s the age, and the education, and socioeconomics, and maybe the emotional connection is perfect for the primary target market, but your secondary target market changes one of those elements just ever so slightly. And then your next level target market changes something again, ever so slightly. So it’s not that you’re missing anything, it’s that you’re going for where there’s the most bang for the buck first, and you’re expanding, and growing beyond that. But there’s a caution here too, in your imagination, watch as you throw the pebble into the stream and watch the ripples develop, and then the ripples grow to the point where they hit the banks and there’s no more ripples.
“It's not that you're missing anything, it's that you're going for where there's the most bang for the buck first, and you're expanding and growing beyond that.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetWhat does that represent in your business? Well, this symbolizes how you become less and less effective in the outer rings of people that you’re trying to communicate with. And that’s what it’s like to try and be all things to all people. You run up against the banks and the ripples die out, and you’ll expend so much energy trying to address the needs of everybody in every one of those ripples until you hit the banks, and nobody’s listening, and you’ve run out of energy, maybe you’ve run out of money, or you’ve run out of time. So it’s best to approach those inner circles of customers first. Therefore, the answer to, but if I pick one main target market or am I missing out on these others, the answer to that is absolutely not, that’s a myth also. So when you’re planning and really looking at what your doing in your business, how you can grow your business, how you can scale your business, sometimes it’s in refining your services or offering your services in a different way. For example, you’re a life coach, or a business coach and you’ve gotten to the point where, you know, there’s only 24 hours in a day, seven days a week, and you’re working 60, 70 hours a week, and that’s really not what you signed up for when you went into business for yourself. Because remember there is that myth that being your own boss means that you make more money and work less, well, again, I’ll call BS on that because that’s not always the case. But if you’re at the point where you’re working 60 or 70 hours dealing with one on one clients, then maybe your business needs to change so that you’re doing more workshops for larger groups, or you’re doing some online courses for larger groups. Therefore your business services, your offerings have changed. Therefore, your target market and the way you speak to them, where you find them, and how you draw them in to scale up your business. All of that is going to have to change. Those are all business plan, business development, business scaling issues, so don’t get comfortable just because you’ve been in business and been successful for three, or four, or five, or even 10 years. I highly recommend, this is the voice of a successful marketing experts that you refine your services, or reassess your service offerings, or your product offerings, and make sure that when you do that, you measure what is your passion, where is it taking you, or where do you want it to take you? Where are the economic or market forces coming from in the next six months, or a year, or two? How do those things impact how your running your business? And how do those things then in turn impact, or require you to reassess who your target market is? And how you speak to them? Where you find them?
So I encourage you, if you haven’t done a business plan or considered your business offerings, your expertise, and who your clients are, and how you’re serving them, if you haven’t done that in the last year, it’s time. It’s time to do that because I guarantee you, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business that there have been influences from the inside and the outside that are going to shift the way you do your business. So those are the words of wisdom I’m going to leave you with today in Mindset Meets Mastery. Reassess your business development, your business offerings, and your business services, and see how that equals to who your primary, and secondary, and third level target markets are. Because that’s where you’re going to shift mindsets, and that’s where you’re going to learn to master your expertise and become and go to expert in your business. So join us again next time when, I’m sure we’re going to come up with some expert in some business development area that you’re just going to be blown away with what they have to offer. The next time I come to you myself, my teaching, and my topic is going to be about social media content development. Because too many people on social media have forgotten the social part of developing content. So if you want to learn more about that, stay tuned to an upcoming episode of Mindset Meets Mastery with Arlene Gale.
“Reassess your business development, your business offerings, and your business services. And see how that equals to who your primary and secondary and third level target markets are. Because that's where you're going to shift mindsets. And… Click To Tweet