The largest possible market and smallest viable market are very distinct choices before you launch your marketing. Both come with their prices; both offer profit when done well. Making the choice is not so easy. Choose well.
Do you start small?
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It’s easy to want to go after a sizable market; where the masses reside. There is safety in numbers they say. Making things for many also means there are a gazillion of others like you making the same thing offering the same benefits.
Better yet, look at these masses and look for crucial differences between their wants and needs and fears. Then ask yourself, can you make something for this smaller market that others can’t. Stand out and be distinctive in this smaller crowd and win them over. They will spread your word.
Do
you start with small?
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A friend forwarded me a video of a financial consultant and wanted my opinion on his approach to social media. In the video the financial consultant requested viewers to subscribe to his social media channels that include, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. He stressed that content is not duplicated across these channels. Obviously, providing a reason to subscribe to all these channels.
I can only speculate who is the audience he is trying to serve. And given that, my questions would be, is the same audience who consumes YouTube going to be on TikTok? Or any other channels for that matter? What is the overall media objective? Reach? Affinity? Frequency? Engagement? These need to be evaluated.
Even if you have the budget to do it, for a solopreneur you need to be thinking about your ROI in terms of time and energy.
What is your effort ROI?
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One excellent way of thinking about who will consume your brand is to think – who are you going to serve? If you think you want to be of service to these people, your marketing changes drastically. You think in the consumers’ shoes. How can you best serve them makes you think harder and be of more value to them. Not you.
Who do you want to sell to; has your interest at heart. Who do you want to serve; has their interest at heart.
Who
can you help?
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Some companies like to imitate others. They are contented as a “me-too”. Just a small market share of a bigger market is fine. It feels safe. It doesn’t need a lot of investments to meet targets.
It may feel safe at first but it is the most dangerous thing to do. There is no competitive advantage that they have built, which means that there will be low barriers to entry. Eventually pricing will be affected due to competition and it becomes a commodified market. Margins are low, fighting for a piece of the market becomes tougher.
Better to start in an arena that you have expertise in where you can build a moat around some competitive advantage than follow the crowd.
Is
it safe?
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If you experience success many times, do you ever wonder if you should try something harder? Or if your goals are high enough?
Do you fail often?
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We met a prospect recently who was adamant that their read of the market is right and that their marketing will work. In their words, “We only need someone to execute the advertising plan.” We walked away.
One red flag for us when we meet prospects is their level of confidence. When their confidence is too low, they over rely on you to deliver. They expect you to even deliver on what should be their responsibility. Too high on confidence bordering on quixotic means they are blinded by a million things.
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." – Mark Twain
Are you confident on the wrong thing?
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When you are well rested, especially getting enough sleep - your stress levels go down, you are able to see clearly and you are able to solve most challenges easily. A mountain looks like a mound. It’s just a speed bump.
When you lack sleep, a mound become s a mountain. Everything is a huge challenge. Your temper runs short, your voice is raised and everything seems unfair and insurmountable.
Are
you getting enough sleep?
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Getting out of your comfort zone is tough. It’s risky and dangers seem to be lurking in every corner. But if you keep within what makes you comfortable, then pursuing growth becomes a challenge. Growth comes with some form of fear and some form of pain. But the best growth you can get is often on the other side of fear.
Can
confronting fear be your fertilizer?
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Don’t hate doing the basics. It’s your foundation that you will build further knowledge and skills on. It’s boring, it’s repetitive and it’s tough. But you know what they say – you gotta do what you gotta do till you get to do what you want to do.
What do you want to do?
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Sometimes monitoring your competitors is like driving on a road. You keep them in your view but you do not focus on them too much. You focus on your own driving. Are you in the right lane, are you within your speed limit, what is your distance between your car and the rest, when do you need to apply the brakes when the red lights come up?
Sure, your competitors will affect you, but they will affect the other competitors in your category as well.
Monitor your competitors but don’t be too obsessed with them.
Do
they just compete with you?
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Most people say they want to learn and some people do what they say they will do i.e., learn. Yet, they find it hard to learn and apply.
You need to apply a method to learning otherwise, there is no structure and foundation in which you can build new knowledge and skills on. You will need a framework to see where are the pockets of vacuum you need to fill.
How
do you learn?
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We met a marketer this week that questioned quite a few classically used marketing processes. She mentioned that these are quite useless. Needless to say, we took it as a teaching moment and explained how they are actually being used.
Sometimes you think something is useless because you don’t know how to use it. Not because it is useless.
How useful are you?
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Sometimes as an entrepreneur you face so many naysayers that you doubt yourself. But the ability to stand your ground when everyone doesn’t believe you is a trait that can bring you closer to your goals. That has to be balanced with the ability to drop back and reflect; not retreat and do it all over again with courage when you meet obstacles. That’s how you move forward.
Do you doubt yourself sometimes?
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Your sense of urgency can be a driver of productivity. If you get on with things that needs to be done quickly, plan what needs to be done and get on with it you can accomplish more than you know.
Some people are not driven by a sense of urgency that they miss out on opportunities and how productive they are capable of being.
Where
would you be now if you did things faster?
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"Nothing is easy but it is not as hard as you think," Hwang Chang Gyu
Pray that we are blessed with courage, strength and patience to face whatever challenges there may be. And to be blessed with a huge dose of optimism for the good that is to come. And the wisdom to balance both as we approach the unknown.
Should you decide at the end instead?
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Great things are done when man meets mountain.
When you are faced with obstacles, see it as your opportunity to accomplish great goals. It’s there to create learning for you. It’s there to force you to be creative. It’s there to squeeze you for solutions that can last a lifetime.
It’s not there to be difficult for you.
Do you see great things to be done?
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For the group of people who are always looking for cheap products and services, it is a game to them. Kind of like a hunter. Perhaps that’s why we call them bargain hunters. This group of consumers - while they may be a large group, they aren’t the whole consumer segment in any category. Otherwise, the cheapest brand in the category would always have the largest market share.
There are other segments of the market that look at money differently; they look at community, they look at opportunity costs and they look at luxury too.
Perhaps you should discard the cheap idea of yours.
Do they just buy on price?
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You can of course communicate that big hairy audacious goal that you have. If I guess correctly, it is about changing the way the industry works or the world does a certain thing. Sure, call it your why. It’s sexy and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and smart.
Here is a gentle reminder. That goal takes years to achieve. I am not against it. I agree you should have it. (Here is the but) But it takes years to achieve that. With the resources that you have now? It’s not likely that you will get there. Start with the smallest viable goal that will get you there this year. Then next year, take the next step and so on. Makes sense?
What’s the first viable step to your vision?
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Like pottery, you have what you want to sculpt in mind and you begin the process with that vision in your mind. In marketing strategy, you begin with a theory or a hypothesis in mind. Here is what I know about the market, based on this I know these are the segments, based on these segments I am going to target this particular segment. With this segment this is what I intend to achieve by telling them this story (or message or positioning or whatever you call it).
Then you set off to execute it with your tactics. Is it a guarantee? Of course not. That’s why it can get dirty and messy. But there is a method to it to make it tidy and orderly. Then you adjust and mend as you go along.
How beautiful will it be?
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One place where you can start; if you feel your branding and marketing isn’t working as much as you want it to - is to ask yourself how is your company oriented.
Some companies are sales oriented, advertising oriented (not brand or marketing; big difference there), R&D oriented, on and on. You may think you do branding and marketing but unless you let brand and market decisions drive the business decisions then you aren’t really marketing oriented.
To be marketing oriented means to let the market guide you in the decisions. Which segment do we want to play in, how would we win, what position do we take, what is our story and message, what do we do with our 4Ps to win with this target?
Which direction did you take?
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Everything that your company does is marketing. The consumer is exposed to and experiences your brand in many ways.
The donation your company made, the uncleaned trash outside your outlets, the replies on social media, what your assembly line workers tell their friends at the corner coffee shop, each of these and more tells a story of your brand.
Again, marketing is a culture. Not a department.
Should marketing be a culture in your company?
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