Second Profit Secret of Entrepreneurs
This is the second installment in our series of Profit Secrets of Entrepreneurs. Some people believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. However, there’s also another saying that says, “Wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes!” If you’re all for learning from other people’s mistakes… read on!
In our first installment of Profit Secret of Entrepreneurs is: Hope for the Best but Plan for the Worst
SECOND ENTREPRENEUR PROFIT SECRET:
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
We entrepreneurs are big thinkers. BIG-BIG-BIGGER IS BETTER! So it’s not surprising that one of the subjects that makes most entrepreneurs “edgy” is to think of narrowing the focus for their business.
When entrepreneurs come to me to develop their website, the first question I ask is “Who is your target audience?” For many aspiring entrepreneurs the knee jerk response is, “Everyone! Everyone is a potential customer for my product or service.”
The four little words that will doom your business before it starts are these:
MY CUSTOMER IS EVERYONE.
So if you have a great product or service that you want to introduce to the world, begin by identifying WHO your target customer for that product or service will be.
There’s no doubt that people today are suffering from information overload. As a result, your potential customers’ brains are working overtime to filter out messages deemed “not relevant” at any given moment.
When an entrepreneur defines the target audience as “everyone,” that means it’s virtually impossible to create a message that can break through the filters of the mind of the target audience.
By choosing to target “everyone”, you condemn your advertising and marketing messages to promote your product or service to the junk pile, along with all the other “garbage” messages that are being filtered.
Remember, advertising never forced anyone to buy anything. If you cannot create a message that addresses the specific needs of your target customers, you simply will not make it through their filters. Instead of netting 1 out of 10 new customers using the “more eyeballs” approach, suddenly your success rate drops precipitously.
The entrepreneur who wants to go after everyone might say, “Well, even a tiny number - like .1% of 1,000,000 - is still a respectable 1000 customers. This is equal to 10% of the 10,000 of the tightly targeted message, so I’ll still get the same effect by targeting everyone, right?”
Unfortunately, the answer is no. The reasoning above disregards not only the fact that the broadly targeted message’s chances of “connecting” with customers is dramatically decreased but also the increased cost of reaching more “eyeballs” or how much it costs per-person to reach each potential customer or “eyeball.”
By tightly targeting your niche market in the beginning, you can conserve cash (see the First Profit Secret of Entrepreneurs) and make better use of your advertising and marketing dollars. Doing that is an effective way to deliver profits.
Comments
Got something to say?
-
Get your copy of
Keys to Small Business Marketing Success
Online and Off line.
When you sign up for
Deliver Profits Techniques for Supersizing Your Small Business
