One of the most consistent and important Marketing concepts that I’ve learned over the years is this; no matter how hard you try in your Marketing Analysis and Strategy, you’ll never be able to successfully appeal to everyone, all at once, all the time. While this may place a pessimistic emphasis on effective Marketing, it brings up the most important questions to address. One may ask: “How CAN my strategy appeal to everyone?” or “Who should I appeal to instead?”. The former is too optimistic, and the latter is the right question to ask.
Imagine, if you will, a painted target at a target range, with a Bow-and-Arrows and a Shotgun at a Marksman’s disposal. The Marksman’s goal is to hit the center of the target as many times as possible within a given time.
Will this individual choose the Bow-and-Arrows or the Shotgun? One may think the Shotgun is the smart decision, seeing that the weapon can expel dozens of small lead BBs and cover a vast surface area when projected with little difficulty. Hitting the center of the target, however, is up to a very large degree of chance.
How about the choice of the Bow-and-Arrows? Mastering the “Art” of the Bow is no easy task, yet when properly trained can be an effective tool to “hit the mark” with accuracy and precision. The Marksman, given the proper patience and knowledge, takes up the Bow-and-Arrows, accounts proper timing with aim, and Bullseye!
You can be precise without being accurate, but you cannot be accurate without being precise.
In Marketing, accuracy and precision are vital in any proper strategy, whether it’s at the research and analysis stage, the branding strategy and design stage, or the advertising campaign planning stage. Often great companies make the common mistake of trying to appeal to everybody. Instead, consider focusing the attention on your Ideal Customer, which in short, is your best, most loyal example of your “fan base”. Often this is the same person as your “Brand Evangelist” who is willing to share the best of what you offer with as many people as they can, when they can.
Run through the traditional questions, discovering that person’s demographics and being as precise and accurate as possible. The best way to achieve this is to limit the amount of generalization, such as overly broad number ranges.
It’s no simple task to discover your Ideal Customer, and often takes many resources and time to pinpoint the right profile. However, thirteen05 creative is more than happy to discuss how your Digital Marketing Strategy can appeal to your Ideal Customer. Get ready to hit that Bullseye!
