WHO WANTS WHAT YOU'RE SELLING?
For Optimal Success, Target Narrowly!
by Rosemary Davies-JanesMany people miss this vital element
of effective brand marketing. We have been raised to believe that we
must protect what we have as if we loose it, there might not be
more. “Billy, be careful that you don’t loose that new baseball
glove, because you won’t get another one if you do!” This leads
us to naturally develop “scarcity” mindsets. Many of us carry this
thinking with us into adulthood as a subconscious “truth”. In order to ensure our survival, we resist focusing our talents
narrowly and instead, try to be all things to all people. I excelled in all aspects of fine art throughout primary school and
high school. Many respected local artists identified my talent to
my parents as a “true gift”. Yet when it came time to go to college,
my parents convinced me that I should go for a degree that would
lead to a “real job” rather than attending the art school that I had
set my sights on. They were afraid that my talent would not prove
viable and that I would end up as a “starving artist”. Feeling it
was their duty as responsible parents to put me on the “right path”,
they negotiated cleverly. An offer to pay for art school after my
“real education”, if I was still wanting to pursue such a (foolish)
course after 4 years of undergraduate work, convinced me to take
their advice. I had picked up their fear. What if I wasn’t good
enough to make it as an artist? Thus, I surrendered my dream and
set aside my passion before it had a chance to fully develop or
mature.
Many of us have similar stories and willingly “sell ourselves out”
in smaller, more subtle ways. How many times have you taken on a
task that was not a good fit for you? That drained you? These
opportunities come in all shapes and forms, volunteer work for a
charity project, extra projects at work, supporting programs at our
children’s schools. While it often seems like “a good idea at the
time”, the greatest value that these experiences offer us is the
ability to see how we are impacted by experiences that truly “don’t
fit” us. These lessons enable us to make better choices in the
future in what we choose to do and who we choose to do it with.
Over and above our ingrained “scarcity thinking”. "Eat up your
dinner Sally, there are children starving in
Africa/Asia/China/India."
What many of us don’t take the time to discern is the type of person
that we most enjoy working with.
Not everyone will like our style,
as we don’t like everyone else’s!
When you focus your time and talents, and choose who you want to
spend time with, at work and at play, you will find that conflicts
decrease, your productivity, satisfaction and pure “enjoyment” of
your work increases substantially. So give careful thought to WHO
you want to work with. The best way to attract people who will like
you, your style, your rhythms is to be your authentic self. Who you
are will attract those who are a good fit for you while those who
don’t mesh well with you will be clear that there’s not a good fit
between you. Sound scary? Good!
Defining your target market is the most important part of the
marketing process, as your messages, your look and the language you
use all need to be precisely positioned to attract the people you
want to serve.
A rare car lover’s attention will be attracted to and riveted on
rare cars that they encounter. We’ve all seen bikers who, while busy
maneuvering through heavy traffic, are able to detect and
acknowledge each other while driving along a busy freeway. You have
also likely had the experience of preparing to purchase something,
perhaps a sailboat, and although you thought that no-one else in
your office or community sailed, all of a sudden sailboat references
pop up in lunch room conversations, in magazine articles, even on
TV. It’s not that they weren’t there before, you just weren’t
“tuned in” to them.
This focusing effect is an interesting part of our brain called the
Reticular Activation System, (RAS). As our brain’s attention center
it is the key to “turning on our brain” and our motivation center.
When functioning normally, it provides the neural connections that
are needed for the processing and learning of information. It gives
us the ability to pay attention to the correct task. An imbalanced
RAS can result in “ADD” type behavior, unfocused, overactive and
unpredictable.
By knowing “who” we want to attract, (specifically), we are able to
discern what they like, what concerns them, what challenges them,
etc. Once we have this information, we can begin to develop a very
specific profile of our ideal customers or core target market. This
profile enables us to engage their RAS with messages that attract
their attention in the same way that rare cars attract and hold a
rare car buff’s attention. The target market profile also lets us
know where and how to connect with them.
Delivering focused, branded messages, to well a defined target
audience in one of their favorite hangouts will result in a high and
positive response. (Did you ever wonder why so many organizations
are willing to sponsor Golf Tournaments?) When you have the right
brand with the right message for the right target, the fairways of a
pristine golf course are about as ideal a setting as you could wish
for to create a new friendship or to close an important deal.
When we try to attract the world – we dilute our message. I’m sure
the flaws of the “one-size fits all” marketing approach are now
abundantly clear. The purpose of good branding is to inform those
who have the greatest need of your products and/or services of the
business that you are in (who you are), the benefits that you offer
and the problems that you can solve for them. Good branding and
positioning will attract people who will be a good fit for you,
while it will filter out those who will be difficult to sell to and
difficult to serve.
Following are questions that need to be answered when defining your
target audience(s).
Some sample answers have been inserted to help you “fill in the
blanks”.
Sample Target Audience Profile:
Personal Prospects
Age: 40 - 50
Sex: 80% Female / 20% Male
Profession: Academics & Non-Profit Managers/Executives
Education Level: College Graduates –> PhD’s
Marital Status: Married and Divorced
Parental Status: Parents & Grandparents
Lifestyle: Workaholics who want more balance
Location: Urban US, cities with populations > 300,000
Hobbies: Quilting, cooking, gardening, reading, antique
collecting
Interests: Current Affairs / Municipal Politics
Values: Family, beauty, integrity, connection, creativity,
truth, clarity
Annual Personal Income: $60K - $90K
Annual Household Income: $100K - $200K
Preferred Exercise/Activities: Hiking, team sports, squash
Preferred Magazines: Current events/news publications, such
as the New York Times, Time, Newsweek
Preferred Books: Political Biographies, history, general
non-fiction
Preferred Websites: (from a research perspective) – related
to business.
Preferred TV Shows: News, CNN, CNBC, NBC Dateline
Preferred Toys: Latest Blackberry, most environmentally
friendly Hybrid Crossover
Preferred Vacation Destinations: Antiquing in Louisiana,
hiking in Arizona
They Think About: Seeking balance, looking for what’s next,
increasing their accreditation, moving up in their career, wanting
more responsibility& fulfillment, fearing job changes
They are Challenged by: Physical health issues, (lack of)
fitness, lack of time & balance.
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