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Are you trying to be everything to everyone?

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There are numerous benefits that a brand and marketing strategy can provide your business – and if embraced will save you from wasting precious marketing dollars.

Are you targeting everyone and hitting no-one?

Have you ever placed an advertisement or run a promotion and received little or no response in spite of having a terrific product or service offer?

Well you’re not the ‘Lone Ranger’!

Nine times out of ten the reason is quite simple – poor targeting – or the scattergun approach.

Imagine a farmer sowing seeds widely across his whole field, taking no account of whether the soil is fertile, or having furrowed the field, or which way the wind is blowing. It will come as no surprise if only a few of the seeds take root and flourish.

The same applies to promoting your business and its services or products – you simply can’t afford to waste valuable seed (ie: marketing dollars) in this manner.

If you haven’t decided exactly who you want to reach with your message and how best to reach them – you are unlikely to succeed and very likely to waste your investment in marketing.

“The marketer who tries to be everything to everyone, ends up being nothing to anyone.”

One of the keys to marketing success is knowing your customers really well.

By considering their mindset, you will have a better knowledge of what really motivates their decision-making when they begin to think of buying in your category or service?

Segmentation of your total target market is just one benefit that a brand and marketing strategy can provide.

What really goes on inside their head at this time?

We refer to this as Motivational Segmentation.

This segmentation process assists with improved targeting because the better you understand what motivates your target audience the more likely you are to strike a chord with them.

All successful businesses have a deep and insightful understanding of the market they operate in and carefully segment that market in order to reduce wastage and improve ROI of marketing spend.

Segmentation allows your company to ‘tailor your offer’ in order to become differentiated, more meaningful and highly relevant to a discreet section (or sections) of the total market.

Having defined very clearly the benefits of targeting segments you now understand and want to communicate with, you’ll be investing marketing dollars not wasting them!

Jason Eisner is a principal of BrandQuest, a strategy, culture and brand management company that builds enduring and valuable brands.

Since co-founding BrandQuest in 2007, Jason has worked on over 100 local and international organisations from start-ups to ASX listed as well as not-for-profits.

Prior to establishing BrandQuest, Jason had 15 years of strategic marketing and operations experience in senior management and consulting roles including: The Cambridge Group (New York and Chicago) Nuvisio (New York venture backed start-up), Accenture and Tip Top Bakeries (Sydney).

Jason has a Bachelor of Commerce from UNSW and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He has also co-authored ‘Fast Marketing for Fast Growth’ published by New Holland and has Lectured in Marketing at the AGSM (Australian Graduate School of Management) UNSW MBA (Executive).

Are you trying to be everything to everyone? - BrandQuest