It may seem counter intuitive, but you can often achieve better marketing communications when you limit what you say to fewer words and topics, to deliver a more refined and narrow message. In fact, this concept can apply to other concepts and “walks of life,” such as product management, career strategies or business planning.
The challenge is how to overcome the perception that by limiting your focus you will “miss out” on a future opportunity. There is a natural inclination to expand focus to offer a more comprehensive solution, a wider scope of product functionality or to address a broader range of industry challenges.
The classic case is the start up organization that is inevitably asked by a prospective customer to perform custom work to address their specific needs, when that work veers the company away from their previously chosen direction. On the one hand, a paying customer in the “hand” is worth two potential customers in the “bush.” On the other hand, if you never achieve economies of scale from selling a repeatable product or service, you many never earn a profit, and ultimately go out of business.
A great example of a business that has embraced this concept well is one of my favorite local Southern California burger joints: In-N-Out. Their menu is limited to three combo meals, consisting of various choices of a single or double patty, with or without cheese, and with or without onions. I have learned that if I want a great burger, In-n-Out is at the top of my list.
Their message is highly focused. If I am in the mood for steak, soup or salad, I will go elsewhere. In-N-Out is just fine with that. Arrive at 12 midnight and expect to wait in a line on a Friday or Saturday night. They have no problem in getting all teh business they can handle. Staying hyper-focused on their menu has allowed them to master their delivery process of their product highly consistently, year after year after year as a privately held company.
You should use this same focus on your business messaging too. The world is too competitive to try and be multiple things to many people. Pick one. Do it well.
As a marketer, keep this in mind when preparing your communications, writing a business plan or executing upon a marketing strategy. Keep your content and messaging concise and to as narrow a point and message as possible. If you can be relentless in this exercise, your reward will be a highly effective retention factor by your prospective customers, and ultimately, the best chance for a future sale.
Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.
On a similar note I’ve always been eager to see what influence you could have by limiting your audience, but to most marketers that idea is preposterous.
Yet many LinkedIn groups and even arguably Facebook’s founding are successful due to exclusivity – making participants feel they are part of an elite or select group. Additionally, for many B2B corporations the real target audience of influencers is so small, yet the deal size so large, that large traffic numbers are insignificant when just a single person could make or break your next big deal.
Exactly. Good points!