All Things

The shuffle mode on the iPod is a great thing. It dredges up tunes I had long forgotten. The other day I heard “Everything to Everyone” a tune from the late ‘90s by Everclear (I guess they really like the term “ever”). The song reminded me of target marketing.

Seriously.

A while back I attended a networking event at which each attendee was given the opportunity to introduce themselves. I enjoy these types of things because it is fun to hear a bunch of people describe what they do and why they are at such an event. And no, this isn’t a how-to on the “elevator speech”. Although that’s a good idea and I’ll do that some time soon in this very blog.

This is an observation about targeting. A number of people in this group of accomplished business people expected the other attendees to believe that their product or service was for “everyone”. The worst offender actually said: “So I’m really able to sell to anyone who breathes!”

No, they weren’t the proverbial “air salesman on the moon”. They owned an accounting firm. And while everyone may have to pay taxes (or at least fill out an IRS form), that doesn’t make everyone a prospect for this accounting firm.

If the firm’s target market really is “everyone” I would bet that the accountants at the firm waste a lot of time in one way or another.

First time waster: trying to develop the market of “everyone”.
With no focus on the type of individual or business they work with best, marketing and sales efforts typically have very little impact. Time and money are wasted when the message doesn’t specify the services and experience that would be attractive to particular prospects. The message is weakened because it is trying to be everything to everyone...and doesn’t mean much to anyone. Instead of standing up at a networking event and saying, “We help family-owned businesses reduce tax expense and improve cash flow.”, they say some milktoast message about doing taxes for anyone that is breathing.

Second time waster: slow execution of projects.
On the “product” side (forgive me accountants for using the term “product”!), production is better when it is repeatable. Now I’m not saying that accounting can become an assembly line. Still, experts become experts because they have experience. Not focusing on a tighter definition of the firm’s expertise means that the work probably takes longer, more tax code research must be done resulting in more cost and (maybe) less confidence in the work. Focusing on particular tax issues or business types would probably improve quality and reduce cost.

The application is this: understanding who to target and then actively targeting those prospects is a key to maximizing the marketing effort. Not profiling and segmenting prospects leads to waste of one kind or another. In our process, we use several tools and techniques to help uncover and define the market segments that are most profitable or have the greatest potential.

It’s not as cool as rock n’ roll, but it is an effective process. Email me your questions about target markets, or to set up a time to discuss how to better understand your market and target your next best customers. www.geniusmarketing.com

SLE