Let’s Do Some Sponge Marketing™
Choosing your target market can be a challenging process. The buyers you want to focus on may not be the ones with the cash. Now there’s a great way to grind your business to a halt in a hurry!
Do you go after a larger, more diverse market (shallow but wide) or do you concentrate on a narrower, deeper niche? What if your product appeals to a wide range of potential buyers and it’s hard to classify them?
Whether you’re starting your business, regrouping, or in growth mode, it’s always a good idea to evaluate who your market is, where the money is coming from, and where the low hanging fruit (the easier sale) lies. Making the right choice is the difference between make it or break it.
Maybe it’s an evolutionary reflex, but humans seem hardwired to try and grab it all and thereby often end up losing a great deal. I guess we really do believe that more is better. But it’s not necessarily. One pound of crappy chocolate is still crappy chocolate. One bite of deluxe Godiva truffle can linger on the palate and fully satisfy. Mmmm…
Sorry, got distracted there.
Let me put it this way. Imagine you have three sponges on a table in front of you. Now pick up a glass of water and dip your fingers in. Start sprinkling that glass of water at the three sponges. Repeat. How long do you think it will take for you to fully moisten them?
Now, picture those three sponges and this time, dump the entire glass of water on the first one. Hah! Full saturation. And, once the first sponge is full, the water starts seeping over to moisten the second one.
That’s what targeted marketing does. It doesn’t presume you won’t accept work from other markets, but it does inform where you focus your marketing and business development energy. And that simplifies every other part of your marketing program.
Now let’s get out and do some Sponge Marketing™ shall we?
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