Make Yourself Unique

So many business people, and not just new ones, try to sell a bunch of stuff to the whole world.  Instead, if they would establish a niche product or service and a finely-tuned target market, they will usually be more successful.

Recently I met a woman, Michelle Sheldon, at the Sustainability Brands Conference in Detroit.  Michelle owns a promotional products company, Eco Promotional Products.  What makes her different from all the other companies is that she offers eco-friendly products instead of the usual throwaway stuff.  This made me stop at her booth and chat a bit, instead of just passing by.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I was in Cleveland for the day meeting with other business owners.  One, Erica Larson, owner of Pixel Power, wants to focus more on ecologically sound companies and organizations to help with website development.  In our conversation, the Sustainability Conference was talked about.  I then told Erica about Michelle and Erica's reply was, "Oh my gosh, I can tell you that what she is offering is hard to find."

As a result, I have connected both women.  One from Illinois and one from Cleveland, OH.  And I live in Toledo. 

Now if Michelle had just had the display of all the usual products, I wouldn't even have stopped to investigate that day.  Having that niche makes her memorable and her message is so powerful that it easily travels across state lines!

Can you say the same about your message and offering?

Refreshingly Clear!

The other day thanks to an invitation from Cindy Hauff at H.O.T. Printing and Graphics, I spoke at the Ad Club of Toledo and I really had a lot of fun with that group.  Before the meeting started, I had the opportunity to chat with several members and guests.  One that stood out for me was Michael Sell of Outdoor Business Network.  He is the Director of Sales & Marketing for that company.  He told me that they help those companies that represent activities in the outdoor world such as gun companies or fishing equipment companies, etc to help them to reach their customers, especially through the electronic world of websites and social media.


I immediately had a good idea of what he did and also who his customer was and the conversation was no longer than two minutes.  I told Michael that I really was impressed.  He knows who his target market is and was able to articulate it.  Additionally, he knows where and how to market the company
.  He also knows the challenges that might be facing that market, especially with gun control issues. Knowing those issues can help Outdoor Business Network to make decisions that will keep them flexible in the future.  Bravo!  In fact you can't see me but I am giving them a standing ovation.

It was so refreshing because I can tell you that I talk to a lot of business people in the website/social media world who say that they can do anything for anyone.  As I'm sure Outdoor Business Network can provide services to anyone, BUT they know the power of focusing on one market.  Granted the outdoor world is a huge segment, but they have become known experts in that area and now are being called to provide websites for some big companies because they have built their reputation in the marketplace.

Having a clearly defined target market is the first step in figuring out a strategic approach to networking. It tells you who you have to network with!

What is your target market?  Please don't tell me small business people.  You're just foolin' yourself with that one.

Networking Conumdrum

This week I met with Julie Bankert, who established a bookkeeping business in 2010. Julie has lots of talent and experience, but what she has found challenging was having to get out and sell herself.

Isn't that a universal problem that many business owners face in the early days (and for some, every day) of our businesses?

Julie has pushed herself in the nine months she's been offering her services. Now, she asked me a very insightful question. She expressed, "I don't know how to focus all this networking and don't know what networking I should be doing." Additionally, she smiled her sparkly blue eyes and said, "I can't figure out how to get all my work done, too!"

I was impressed that Julie was asking these questions because sometimes people don't take a step back and become more organized with their networking. They just go and go and go.

In our conversation I explained to Julie that it's all about establishing a clearly defined target market, because once she knows who her best prospects are, then she can hang out and network where they network. Easy.

What would your advice be to Julie?

Bigger Than Life

This week, we talked about target market in class and how once you know who your target market is then you know who can refer you to your prospects.
Several people in the class had very similar target demographics, that being women in the 40 - 60 age bracket. I asked Certified Networker student, Stas' Krukowski, sales person for Yark Automotive, if women of that age purchase sports cars. He said, "No, Debby, you are different than most with your Mini, because most women want an SUV."

I informed Stas', that my Mini has the Jack Russell mentality. It thinks it is a SUV!

I guess you had to be there!

Couldn't Have Said it Better

Yeah, it takes another blogger's post to sometimes waken the sleeping Debby!

Tom Fishburne is a favorite of mine. He says and draws so succinctly what others can't even begin to explain. In today's post, Tom talks about brand archtypes, but really he's talking about how big companies use a process to determine who they are going to sell to.

Since we help our students in the Certified Networker course to do the same thing (sometimes kicking and screaming!) these couple sentences in Tom's post resonated with me.

"Without narrowing, a brand is trying to be all things to all people. It ends up standing for nothing. When brands stand for nothing, the only way it can compete is on price. " (I have bolded and enlarged the last sentence.)

We help our students to network less, by being clear about who they are selling to. When they know that, then they know where to network.

Any comments????

It Made Me Laugh

I have been wanting to write about this for some time, but just haven't had to time. My apologies to my readers!

In the course that I teach (Certified Networker) one tenet taught in the class is that if you don't have a clear-cut target market or market segment that you won't know where to network. These scattered people tend to attend all kinds of networking events, getting more and more tired without any return on their investment of time. They may be heard to say, "Networking doesn't work for me."

The other day I was at a networking event where a new student of Certified Networker was also attending. She had two sessions of the 12 week series under her belt. In the past she would have told me that she sold to anyone, that each and every person in the world needed her services.

Here is the conversation I overheard. (OK, I was eavesdropping!)

Cindy asking a question of another networker, "So what do you do?"

Jim replied, "Well, we do this and this and this and this and this and this......" (I think you get the idea that each "this," was a very different offering to many equally different market segments.)

Cindy looked Jim straight in the eye and said, "So you haven't identified who your best prospect is?????"

I had to turn away because I didn't want either of them see me laughing. Poor Jim didn't know what had happened to him. But my bigger smile was about Cindy. Just like a former smoker, she is now the foremost proponent of having a target market!

I guess you just had to be there.

Product Design and Target Marketing

Tom Fishburne has done it again.

While his cartoon below is actually about the lack of innovation in product design, it also demonstrates the concept of having too broad of a target market.


To network effectively, business people must narrow their focus. You can't be everything to everyone nor can you be everywhere all the time!

Also, without become an expert for some segment, you look exactly like all the other people who are selling what you sell. It makes it difficult for your consumer (customer) to decide why they should buy from you rather than just blindly picking "off the shelf." Also, you have to be a gerbil on the wheel trying to network where everyone is rather than selectively picking out the right places to be.

What's your take on this?

A Target of Millions and Millions

Yeesh!

With all the hoopla of the Apple iPad roll out, there was one small paragraph that caught my eye. I have copied it below but you can link to the story here.

"The target audience is everyone," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president for strategy and analysis at Interpret, a market research firm. "Apple does not build products for just the enthusiasts," he said. "It doesn't build for the tens of thousands; it builds for the tens of millions."

Hmmm. I guess if you are Apple your target audience (market) can be everyone. But doesn't that go against the very definition of what a target market is?????

I have been doing a lot of reading about this very subject within the last month. One phrase from my reading has stayed with me. It is, "Specialize or Spend."

I think that says it all. The wider the target, the more you have to spend, both in time and money.

I guess Michael Gartenberg thinks Apple has an unlimited supply of both.

What are your thoughts?

Resources

If you are thinking of starting a new business, an old book might be the key for you.

I picked up Target Marketing, by Linda Pinson and Jerry Jinnell at the library.

Even though it was written in 1993, it should be required reading for someone thinking of starting a business. It is a step-by-step process from the germ of an idea to actual business in place.

Along the way, there are easy forms to use to help identify target market, location analysis, competition evaluation, financial and advertising worksheets. And more! Additionally there are a multitude of resources named at the end of each chapter.

This might be a book that deserves to be purchased. You can get it used here for just one penny, but it is worth a whole heck of a lot more.

Gap creates a gap

Seth Godin posted about The Gap having to close stores. I can remember when I lived in Royal Oak, MI (the coolest place to live in my book) that the Birmingham store was the place to shop. Right on the corner of Woodward and Maple, it drew a crowd? Why? Because it was different than any other store around.

Now there is a Gap for everyone. Along with regular people there are separate stores for babies, kids and preggers. There is even a gapbody, whatever that means. Hey, Gap, you lost your niche. In your rush to blanket the world with your overpriced clothing, you became a blur. You are just like J.C. Penney and the hip (does that word date me?) don't want to be seen there.

That's a lesson for all of us.

What makes you unique? Know and exploit that for all its worth.

And it is worth a lot!

Four Will Make More

Ya' want to know what makes me really happy?

Well, I'm going to tell you anyway!


This week, I put four people together in a meeting. They all have the same target market. Two of them had just met last week, but for the most part they were not acquainted with each other.

It was really neat to see them begin to share. They told about industry journals they read, people in the industry they'd already met, information they gleaned, conferences to attend and just a general atmosphere of open sharing. It was too early to share clients, but they did talk about some of their clients and even named a few.

What will happen next? They have another meeting scheduled in about a month. Hopefully they will understand the synergy they can generate for each other. I have to let them take it from here.

Mary, Angie, Darlene and Karen you made my day! Thanks!

What makes your day???

Attention Grabber

Really, I get so tired of people saying, "I can't focus on one industry because I've tried it and it just doesn't work." So they bump along the bottom of the river like a carp, taking care of whatever falls down to their level.

Sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's not so good.

This week I was meeting with one of my new BNI chapter members. She happens to be a copier sales person. In a passing comment she mentioned to me that in her short time with her company that she had sold one of the electronic filing systems.

Knowing that the price tag makes it a major purchase, I was just curious as to which law firm or CPA firm she had cracked.

Wasn't that at all. It was a medium-sized, local trucking firm.

The amazing part was that she hadn't thought about calling on other transportation companies.

Until I asked.

Additionally, I have three people to introduce her to. A CPA; an occupational, health-testing company sales person and a financial planner. They also, all have truckers as customers. The four of them are going to get together as a group very soon to see how they can help each other.

What can I say but, they set themselves up for success when they each told me that they work and want to work with more trucking companies.

Do you have anything to add to this, either for or against this concept?

Seth's Words in Ann Arbor

Today I heard Seth speak in Ann Arbor and answer questions from the audience. He did not use the words target market, but alluded to them so many times.

This post is such a laugh because the ad tells us that whatever this company does, it probably won't be done well.

Doing everything for everyone satisfies no one.

Most people are afraid to limit the audience they sell to, but the ones who figure it out, are the ones the push through "the dip." Thanks, Seth. I'm glad it's not about quitting!

Pink Tonka Trucks

Somebody asked me tonight about how I keep all the networking information straight in my head, so that when someone says that they are interested in trucking, I remember others that also have the same focus. I had to reply truthfully that I really didn't know the answer and probably I'm really not that good at it.

What stood out for me in the example I gave, trucking, is that of the four or five people who have mentioned that they are focusing on the trucking industry, all of them are women. Now, I'm all for women doing any job. I do have to admit that because of the gender involved, it became a memorable, top-of-mind piece of information for me.

What can we learn from that?

If we're unique in some way, we will be top-of-mind.

There are plenty of people who tell me that they're target market is small business owners. I can tell you that they are a blur in my mind. The description is way too general for me to remember. They are blah.

How do you remember who to connect with whom? What is your system?