All things to all people

Trying to be all things to all people is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to attracting and keeping customers. Choosing a target market is tough. It means eliminating entire groups of people from your messages. But without focus, you risk a bland, diluted message that means nothing to anyone.

When I don't have market stats to work with, I rely on the good ol' 80/20 rule. 80% of your potential target market probably won't buy from you -- unless you've got an unlimited budget to actually be all things to all people. Since that's not usually the case, let's figure out the 20% who are most likely to buy. This might be a demographic like freelance workers. Or it might be a state of mind, like Apple computer fanatics. This should be a group that actually needs or wants what you have to offer... and since your competitors are probably trying to be all things to all people as well, this small group doesn't feel particularly cared for.

One of the top players in the building automation software sector picked a small vertical market -- healthcare -- and created a completely customized offering for this vertical. Now any hospital in any country in the world either has this company's software or has this company on its bid list. They own this market because they had the guts to pick a small group, understand its needs, and develop a terrific answer to their problems.

Let's say your business could appeal to anyone purchasing products online. Great. Just don't throw a bunch of marketing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks. Pick a small but promising group that's manageable. Get to know them. Develop programs for them. The more personal you get, the more they'll love you. Even if you're starting out with a narrow audience -- say small business owners -- there's room to get even more targeted. Start with a small test program with a subset of your prospective customer base and see what works. Chances are, it will turn into a self-funded program that will allow to move on to the next sub-group. And the next. And the next. It's like eating an elephant one bite at a time.

Comments

[George Anten]

> They'll need to stop being a one-size-fits-all company

Why? They control >95% of the most lucrative market.

> in order to maintain competitive advantage

There's no competition in the desktop market, period. If in the unlikely event the closest MS competitor could, say, triple its market share, it'd still remain a miniscule footnote.

> in a customer-controlled economy.

Hmm, what controls do the customers of a monopoly with >95% marketshare have? It's become obvious that the vast majority of PC users value standardization/ubiquity over quality, price, usability, aesthetics, security, etc.

We don't have the legal framework to properly deal with a smart and viciously aggressive technology monopoly, as on pure marketplace economics things aren't likely to budge at all.

Sure, nothing lasts forever, but I just don't see marketology-speak substantially changing facts on the bloody ground.

[jennifer rice]

IMO, Microsoft's done a great job of busting their way into a virtual monopoly via distribution strategies, but a rather poor job connecting with customers. Their one-size-fits-all strategies just don't give them a competitive advantage in a customer-controlled economy. Many people hate them and are excited by the new alternatives that are (slowly but surely) making their way into the market. If MS wants to do a better job of retaining customers, they might want to better understand who their customers are and what they want, and then tailor products/messages to groups (or better yet, allow individuals to customize products themselves.) Since MS has massive resources, they won't have to pick just one market; they could have multiple task forces working simultaneously on various customer groups.

[George Anten]

"Trying to be all things to all people is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to attracting and keeping customers. Choosing a target market is tough. It means eliminating entire groups of people from your messages. But without focus, you risk a bland, diluted message that means nothing to anyone."

Have you not heard of a company called Microsoft? You know, the one with the Windows franchise and $60B in the bank.

[David St Lawrence]

One of your best posts. Failure to do this has been the foremost reason for failing marketing programs in my experience.

But, as you point out, you have to get to know the customers in the potential target market. The inability to confront doing that probably accounts for the vast batches of marketing spaghetti that are being cooked up every week.

The second reason is that too many top execs KNOW that their product is all things to all people. Their usual mantra is: "You guys just need to get out there and tell people about it! What's so hard about that?"

[david foster]

Good post. In many cases, a product can be packaged to address a specific industry entirely at the marketing level...ie, by creating brochures, presentations, case studies, etc which show how the product solves that industry's problem. In other cases, some changes to the product itself may be necessary.

In both cases, though, it's really important to have someone who has a pretty good understanding of the target industry..either because they are from that industry or because they've worked to learn about it.

[I.H.]

I agree and I have first hand experience on this one...