Single minded benefit

I have been consulting with a fellow student with a startup on the topic of marketing and branding, and it reminded me of the realities of making the decision to target a specific segment and delivering a single minded benefit. Why is it so difficult?

1. Companies feel that if you target one segment, you are leaving money on the table
2. Business cases do not take into consideration the positive effect on other segments if you are single minded in your message
3. Companies feel that it is less risky to broadly target a $1 bn market than to specifically target a $100 million market

But what is the reality?

1. If you target more than 1 segment, you are confusing the customer
2. Business cases should not be the end all be all
3. It is more risky if you are ambiguous. If you are broad and general, you don't stand for anything.

Stop compromising and pick a segment your product or service can best deliver the benefit! You may then find out that your final plan may in reality impact more than 1segment!!! Actually I am positive that will happen. A crisp clear message appeals to many more than you think.

Prepare for effectiveness

Every meeting that is planned requires what? Planning! The more number of people you have in the meeting, the more time it takes to prepare for effectiveness. A face to face may require jotting down some notes and questions, perhaps thinking how to phrase them to elicit the required information. But once you get into larger numbers... Think about how much preparation went into a keynote by Steve Jobs or perhaps a convention for housands of people by Tony Robbins in order to be absolutely effective!

How much time have you put in to preparation lately? Are you being effective?