When we think about growing a business, we often avoid small-scale thinking, with a ‘go big or go home’ mindset, especially when taking into account the wide reach achievable through digital audiences. However, to zero in on your target audience, starting small is the way to go.
In the words of my favorite marketer, Seth Godin, “When you seek to engage with everyone, you rarely delight anyone. And if you’re not the irreplaceable, essential, one-of-a-kind changemaker, you never get a chance to engage with the market.”
Think of it as a ripple effect!
Once you can convince 100 people how cool your product is, they will speak highly about you among their network and the 100 can grow slowly to 1,000 to 10,000 and more…
But if you worry about pleasing everyone in one go, you’ll lose the interest of the vast majority, and all your marketing will look ordinary. So, target your Smallest Viable Audience – a small group of initial adopters who trust your product/services and will become repeat customers.
How does this apply to digital marketing?
The most critical element in digital marketing is your audience. If you are able to profile your target group correctly and accurately, your products will appeal to them, because your marketing message is intended to solve the problems of this select group. Once you deliver above and beyond expectations, you can turn them from viable audience members to early promoters.
Early promoters are like a silent, word-of-mouth sales team. Overall, they prove to be more effective than a large group of people who are disinterested in what you have to offer. By identifying and reaching out to your smallest viable audience first, you are building a solid base that will later expand into a large-scale market.
User profiling can be tough and boring. But it’s one of the key ingredients to a successful marketing campaign. The more you approach your minimum viable audience, understand their preferences and create your story to make them believers, the more you can double down and the bigger the effect you’ll have. This is your best bet to form a loyal following.
Who is your smallest viable audience? Reach out, I would love to hear about it. And if you don’t have a clear picture of who that is yet, let’s figure it out together so they can begin a journey with your brand.
You’ll do great! Feel free to reach out to our team to share your experience or get your questions answered.
