The Five Ingredients of Your Brand (part 5)
Steve Woodruff
The elevator pitch is dead - let's get to the point with your Memory Dart! I'll show you how to introduce yourself and your business with outstanding clarity. #ClarityWins #ConfusionLoses
You/your brand has a "sweet spot." What is it?
We are in the midst of a 5-part series on defining the core elements of your sweet spot. By having succinct answers to these five questions, you are well on your way to a clear, differentiated brand (as an individual, team, or company):
So - where do you do business? This has a literal (geographical) element and a figurative (domain) sense. Let's dive in and create your 3-dimensional map.
Physical Location
Are you servicing only local clients? Regional? National? Global? Entirely different approaches and messages have to be considered depending on the geographical scope of your business.
I know many people who have storefronts and serve local customers. I know many others who are virtual and can do their work anywhere, for clients in various locations.
Your target market is not planet Earth.
The way I work with my clarity consulting/workshops is virtual; but, while I've addressed people all over the globe, most of my clients are traditionally U.S.-based. And because I'm based in the Nashville area, there's a healthy subset of consulting clients located here.
Get clarity about where your most likely customers will be found. Your customers have specific coordinates.
Vertical Domain
Most companies have some kind of domain expertise – that is, a certain area of knowledge/business in which they have experience and strength. It could be Education, Auto Manufacturing, Energy, Financial Services, Consumer Products – any of a number of "vertical" marketplaces.
There are thousands of vertical markets, and it's nearly impossible (even for a mega-company) to approach them all.
One helpful way to identify your best vertical market is to outline your best past success stories and list your top customer advocates. That is going to point to, in the short-term (and perhaps the long-term also), your best marketspace.
I focus on pharma/life sciences, because that's been my "home market" for decades. My lowest-hanging fruit is there, even though I can and do offer Clarity services in other marketplaces.
领英推荐
It's easier to plant, cultivate, and harvest in a garden you've been working for a long time.
To maximize your effectiveness, define your focus/foci on the Vertical Domain level. You’re not equally valuable in every market.
Functional (horizontal) Domain
Who buys your offerings? Sales? Marketing? Operations? Accounting? Training? You may have products and services that are geared, not so much to one vertical, but to a "horizontal" slice that exists in multiple industries. If so, what precisely is that function - where is it?
Name the department. Name the title of your "sweet spot" decision-maker.
Even Life Sciences is a big field- there are multiple functions and subspecialties. There’s the R&D side, the Clinical side, the Corporate/HR side, the Commercial side. There are biotechs, traditional pharma, and medical device companies. There are huge global companies, and startups.
For instance, it would be silly to say that your ideal customer is Ford Motor Company. That's not a referral-ready description. What division? What section? What location? If you provide supply chain solutions for efficient manufacturing, it won't help to give you a referral to a local Ford dealer in Charleston.
You can't do everything. Pick your domain. Let your friends and advocates know EXACTLY where your best customer can be found.
My sweetest spot for Clarity workshops is commercial life sciences - Training & Talent/Leadership Development. My sweetest spot for Clarity consulting is small businesses and consultants needing a well-defined brand.
A future sweet spot for me: Keynotes for any industry group seeking to help people "Get To The Point" (communication clarity).
What's yours? Can you describe your target (bullseye) customer in one sentence, including the location/domain?
The marketplace is huge. Get clear on WHERE your best customers are and you can focus your efforts and message accordingly.
(this post is derived from Chapter 5 of my book, Clarity Wins)
If you need an outside expert to help you define your brand and create effective messaging, call in the King of Clarity!