Focused Marketing

As consumers, we've all become extraordinarily good at ignoring things that don't interest us. It's not that we actively ignore them, it's that we don't even notice them in the first place. It's a really good thing that we are able to ignore things that don't interest us, because we see more than 3000 marketing messages every single day - the latest studies say that actually, it's between 4000 and 10,000!

If we were to take notice of every single advertisement we saw, whether or not it was advertising something that was of interest to us, then we wouldn't actually have time to get anything done. If we spent less than 9 seconds looking at each of those 10,000 ads, we'd have used 24 hours. That's without pausing for a cup of tea let alone a comfort break!

Why Do We Ignore Them?

We each have a reticular activating system that is part of our brain function. It's job is to sift the information that we actually want to notice from the total amount of information we are exposed to. It is a mammoth task. Think for a moment of the things you're not noticing right this moment. The feel of your clothes on your skin, the sounds in the background (washing machines, children, traffic, others talking etc) we are able to 'fuzz' them all out so that we can concentrate. However, if someone says your name in a crowded room full of conversation, your ears will prick up - that's your reticular activating system (RAS) paying attention whilst your actual attention is elsewhere.

Have you ever noticed that once you find something that you like, you see it all over the place? That's your RAS. My example is always the little yellow car I bought when I lived in Gaborone, Botswana. I had never seen a little yellow car anywhere there and the logo of my company was yellow, so I found and bought this little yellow Hyundai car. I signed the purchase agreement, and arranged to pick up my new car in 10 days. On the way home I saw six little yellow cars! I had not seen one at all, and suddenly there were six!

My RAS had taken little yellow cars out of the 'filing cabinet' in my brain that is called 'general traffic' and moved it into the much smaller filing cabinet called 'things in which I am interested'. Little yellow cars stopped being general traffic and started to be something I was interested in, and so I noticed them where previously I had not.

Why Is This Important?

If you try to market coaching to anyone who has a goal to reach, or has a limiting belief or a mental barrier, then you are going to remain in their filing cabinet of 'general information'. There is nothing in your message that speaks directly to them and says hey, I'm talking to you!

If, on the other hand, your message is uber-focused, you will cut through the noise and be spotted by their - always switched on and looking for things of interest - RAS. It will metophorically prick up its ears and the reader/listener/viewer will hear you. Actually hear you and pay attention. They will then see your message all over the place - wherever you place it (assuming of course that you are marketing consistently and with a concise message).

Generic 'I can help anyone who.....' marketing simply does not work.

Focused, ideal client marketing does. It's that simple.