Why the time to start targeting was the day before yesterday

Ah, the trusty one-stop-shop solutions provider that can meet all of your needs now and in the future. As claims go, it’s up there with the more bombastic.

While some marketers will have us believe their company can be all things to all people, this usually amounts to no more than a clumsily attempted cash grab on businesses of any size, shape or persuasion. The irony lies in the fact that we’re firmly in the era of personalisation. Yet the generic spiel we hear time and again from marketing departments is akin to the whoosh of a tired old net being cast as far and wide as possible. This should never have been a thing. As a worst-case scenario, it should have peaked as symptomatic of a less informed time gone by.

It sounds screamingly obvious because it is, yet there seems to be the need for constant reminder: companies must intelligently target customers – if not by persona or profile then at least by business size. Talking to everyone is talking to no one.

A personal irk I’ve carried throughout my career (which I’m convinced I’ll never shift) is seeing small and medium sized businesses bundled together. You wouldn’t target a healthcare provider and financial services company at the same time with exactly the same tactics and strategy, so why take that approach when pursuing new business from entities that have five and 500 hundred employees, respectively? While there will naturally be some commonalities (after all, nobody enjoys rain on holiday) they are VERY different groups. This approach becomes even more reckless – and borderline insulting – when enterprises are thrown into the mix.

Take the latest research we’ve commissioned at Ricoh Europe. Amongst many other things, our survey of over 3,000 office workers shows that European small businesses are 42% more likely than enterprises to lose employees because of technology frustrations around remote working. So why would you talk to these businesses in the same way? The answer, of course, is you wouldn’t.

Nobody ever felt special being addressed as ‘The Occupier’. In other news, the chances are emails starting with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ will never be quite as touching as words from an old friend. Take the time to understand your customers, marketing people – whoever and wherever you are.

Click here to discover how Ricoh can help your small business establish a smart and safe workplace.