No matter how much I loved a class in school, when the teacher announced that we were going to do group projects, I muffled a scream in my throat.
I did not enjoy group projects. And it wasn’t because I’m not a team player. It was because there was almost always at least one person in the group that was difficult to be around. And having to spend time with someone you don’t like is just no fun.
Even if you consider yourself a people person who easily gets along with most people, if you can’t admit that you like some better than others, you’re lying.
If you’re human, you have preferences. You have quirky behaviours. You feel strongly about certain things. You don’t think exactly the same way as even those you love most.
The unique mix that makes you you, cannot blend well with every other person’s unique mix.
So I beg you to stop saying that you and your business can somehow do the impossible.
You cannot help everyone. Nor should you try.
The businesses you see that have a broad range of services and no specialization usually have some brand equity or they’re struggling to grow (something we don’t see but that’s true for many).
In our super connected world, we have the opportunity to do work that is specifically amazing for a certain subset of people who really care about what we bring to the table.
Why do we resist doing this?
It’s no secret that it feels risky to limit yourself to a smaller market. It’s counterintuitive.
But counterintuitive stuff can be the best way to go because our brains haven’t yet evolved to understand that this isn’t actually risky.
Choose a Specific Smaller Market
Imagine you own a copywriting agency.
You are on a stadium stage in front of 100,000 people.
And you have only 30 seconds to tell this huge crowd what you do and who you help.
If you say…
We’re the only copywriting agency that matters.
There’s Always Room for Narrative. We can help shape – and share – yours.
We are where strategy seals the deal, narrative leads the way, and creative comes to life.
OR
We’re a copywriting agency powered by cognition & driven by results.
100% human-written copy and content for creative agencies.
Partner with us to get award-winning copywriting and content writing services for every niche and tone.
OR
Most words are filler.
In our hands, they’re crisp engines of strategy.
We are trademark versatility nuanced voices.
True confidence across all copywriting dimensions is rare. But it’s also key to avoiding the pitfalls of novices. We have underpinning across countless sectors and formats
(BTW, these are real examples that I’ll be talking about in next week’s email.)
How many people in that stadium do you think will understand exactly what you bring to the table?
What are the chances that anyone will want to hear more or want to hire you if they don’t understand you?
Now, imagine you decide to focus on the 1,000 people in that crowd that you know are desperately looking to create messaging for their business that stands out.
They want it to be both irreverent and authoritative and done in a way that gets people excited to work with them. They never want to use icky tactics like false scarcity and exaggerated claims.
You also know that they’re really good at processes and systems and their businesses run really well. They’re just not very good at communicating their value and differentiation.
What you say should be specifically for those people.
Now in front of 100,000 people, you’re no longer interested in appealing to 99% of them.
But everyone will understand what your deal is and they will appreciate being able to decide if you’re for them or not.
And for the 1% you are for, many of them will want to talk to you after the show.
Which do you choose?
Not a single person interested in your service in a sea of 100,000.
OR
20+ best-fit people* you’d love to work with and who are ready to buy.
Be willing to shut out most of the world so you can give that awesome bunch of people exactly what they want.
* 20+ is based on a 2% estimate of people in a market that are ready to buy. You would likely get more people than this if your message was really dialed in.