Target markets are for amateurs

I was reading an interview with one of my favorite songwriters, who was asked if he had a particular audience in mind when writing his new album. 

Gibbard appropriately said, it’s not something I ever think about. I never write with an audience in mind. My goal is to write the most honest and earnest songs I can, and try to write to the best of my ability in whatever situation I find myself in. I let the cards fall as they will. 

If only more artists and entrepreneurs and organizations would embrace this attitude. Because the conventional, business school, corporate world strategy of identifying your ideal customer and finding your target market and building an avatar for your perfect audience is completely shortsighted. 

If the goal is to create the most value in the world and to serve the greatest number of people, then why limit your work to one small slice of the population? I understand there are product managers and company owners and board members and angel investors whose asses need to be kissed, but we do our business a disservice when we only satisfy a narrow band of our work’s total capabilities. 

The goal is to expand and diversify our reach, not shrink it. The goal is to make our value accessible to people with varying needs, not shut out potential consumers of our work. 

Because ultimately, just as the more we utilize the full diversity of our talents, the more meaningful our life will become; the more appealing we are to more people, the more our work will be sought. 

But once we’ve locked in to the one group of people we’re appealing to, our work can only be as good as that. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What if you didn’t have a target market?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “11 Ways to Out Market the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2016-2017.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!