“I know I’ll find you somewhere… somewhere you can hear my voice…”

Meet Tim, Dan, Cheryl, Jack, Dianne, Josh, and Cam

The Most Vital Branding Exercise

You might be asking, who are those people and why should I know them? They’re the folks who personify your best clients – those whose working styles and needs align with your company culture and value proposition. These names happen to be the clients who have influenced how we operate, deliver value and communicate in the market. Just as importantly, they know us, prefer our approach and collaborate in their own marketing success.

Can you automatically rattle off the first names of your best customers? If so, there’s where you’ll find your brand differentiation and value proposition.

Client Differentiation Drives Branding Value

We talk about brand differentiation in marketing. What differentiates your offerings positively over your competition? Try some reverse engineering. There’s a reverse kind of differentiation that’s so crucially important to discovering your own and growing your business. It’s client differentiation.

You need to know the common persona of customers you can best serve and who appreciate your business style. They will choose your company for the very reasons that you think they should.

As you differentiate your clients from “the masses,” you’ll better understand whom you are really serving and you should tailor your messages only to them. Resist the temptation to appeal to the broadest possible market for your generic product/service because you’ll only add more noise in the cluttered, me-too world of commercial media. Few will notice. But if you call out to specific people (if not by name, then by interest and passion), they’ll hear the message as it resonates and engages them out of the crowd. They call you, email you or message you, hoping to reach a deal with you.

The Consistency Payoff

Be consistent with messages that focus only on your differentiated and distinguished target audience. You are of most value to your narrowly defined target market and you’ll find them more enjoyable to work with. Your relationships are mutually profitable. Working with them is more gratifying and often fun.

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Have you ever heard someone categorize the quality of their client relationships using A, B and C, with A being the smooth sailors and C being, let’s say, the high maintenance group? What if you could shed all of your C-customers and replace them with A’s and B’s, or even all A’s? Or what if you could convert your C’s to become B’s and eventually A’s? Wouldn’t that be nice? It would certainly be a tall order but it’s possible if you have a good relationship to start with.

Everyone Includes Anyone!

How narrowly you build your brand and market your products & services determines whether or not you attract the kind of clients that you can serve most profitably. If your target audience is “everyone with money who can use what we sell,” you will end up with too many difficult or unhappy clients who will be a drain on your ability to care for your “A-clients” – the only ones to whom you should specifically sell. Your only target audience should be defined based on your true capabilities to deliver them value.

The more broadly you define your target market, the more hard pressed you will be to satisfy many of your customers because they really don’t belong on your customer list and shouldn’t be included in your target audience. Your true ability to satisfy their wants or needs may not even be there because you didn’t qualify them properly before being eager to take their money.

Sales and marketing messages that are overbroad can bring you customers who expect more or something different from your grooved and well-established product/service provisions. So let’s stop right here and get more strategic!

The good way to discriminate…

How well developed are your key product/service offerings? What’s your real “stock in trade?” Now, determine the people and organizations who can most benefit from the products and services you routinely and easily provide. Create your “A-Client” profile and seek out only those kinds of people. Learn specifically what’s important to them and continually fine tune your capabilities according to their needs. From this operational foundation, you will be poised to manage more profitable growth.

As you can let go of C-Clients and grow a healthy roster of A-Clients, you will deliver more value with less effort and you may actually have fun doing it. Just think about making more money while making your job easier at the same time.  This is achievable! If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you already know your ABC’s. Get to know the A’s intimately well and give them exclusivity in carrying out your sales and marketing plans.

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