If you’re a small business owner trying to figure out why your pretty fantastic company can’t break through a growth ceiling, it may be this: You’re trying to be everything to everyone. 

I know that’s not easy to hear, but from what I’ve seen in my time of helping brands become more extraordinary, this is absolutely the most common reason many businesses never climb from mediocre to outstanding. You may dream of serving more than one type of audience, and your long-term strategy may be to branch out into a wider variety of products or services, but if you leap from narrow to wide too quickly, you’ll get in your own way. Here’s why. 

You haven’t spent enough time learning how to reach the one.

To have a growing brand, you have to hone in on one primary target. And if you haven’t figured out who that is, you’re probably not excelling as quickly as you could be.

Learning to communicate with one type of audience takes time. You have to live in their world for a while, learn their language and develop marketing messages that work for them. If you haven’t done this, you shouldn’t assume you’re ready to reach anyone else.

And if you’re scratching your head, wondering who your primary audience is and how you can more effectively reach them, this is a good time to take me up on a consultation. 

Your marketing will lose power. 

In your business’ first few years, your marketing (website, emails, print pieces, social media posts) should be geared toward that primary audience we just talked about. When your home page or emails or social posts are for too many types of people, you’re not going to get the attention of anyone in particular.

The mom isn’t going to hear what she needs to hear from you to become truly interested in your product. The teenager isn’t going to care what you have to say unless it’s relevant to him. The man isn’t going to pay attention if the look and feel are not at all his style. 

Marketing that’s spread too thin over an array of people groups will do little to help your brand grow.

Your customer service may not be ready.

Us boss babes (and boss guys) tend to be the driven, idealist type, which means we often leap before we look. Great for the launch phase, not great for the build phase. One of the questions I ask business owners when they want to increase their marketing is what their plan is for taking care of the new leads it will bring in. When you take on too many, too soon, you can ruin your customer service reputation and tank your business. Marketing PLUS a great customer service plan go hand-in-hand. 

When you have the plan and manpower in place to take care of added demand, that’s when you should pull the trigger on a marketing boost. 

Hopefully, if any of this describes where you’re at, I’ve saved you from a few bad business decisions 🙂 And if your new strategy is to increase your pull with your primary audience, I’d love to help you move in that direction with some sound advice. 

As always, comment below what was helpful to you, or if you have questions! Later, biz friends!