Debbie LaChusa

If you've subscribed to my 10-Step Marketing E-Course, you've heard me talk about Wide Net Syndrome. And if you haven't subscribed, it's free, so be sure to take advantage of it - you can register right here on this blog. Early on in my marketing career, I was a media buyer in an advertising agency. And I remember when I used to buy radio air time, we would always buy specific demographics. One demographic that was fairly common was "Adults aged 25-54 years old." Now I didn't know nearly as much about marketing back then, but even then, this did not make much sense to me.

Why? Because at the time, both my father and I fit into this category ... I was on the very young end and he was on the older end, but we both fit into this demographic group. I remember mentioning this to one of my radio sales reps. I pointed out how very different I was from my father and asked how we could possibly be lumped into the same target group for marketing purposes. Not only were our tastes in music and radio listening habits completely opposite, but our lifestyles were different, our buying habits were different, you name it ... it was different! Just think for a minute about your father and I think you'll get the picture.

This is just one example of Wide Net Syndrome. And it is a fairly common problem among small business owners. It's when they don't clearly define who their ideal clients are. They may not pick a group like Adults aged 25 to 54, but they do pick groups like 'business people,' 'women' or 'overweight adults.' When you pick such a broad group, it's really tough to get a clear picture of who you are talking to. But I think the misunderstanding most people have is they think if I put my business out there in front of a big enough group of people, someone is bound to bite. What really happens is no one bites because they don't relate to your marketing.

I encourage you to narrow your net. Pick a specific group of people to go after. A group you can get to know well ... so you can speak directly to them and their problems in your marketing.