Specialization is the Key to Success

Does the idea of specializing make you feel like you’re leaving money on the table?

I feel that way many times…but then I spent the first part of this week in Austin attending Digital Marketer’s Digital Agency Growth Summit / DAGS.

There was a ton of info in this event (18 pages of notes!) but I’d like to share 1 quick takeaway I took from Ryan Deiss’ session on Monday morning – it’s the need for specialization in terms of knowing who you’re serving as as THE key determinant in your business strategy.

Who you market to, where you market, how you sell to that market, your entire customer journey – including customer service, finance, legal, accounting – beyond just the front-facing customer  folks – should be governed by the problems you solve for your target market. And to fully understand that target market, you need to specialize in serving that market.

It’s easy in the tyranny-of-the-urgent mode we’re easily sucked into every day to just close a deal and move on.  And it’s easy to send a quick email or call (many times hoping you just get to leave a voice mail) to that prospect just to “keep them warm.” But what if you slowed down a bit and took the time to really understand WHY you wanted to serve that customer and what it was that is UNIQUE (specialized) about your products and services that would make having a business relationship with your company good for the customer?

What if you freed your business from the notion that all revenue is good revenue?

Address your customer’s problems with value and you’ll get farther faster.  Serve fewer customers, of the RIGHT customers (specialization), with a true customer journey (in Duct Tape Marketing world, the Marketing Hourglass) and you’ll find yourself in a business that is nearly impossible to displace.  You will become integral to your customer’s ability to serve their customers.

Make sure your entire team operates this way, following your systems and approach, and you’ll build a business not a job.

If you’d like to discuss this more, just drop me a line .

Tool Of The Day:

https://answerthepublic.com/

This site is a fantastic, FREE resource to inspire content ideas and get a jumpstart on keyword research for your content marketing and SEO campaigns.  Try it out (and tell me if the guy on the homepage makes you slightly uncomfortable like he did to me).