Road to success: target a smaller client segment (this is counter-intuitive)
Sharing my own entrepreneur/product manager experience
It is probably common knowledge for entrepreneurs and marketing people alike. Yet this is not my background. To me it is something I learnt only recently and I wanted to share. Indeed it is counter-intuitive.
Selecting client segments
So, what’s the matter? Let’s say you want to create something new. Typically a company, a product, a content… You need to select your client segments.
Again, if you are a first-timer, probably it won’t be that obvious to you.
It is really easy to take your awesome idea and suppose it might interest, well, pretty much anyone, given how awesome the idea is.
Obviously your idea won’t be that awesome, especially when implemented in the real world with limited means. You cannot assume your idea will be of interest to anyone.
Yet, this is only the tip of the iceberg of why you should restrain your client segments as much as possible.
“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution”
I know, I know. You might be thinking “by targeting a wider audience, I’ll have more chances to find the ones that like the idea as much as I do.” Well… It doesn’t work that way.
The thing is that it’s not about your idea but about their problems. Your idea is worth something only if it solves one if their problems.
And guess what? Everyone has different problems. Even so, people having the same problem have a different level of tolerance for the problem, and find different work-arounds. Some of them might even not see it as a problem given how it just became part of how things are.
It all starts with restraining the client segments you want to target. That way, you can focus on their problems.
Pleasing the selected client segments and getting them to pay for it
And now what? You probably have not focused your client segments enough yet. Let’s talk about early adopters.
Let’s be honest, will you? Your idea implementation — company, product, content… — won’t be even close to what you dreamed of. You just don’t have the time and money to do so.
The question is: how can you make a really big difference with only a clunky solution?
Answer: by focusing on a very limited client segment. By focusing on those that feel so much pain with their problem and their current workaround that your clunky solution will feel as a life-saver to them.
Found those people? Cherish them, because they will be your early adopters! It all starts with them 🤗
Building a brand
There are even more to it: building a brand. That is even more true if you are creating a new content. Each time you publish more content, people will expect to get similar content.
The most interesting content — the content people are the more willing to pay for — are focused on specific topics. They target specific client segments.
If you want to expand your audience to more client segments, it might be a better idea to create more brands rather than targeting more client segments.
FOCUS!
You might have noticed that contrary to the title of the post, I did not mention the idea of targeting a small client segment.
Indeed you must not be looking for a smaller client segment per se, but a more focused one. Focus!
I find this personal discovery really interesting because, in case you don’t know already, I’m fond of Scrum and my favorite core value of Scrum is focus.
That might be a learning for another post: how focus is fundamental to the entrepreneur’s life. You have to choose wisely what you do and what you don’t. Again: focus!
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Sources and further reading
Where does my experience come from?
I am the creator and product manager of Scrum Life
Scrum Life is the first French-speaking YouTube channel about the agile mindset:
<a href="https://medium.com/media/31223dad5ee6bcebb436cbf2ff2b2a73/href">https://medium.com/media/31223dad5ee6bcebb436cbf2ff2b2a73/href</a>
We recently launched our first training course
I wrote a post announcing it but also giving some behind-the-scene product management insights:
Enfin ! Scrum Life propose sa première formation
Direct link to the course itself:
MASTERCLASS : Devenez meilleur Scrum Master ou Coach Agile
I made and publicly shared a Lean Canvas about our product
You might find it interesting to see how to articulate the client segment, problems and solutions:
<a href="https://medium.com/media/7bf38f17d4ee7623e2c3753666699553/href">https://medium.com/media/7bf38f17d4ee7623e2c3753666699553/href</a>
I am also the business owner of my one-man company
Owning a company, even with so few constraints, taught me way more about entrepreneurship than I thought it would.
If you’re interested, here is the website presenting my consulting services:
Road to success: target a smaller client segment (this is counter-intuitive) was originally published in Jean-Pierre Lambert's blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.