Why You Must Target If You’re A Start Up
Since Byron Sharp’s ‘How Brands Grow’ arrived on the scene four years ago, the marketing world has been debating its credibility. Sharp’s instruction to ‘continuously reach all buyers of the category’ flies in the face of traditional marketing theory that requires you to pick your target segment carefully and sometimes deliberately exclude other segments. Sharp argues that targeting is a waste of time because most brands always end up with a diverse spread of customers. He believes you’re better off hitting up as many people as possible in your market, with the budget you have.
That’s all well and good if you’re Coca-Cola, however targeting is essential if you’re a start-up or smaller brand. Take Monzo as an example. Their main target segment is urban, young and obsessed with smart phones. They are deliberately positioning their product to the people who are most likely to engage with them first. Had they not done this, they would not have been able to differentiate and attract as many ‘millennials’ with their bright pink card as they have done.
If you don’t target, how are you supposed to write a creative brief for a television advert? It would be impossible. Imagine telling a creative director that your product appeals to everyone, so the advert should therefore speak to everyone. This would be the worst kind of brief ever. Massive brands like Cadburys might be able to get away with this and get a gorilla drumming to Phil Collins, but if you’re a small business, and you’re looking at going on TV, you have to target, or you will fail to differentiate your offering or communicate your USP clearly.
Targeting, when done well, will also acquire segments you haven’t deliberately chosen. How so? Let’s take BrewDog as an example. They started out by targeting younger males who are passionate about craft beer and like to get wasted on a Saturday night. Indeed, their first big PR stunt was brewing the UK’s strongest beer ever called Tokyo, appealing to heavier drinkers and excluding huge swathes of people who don’t enjoy guzzling seven pints on a night out. Their Equity For Punks programme would not have appealed to an older, more sensible gentleman. BrewDog was targeting their product at people who would most likely engage with them first. They have since attracted a whole bunch of people outside of their target segment who want a bit of the excitement they’ve created.
Most successful start-ups begin by targeting a specific customer and focusing on their needs. Once they gain traction, they will find that neighbouring segments they haven’t targeted will want a piece of the action. We’ve seen this happen time and time again: from Facebook and university students, to Snapchat and teenagers. That’s often ‘how brands grow’.
