Scaling, leveraging, redesigning, and transforming your business model means looking at all aspects of it — even those pieces you think are sacrosanct, like your target audience.
I know you have spent vast amounts of time defining your perfect customer — and even more time building relationships with the customers you have.
When you’re rethinking your business and getting ready to take it to the next level, one place to create instant leverage is to question your target audience and look for new possibilities.
Here are five eye-opening “what if” questions to ponder, helping you get a vision for what’s next in your business design:
1. WHAT IF you could expand your audience, and serve those people who also serve your customers?
For instance, if you’re a small business consultant, you could serve the financial advisors, accountants, virtual assistants, website designers, and human resource companies who serve your same target audience.
Since you’re both serving the same small business customer, you can leverage your network and serve those other companies, too. Since they are also small business owners, they would be perfect for your consulting offers or as join-venture partners.
2. WHAT IF you could serve a different target audience, leveraging the same assets you already have?
Pretend for a moment that you didn’t want to offer your individual services anymore, but you didn’t want to throw away all that knowledge and experience either. Could you create a training program to teach people how to become what you are? Then they could serve your original target audience.
Imagine you’re a team communication trainer, but you don’t want to offer your workshops to corporations anymore. Could you teach other people how to deliver your workshops or teach them how to run a team communication training company, essentially training the next generation and moving yourself into the “mastery” role.
3. WHAT IF you could narrow your target audience, selecting one from a specific demographic?
For instance, let’s say you are a graphic artist and you’ve been working with local companies to design their marketing materials.
What if you focused solely on service firms, or solely on manufacturing firms?
What if you focused only on businesses that make more than $1 million a year?
Or focused only on women-owned businesses?
Or focused solely on businesses with a strong social-responsibility stand?
4. WHAT IF you could ponder all the past customers you’ve had and choose the ones that you most enjoyed working with and/or the ones that were most profitable?
What do they have in common? If you can define your best target audience based on your history with them, and let go of the others, you can focus on what matters. There are two ways of thinking about this question:
First, which customers are the most profitable? You might find 80% of your income comes from 20% of your customer types.
Second, which customers do you enjoy working with? It doesn’t pay to create a next-level business model design and “suffer’ with clients you don’t enjoy. The beauty of owning your own business is that you get to make choices that energize and excite you!
5. WHAT IF you could offer additional products and services to your existing audience?
If you are already working one-on-one with clients, or teaching classes, you could form a mastermind group with them after they “graduate” working with you.
If you find your existing customers need further education or ongoing support, think about creating a membership program for them that includes some self-paced education modules.
These new offers can attract an audience that you haven’t served yet. We get blind-sided thinking that all our customers must come to use through one or two offers. That leaves a whole population of potential customers out of the loop. A new offer that serves both your existing customers and new customers might be the perfect solution to expanding both your audience and your profits.
Your business redesign strategy
You don’t need to make a major shift to a brand-new target audience (though that is one viable business redesign strategy). You can re-define who you most enjoy working with and which clients are the most profitable — transforming your business to align more with your goals and values.
You can choose to serve the same audience in a new way. Or you can expand your reach and revenue, choosing new audience that leverage your existing knowledge, skills and assets.
Whatever you decide, keep an open mind. When you are redesigning your business model and taking your business to new heights, you have many paths and choices that can get you there.
7 Steps to Create Your Autumn Marketing Plan This Summer
Your Self Employed Newsletter is the second one I have read this morning that have provided me with much inspiration, there’s on a personal level and your on a professional level.
I currently have 3640 un-read emails in my inbox- lifestyle choice not to read any emails unless they are urgent.
So to read two that caught my eye and get value is a bonus!
The Deep Thoughts About Your Target Audience triggered off thoughts about an angle I have been thinking about going for, so thanks.
Be blessed in your purpose
Iona Woodmore -The Vision Coach
Hi, Iona,
I’m glad this article provided inspiration out of the 3,000+ emails in your inbox! We all need to shake up our thinking from time to time, lift our heads, and get a fresh perspective.
🙂
Hi Karyn,
These are the questions I’m pondering as I go about the hard job of reinventing my business. I know this, the more focused I can be on both who I want my customer to be and what services I offer to those customers the happier I’ll be and the more success I’ll achieve. I always enjoy your views.
Sounds like you’re on target (no pun intended) with your reinvention, Tom. We must think about the customers we enjoy working with the most and a series of other factors, when making strategic business transformations.
These ideas really get me thinking outside the box. I have definitely given thought to who I most like to work with, yet I haven’t thought about it in this way. I like the what-if questions…energizing!
I’m glad they got you thinking, Marci! 🙂 The thing I love about transforming your business is that you get to think deeply about things you may have been taking for granted, taking a fresh look at all the foundational pieces.
Targeting microaudiences — a different one every day, practically — has turned out to be the key to magazine writing…and flexibility with working up new products. One magazine was clearly not ever going to be my audience; they require ultra-scholarly articles on theology — am just not qualified to write that— I noticed they publish poems of spiritual nature, and that I can do, so I found out who the poetry editor is and sent a poem instead. Also, having to come up with new products (hadn’t tested my poetry chops for awhile) makes one get more creative. Its exciting and adds to job satisfaction.
Also, I tried your excercise with the book manuscript I was writing for women in retail to break out and try commissioned sales of large merchandise…to quit wasting their sales skills on low-paying jobs, etc…and I tried reenvisioning the message to include men…it’s given me a lot to think about.
Thanks for the great ideas! I’ve been thinking of shifting my niche from doctors to doctors who are within 5 years of retirement, and I’m going to discuss that with my wife/business partner and start to take some action!
Go for it, Jude! Just make sure you have a marketing plan that allows you to reach these “doctors within 5 years of retirement” easily.
Perfect timing! These questions are exactly what I needed to take action. #4 was something I had pretty much given up on, but you gave it a new twist. Thanks!
Hi, Genella, thanks for the blog comment, I’m glad you found the post on rethinking your audience helpful. You’ve been in business a long time, so business redesign must come up for you often.
I am still very new to small business coaching-consulting. This really gave me some things to ponder as my vision begins to come together. I don’t want to confuse myself, but these questions actually enabled me to think “bigger” about where I am going, what I want to accomplish, and how. Thank you!
Thank you, Karyn, for this article. Your words – “transforming your business to align more with your goals and values” jumped out at me. I’ve been working with clients for years who aren’t my ideal clients and are very difficult to work with. It’s easy to take clients when you need the money and the bills are due. I’m going to start working on my client list to “weed out” some in order to work with clients whose goals and values are more like mine.
Congratulations, Linda! It feels so good to work only with the clients you want to work with, not the ones you have to work with.