Quick Marketing Tip: Creating a Focused Business Concept
Creating a Focused Business Concept
How do you assure that your business concept is compelling enough to attract the clients that you desire? Here are some fundamental branding principles to consider:
- Your business concept should be instantly understood by consumers, so keep it simple.
- Don’t try to be all things to all people. Today’s consumers are looking for experts . . . specialists in specific fields. While most businesses will have to offer more than one product line, consider marketing each independently, so that you don’t confuse your marketing message.
- When you market yourself as an expert in a given field, you will be easier for consumers who are looking for that expertise to find. When you are known as an expert, it is easier to create community buzz, and it’s a fact that consumers are willing to pay more for the work of experts!
- Smart marketers know that it’s better to do a good job of marketing one single product line than a sloppy job of marketing several. So if you are new in business, consider marketing one product line at a time; get that segment up and running, then move on to the next. If you have an established business that needs to refresh its marketing, consider restructuring one market segment at a time so that you can do a proper job of each. Start with the product line that you enjoy most, providing that it is—or can be—a good profit center for your business.
- Keep in mind that even if you market only one product line, you will still do business in others. When you achieve market recognition through a successful marketing effort that promotes a single area of expertise, consumers will assume that you have expertise in others. So don’t underestimate the value of a single successful marketing project.
- One of the big advantages of limiting the number of product lines you offer to the public is that your business will be much more focused, therefore much easier to manage. When you offer too many product lines, the marketing alone can be exhausting.
The two collections of promotional post cards shown below are excellent examples of how to present a clearly articulated business concept. In marketing both family and senior portraiture, Cedar Creek Photography, located just outside of Kansas City, Kansas, makes it very clear that its primary business is creating “lifestyle portraiture.” The studio’s blog reinforces this with the following statement: Cedar Creek is a lifestyle studio that believes in capturing people as they are: beautiful, unique and true to themselves. That is precisely the concept that these marketing materials portray, which makes it very likely that their message will connect with consumers looking for this style of photography.
Targeting a Niche Market
If the size of a photographer’s market area is large enough, it is possible to create a specialty business that targets one specific market segment or “niche.” A niche is defined as a market population that has similar interests and/or buying habits. Given sufficient population density, a photographer might consider creating a niche business such as wedding photography or children’s portraiture. Or the studio could emphasize a single artistic style, such as black-and-white photography that applies to all types of subjects. The marketing cards shown below, created by Tot Shots Photography, in Simi Valley, California, are quite likely to catch the attention of parents in search of children’s portraiture because it is so clearly a dominant focus of this studio’s business.
For photographers who work within a limited population base, a niche business usually is not practical; although some small-town, studios that offer a variety of product lines do emphasize one specific niche area as a means of focusing special attention on their business.
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