Go narrow (or go home…) 

At Marketri we understand how tempting it can be to want to go broad with your marketing efforts. Scaling your B2B business by quickly building market share sounds like a slam dunk. Except when it isn’t.

Often you develop your offering for a specific audience to solve for a problem specific to them. Over time, you may realize that your solution speaks to audiences with similar problems. However, until you have a sizeable share of the market you’ve initially invested your resources in, you’ll experience faster growth by continuing to focus on the market where you have already proven your expertise. Yes, that takes discipline but it pays off.

When resources are limited— and really, when aren’t they— the most effective way to reach the most valuable consumers is to stay narrow.

You Got to Serve Somebody

Before you go out with any messaging, first focus precisely on who your B2B target audience is: those whom it is your mission to serve. Learn how to connect specifically with them by creating messaging that is relatable and credible. Discover how to best communicate the value that you uniquely provide. And then engage them where they spend their time through B2B market segmentation.

In our current digital world, there may be many companies providing solutions that sound like yours— but they won’t have the expertise you’ve already demonstrated by serving the specific sector of the audience that now trusts your business.

When you’ve created relevant messaging that grabs the attention of the right customer in the right sector you are on your way to accelerating revenue growth and improving profitability. And who doesn’t want that?

Got (Pistachio) Milk?

Focus on developing the value proposition that promises to solve your targeted consumer’s problems. For example: how does your offering make life easier, better, faster, less expensive, healthier, safer, or more effective than any of your competitors?

Once you have identified the unique, differentiated, and indisputable value of your offering, you can then own it and use it to build brand equity. Over time and with consistent targeted messaging, your company can lay claim to the market it’s your company’s mission to serve whether that’s financial services, investment banking, SaaS/Tech, professional services, life sciences, or yes, organic pistachio milk.

Does Size Matter in B2B Targeting?

Once you understand the opportunity your B2B target market presents, and how to communicate the unique value of your product or solution, you can focus on B2B market segmentation within the appropriate business sectors. Focus only on the targets for whom you uniquely provide solutions— that’s where the fastest growth opportunities are. The more you know about industry-specific problems the more you can persuade with messaging focused on relevant, personalized, unique solutions—yours. 

Below are some metrics that help you size the revenue opportunity for your sector-based effort:  

• Narrow: Identifying your company’s total addressable market (TAM), helps you estimate the entire global market that may use your offering. It’s calculated by taking the total number of customers and multiplying by the average price of the services offered similar to yours. It’s the maximum revenue you could reach if you were the only one selling anything like your solution in the world. 
• Narrower: Calculating serviceable available markets (SAM), helps identify the number of potential customers within the TAM you can reach. It takes into consideration the geographic, regulatory, pricing, or other limitations your company has when selling your product or services.
• Narrowest: Serviceable obtainable markets (SOM), helps you identify the realistic customers most likely to buy what you are offering based on how well it fits their needs, your market awareness, competition, etc.

Narrow First and Then Expand

It’s critical that everyone in your company is aligned on the segmentation you determine is the best fit for your solution. It may be tempting for sales teams to cherry-pick potential customers for a quick win but it’s far more valuable to focus on creating long-term profitability and stability. B2B target marketing is a discipline that requires commitment and consistency. Think of it as an investment— like real estate that increases in value over time. Until you have reached a sizeable market share with this specific sector, continue to focus your efforts here.

If you expand your target market too early, you are just leaving potential revenue on the table that will be easier to obtain given how well your solution solves their needs.

Focus your B2B marketing budget and efforts on activities that penetrate the right segments rather than the entire market. For example: You can connect with B2B audiences by creating a strong presence at industry trade shows in relevant, targeted business sectors.

And make sure to keep your teams on track and motivated by rewarding efforts that keep valuable B2B target audiences in focus by narrowing in.

Winning Ways

To-dos for accelerated growth:

• Fine-tune your focus — go narrow to grow faster
• Conduct in-depth research to deeply understand your B2B audiences
• Differentiate your offering from those of your competitors
• Guide strategy + execution with positioning that can withstand the test of time
• Address your customer’s problems + consistently prove that you provide the right solutions
• Communicate to the audience that needs your product/service most with accurate B2B segmentation

Find out more about how you can boost ROI + achieve faster growth:

• How A Sector-Based Marketing Strategy Can Accelerate Your Revenue Growth
• Marketing Your SaaS Business to Drive Growth: 6 Ways to Get it Right and 3 Pitfalls to Avoid
• B2B Target Market Segmentation: What It Is and Why You Can’t Market Without It

If you have questions about B2B target marketing or want to learn how our Marketri Momentum Model can help your company accelerate growth, schedule a call with me.