Why you need to specialize

Most of us like the idea of being a generalist. Doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that keeps life interesting. But if your goal is to run a profitable business, figuring out your perfect target audience without specializing means a lot more work than you may have anticipated.

Let’s use our photographer, Yolande as an example. You may have met her already if you read:

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After following my process, Yolande decided to focus on photographing children’s parties and family portraits. All Yolande’s marketing is now focused on families with small children and pets.

But… if Yolande had chosen to be a generalist and focus on weddings, home decor and food photography, she would now need to be marketing to three more groups of people, that’s three times the work …

1. For weddings she would have to attract couples of marrying age

2. For home decor she would need to know designers and decorators

3. For food photography she would need to reach out to food stylists

It’s not a bad thing to have more than one target audience, it just means you need a lot more time and marketing effort to reach them all.

Most small business I know struggle to find the time to work ON their business. Specializing reduces the workload considerably and can turn you into an expert in one specific area.

I’m not sure if you noticed, but Yolande actually has two target audiences, with the decision maker being the same for both — the mom!

This is really smart because now Yolande can up-sell. As part of the party package she can include family portraits before the party starts. The family is dressed and ready anyway and it’s unlikely they will say no to this special promotion.

For Yolande it’s going to be a lot more lucrative specializing than casting a wide net and trying to sell to everybody. If she does a great marketing job, she can become known as the go-to photographer for family portraits and children’s birthday parties in her area.

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