Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success, 2nd Edition

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Targeting

Like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target.

—Captain James T. Kirk

Target Your Best Prospects

Targeting is one of the most misunderstood aspects of professional services marketing. Many professionals are under the illusion that diversification is the means to faster growth and profitability.

“Anyone can benefit from our service” may be true, but if you begin offering your services to everyone, you'll likely experience slower growth and less profit—a point supported by our research into professional services firms.

High-growth firms are three times more likely to have a well-defined, well-understood target market.¹ In addition, as we mentioned in Chapter 1, the practice of researching your target audience results in faster growth and higher profitability. It clearly pays to understand your target audience.

You can focus on the prospects that yield the greatest profit with the least work.

You concentrate your marketing dollars for maximum impact.

Because you are speaking directly to them, your message can resonate better.

Two Types of Research

Effective targeting starts with research. Some of this research requires looking into your own records to understand what ...