Short marketing tip (YouTube video transcript) by Sandy Waggett of MSW Interactive Designs advising advertisers to target the "smallest viable audience." Uses a local example (home builder/remodeler at Lake of the Ozarks) and drills down to niche offers (e.g., kitchen remodels for second homeowners) to show more effective ad results. Emphasizes one topic per ad and creating multiple targeted ads for different services.
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Hello, everyone. This is Sandy Waggett with MSW Interactive Designs. And today I'm here with another marketing tip. Today I want to talk about how you can instantly improve any ad that you're putting out there in the marketplace. So in his book, this Is Marketing by Seth Godin, he talks about speaking to the smallest viable audience, which is very counterintuitive for most of us. You know, if we're gonna spend, you know, 600 to $1,000 on a print ad or several thousand dollars on a TV commercial or a radio commercial, we think we want to reach the largest possible audience. But the ad itself should speak to the smallest viable audience. You know, they say that if your ad lists everything that you do, it really speaks to no one. So what you want to do is really hone your piece down to the smallest viable audience and have one topic and one topic only. So as an example, let's just say that you are a home builder and remodeler at Lake of the Ozarks. So I'm going to pick my local market as the example, and if I put an ad out there that I'm a home builder and remodeler at Lake of the Ozarks, here's how to reach me. Here's my website. People are going to pass by that ad most of the time because it doesn't really speak to anyone. You know, it's your name, it's your logo, and the fact that you build houses and remodel houses, fine. But people are going to bypass the ad if they hear it, if they see it, whether it's online, the reaction is going to be all the same. But what if you drilled it down to a smaller audience? Let's say you created an ad that talked about how you specialize in home remodels for second homeowners at Lake of the Ozarks. Now, that ad is going to speak to a smaller audience, and that is going to get the attention of people who can relate to being a second homeowner at Lake of the Ozarks. So that ad is going to be more effective and generate more calls than the generic ad that just says that you're the home builder and remodeler. Now you're saying, okay, I specialize in second homeowners. So as a second homeowner, I can relate. I'm like, okay, why is it that you specialize in second homeowners? Is it because I'm out of town and I can live you into my home and trust you and you know, your contractors? Now, we could even drill that down further. And, you know, let's say you do kitchens, you do everything, you put on additions, all this stuff. But for the purposes of your ad, you really going to drill down and you're going to say, we specialize in kitchen remodels for second homeowners at Lake of the Ozarks. Now I'm a second homeowner. I've been thinking about remodeling a kitchen in my space, and you are the person I'm going to call because that ad has spoken directly to me and a very specific need that I have. I'm not saying that that's all your marketing. You can create different ads in different places for very different, specific services. But to instantly make any ad more effective, if you drill down to the smallest viable audience and speak directly to a specific person with a specific need, that ad is going to be more effective with 100% of the time. So that's my marketing tip for today. Sandy Waggett with MSW Interactive Designs. We put the web to work for you. Have a great day.
