You can’t be all things to everyone. Remain focused on what you do best during the course of your journey to success. Be true to the things you excel most, the pros you’re most recognized after. Diverting attention from the goal at hand complicates and adds unnecessary weight to achieving maximum potential of your brand.

The exponential growth of digital marketing has forced many brands to make a shift in their business direction. Attempting to be all things to your customers simply isn’t a viable method of increasing clout in the marketplace. In fact, it’s a bit of a counterintuitive effort in making an attempt to appeal towards a mass audience.

About two years ago I noticed a huge incline in digital marketing demand in the local marketplace. Many brands were making every attempt to latch on. Time to cash in on the opportunities. Monetize and capitalize on new business. Being a digital marketer myself with emphasis on Search Engine Marketing, I turned to Google and began to perform a variety of search queries focused around ‘digital marketing‘.

During that time I was working for a local agency. A creative shop by origin but one attempting to rebrand and morph into the digital marketing sphere. I was tasked to build out the Digital Marketing service offering for the brand. So, the first place I tackled was local search. It’s all about visibility and recognition, right? In a short period of time, through strategic Search Engine Marketing endeavors the brand name ended up ranking on Page 1 of Google for ‘digital marketing’ related terms. Success! The phones started ringing more frequently. Contact form inquiries gained momentum. Business opportunities were up slightly. Causation was attributed to SEO initiatives and correlation appended to those very endeavors.

Then, from 2012 and to date I noticed an even higher increase in organic visibility around ‘digital marketing’ search queries. Any brand ranging from a creative shop, web development specialists, consultants, and even startups occupied this space. Demand in digital marketing was high and therefore every company under the sun in the local marketplace made valiant attemtps to cash in where an opportunity presented itself. Makes sense, right?

You Can’t Be All Things to Everyone

Is your company offering too many services? Are you truly an expert in every single product/service offered? Are certain inabilities prohibiting your brand from flourishing? 

In the reality of things, you can’t be all things to everyone. No matter how you cut it, slice it, or dice it. As humans we all have our strengths and weakness. Operating in a fast-paced Human-To-Human (H2H) digital business world those very same fundamentals are also applicable. Therefore streamlining the product/service offering of your brand may in actuality be advantageous yielding higher business potential.

Let’s entertain this hypothesis for a minute. For example, your car breaks down. The alternator isn’t recharging properly, battery nearly dead, and you found a small oil leak. You begin to investigate the situation in attempt to identify the source of the dilemma. Car repair is a foreign territory for you but you’re making every effort to analyze the problem with determination and assertiveness. By the time you’ve unplugged and dismounted the battery you arrive at the conclusion that a mechanic would’ve been a far better choice. Essentially avoiding the headache, bustle, and hassle with your struggle. But most of all you’re attempting to operate in a foreign territory. It’s a setup for failure from the get-go. Our intuition tends to drive us beyond our limits at times provoking us to assume roles we are not necessarily prepared to fulfill.

Taking a Strategic Approach

When I was in the agency world, I noticed multiple failed attempts to be all things to everyone. Some agencies even rebranded for the interim but in a short period of time, a year or two, ended up reverting to their true passion. As a brand, each carries a certain level of expertise. Some are creatives while others techies. Those two mentalities involve different sides of the brain and therefore require respective skill sets to fulfill them. In the scenario I used above it’s quite obvious that assuming a role you’re not fit for with unrealistic expectations will result in a complete failure. Therefore, sticking to your true passion and expertise will ultimately help you establish your brand as a reputable and recognized subject matter expert.

Here’s a few takeaways from this that I think may be beneficial for you and your brand:

• Stick to your passion. The one or two things you’re truly great
• Streamline service/product offering. Make it easier for your customers to interact with the brand
• Become consistent. Consistency yields dedication and helps with authoritative establishment
• Focus on market recognition by emphasizing upon the one or two things your brand does best
• If you intend to scale, plan accordingly and do not act compulsively. Revamp your business or marketing plan first. Considering hiring seasoned talent in the respective areas you’re seeking to expand upon

In my digital marketing experience of nearly two decades I’ve arrived at the conclusion that it’s best to hire in-house talent. Outsourcing seems a temporary option that may or may not work. But ultimately in the grand scheme of things it will save time, money, and hassles if you end up hiring in-house talent that can become vetted in your brand.

Remember, you can’t be all things to everyone. All brands attempt to be idealists by attempting to cater to a mass audience in attempt to satisfy many different needs. Remain true to your passion but if you plan to scale do so gradually and in a strategic fashion.

Are you facing business growth problems? Is your brand attempting to be many things to everyone? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments in the comments section below. 

Want to discuss a collaborative business opportunity? I’m always interested.