Podcast Episode 16: How and why you should create a target market for your consultancy

In this week's main event, we're going to talk about how and why you should pick a target market for your consultancy...

Juicy topic this...  

Target markets for HR consultants are one of the most contested subjects I talk about...

There's loads of confusion around target markets and niching... 

So in this podcast I'm going to explain the importance of having target markets. 

The difference between target markets and niching. 

And dispel any negative feelings you have towards target markets and talk about them from a practical point of view. 

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So let's get started by discussing two things every HR consultant say.  

The first is "If I look at my current clients, I work with a random mix so focusing on a target market won't work"  

So my usual reply to this is that you've probably grown your consultancy through word of mouth and referrals.

And how you've grown your consultancy to date, through word of mouth and referrals is not a reflection of how you can grow your consultancy through direct marketing.

Growing your consultancy through referrals and direct marketing are two completely different ball games and it requires completely different strategies. 

***

And then the second thing I hear consultants say is "I can work with anyone so why would I restrict myself by creating a target market." 

You're probably nodding your head right now because you've definitively said or thought this before. 

I understand why you think that creating target markets would restrict you... 

But as a marketer, in charge of getting new clients and growing your business, I see them as completely the opposite. 

For me, they're a HUGE marketing accelerator. 

From a brand point of view, it gives you a USP

From a strategy point of view, it gives you clarity. 

From a marketing point of view, it gives you focus. 

And from a messaging point of view, the words that you are actually going to use in your marketing to attract businesses and draw them in, it gives you relevance

And relevance increases results.

All of these things are really important and help you to get better results from your marketing and help you get lots of lovely new clients that you can sell to. 

***

So they're my immediate replies to two of the most common things I hear HR consultants say.

***

The next thing I want to talk about is terminology... 

Another reason why I think you probably shy away from creating target markets because there's so much confusion between terminology like niching.

So let me explain the difference...

Target market is the umbrella term and niching is subset of target markets. 

So while both activities involve selecting a specific group of customers.

The key different lies in the degree of specialisation and granularity. 

So niching for me is going all in.

It's usually at a brand level and niching in this way would definitely alienate business owners in other industries, which I think is your biggest fear about this whole process of focusing in on target markets.

Whereas creating a target market on the other hand is something that you can do internally without having to slap industry specific messaging all of your linkedin and website. 

***

So now you know the difference between target markets and niching. 

I'd like to explain that there are 3 different ways you could use a target market in your consultancy...
 
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The first is an internal target market. 

This is when you create an internal focus for a certain time period. 

So let's say you're connecting with business owners on LinkedIn. 

For the next 3 months, you've decided that you're going to focus on connecting with estate agents.

So forward facing, you're completely general. 

But internally, you've decided to focus on a particular industry for a specific time period. 
 

***

The second is an external market.

This is when you still want to work with everyone but you also want to specialise in  certain industries and want to be known for that.

So your website will remain general, but you may have an industries tab at the top in your menu that lists the different industries you specialise in.

This means if an estate agent comes to your website, they'll see a page that's dedicated to their industry which showcases all of your experience. 

But if I wasn't an estate agent, I wouldn't be put off. 

For me, this is the best of both worlds. 

*** 

And then the third and final way to use target markets is niching. 

So like I've said before, this is when you've found an industry that you're the market leader in or want to be. 

And for that reason, it makes sense for you to create a new brand or arm of your consultancy that focuses purely on one industry alone. 

***

And when I see consultancies grow, I typically see them travel through the 3 different ways to use target markets. 

They start out by wanting to work with anyone because they just need the money. 

When they're a little more established, they feel brave enough to specialise in certain industries and feel confident enough to create space on their website for this. 

And then when they've been around the block, they've found an industry that works for them and they create a niched brand alongside their general consultancy. 

***

Hopefully by now you feel like you understand target markets a little more and how you can use them to be more focussed with your marketing. 

And I think a great starting point for you should be to think about a few industries that you may like to focus on internally.

*** 

So what's the best way to think about what industries you want to target?

Well I think you should use the Google My Business listing category sheet. 

This is a HUGE spreadsheet of every single type of business there possibly is on Google. 

And I advise my clients to go through it with a highlighter and go crazy. 

Don't put too much thought into it at this stage. 

Just go through and highlight any businesses and industries that you feel resonate with you. 

And then once you've done this, you can go through your list and refine it via a qualification criteria. 

***

To help you do this,  I've created an action sheet you can follow. 

It includes the Google My Business listing spreadsheet and instructions on how to refine your list using my qualification criteria. 

I'm happy to email this to you completely free, no catches. 

To get your copy, please just email me on james@thehrmarketingguy.com and I'll send that across to you right away. 

In this week's thought of the week, I want you to ask you a question. 

Are you brave enough to challenge your clients, even if that means risking your relationship? 

Let me explain why I'm asking you this question... 

***

In last week's podcast episode I spoke to you about a UX consultant we worked with called Claire.

If you've followed me for a while, you might know that I'm also the Growth Strategy Director for a much larger marketing company that has over 800 clients worldwide. 

Most of which are based in the US. 

The business is called MSP Marketing Edge and it's a very similar model to the HR Marketing Box.

We create lots of awesome marketing content for IT Support Providers and we tell them exactly how to use it to generate leads.

And we deliver everything via an online portal.
 
About 2 years ago, we wanted to redesign our portal to make it easier for our clients to use the content we provided.

We created a brief and that's when we started speaking to a User Experience consultant called Claire. 

As a UX consultant, Claire had loads of experience working with big companies to create awesome online products and experiences.

Like management systems, apps and online portals.

And when we shared the brief with Claire, she basically said it was awful and that we were being really founder-centric in our approach.

She told us that we needed to do a big research project and that's when she introduced us to the jobs to be done framework.

I'm not going to lie, we were really annoyed with her at first.

We felt like we already knew what our clients wanted.

We just wanted her to redesign the portal and do a good job.   

So we pushed back and said no and even spoke about finding another designer. 

But she stuck to her guns... 

And said that if we wanted to create a portal that actually worked, then we would need to go through this process.

The conversation got a bit heated. 

But she stuck to her guns. 

She was brave. 

She was confident in her abilities. 

And she assured us that this was the right thing to do. 

So we reluctantly decided to give it a try.

And honestly, it was one of the best things we have ever done.

The research she conducted using the jobs to be done framework completely opened our eyes to what our clients ACTUALLY needed from us.

Not what we thought they wanted.

And as a result, we were not only able to create an awesome online portal.

It took the business in a completely different direction which has given us a HUGE competitive advantage.

AND, it has completely transformed the way I work as a business growth and marketing consultant.

***

Claire challenged us. 

And as an expert UX consultant, that was the right thing for her to do. 

Even if it meant losing us as a client. 

***

I think there's a really big lesson for us all to learn here. 

As a HR consultant, you're the expert in managing people. 

You have the experience. 

You have the expertise. 

And you know more about managing people than the business owners you're consulting with. 

But so often you allow business owners to tell you what they want. 

I see this so often at proposal stage. 

You go into a business and say you can help with anything and then try and sell this big chunk of HR and as many hours as you can. 

And you push the decision making back onto the business owner. 

***

Instead I want you to take charge. 

I want you to be brave. 

And I want you to supportingly challenge the business owners you work with to ensure they get the very best support out of you... 

And the very best results out of your team. 

***

So the next time you speak with a business owner, your first job is to truly understand what it is that they want. 

This is when you need to be strong and say you need to conduct an HR audit. 

And then when it comes to proposal stage, you need to come up with 3 different ways that they can work with you and get the results they want. 

By creating 3 different routes, you're giving them choice. 

But each route has been carefully thought through to give them the results they want as a good, better, best option. 

***

Remember, you're the HR expert. 

So the next time you hear a business owner say something stupid. 

Be brave and challenge them.