About six months ago I got into a heated debate with a great friend about “the masses.” He apparently wanted help building a movie production studio (laugh if you will–we were about ready to go with financial backing from his school–Berkelee School of Music), and wanted some help from me and some friends, when I asked him who his target market would be. He looked me in the eye, and in all seriousness, said: “The Masses.”
After my business-school friends and I had a good laugh, we began intensely debating with Josh about the validity of building a business to target “The Masses.” He simply wanted to make movies that everyone would like, but didn’t understand the concept of focusing on a niche market. Even though we (somewhat) successfully convinced him that his idea was doomed to failure if he thought he could realistically make movies that “everyone” would like, I started seriously considering what “The Masses” meant, and how social networking companies like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter seemed to successfully “tap in” to “The Masses.”
I came to the conclusion (not that it was my idea) that it is severely unwise to target “The Masses” as your chosen market demographic; your product or service should not be meant for “everyone” when you introduce it. So far, anyone reading this should generally agree.
My next hypothesis attempts to provide a reason for the aforementioned sites’ successes. In order for your idea to take hold in a market of “The Masses,” two things must be done when building your product:
- Build your idea for only the few people who really need it AND really want it.
- Build into your idea the features and benefits that will be needed and wanted by the masses.
To further explain these points: Don’t focus your platform on creating something EVERYONE wants and/or needs. You will fail. Instead, create something that only a small handful want or need. In other words, your “niche market.” This step is much easier if you are one of the people who want/need it. It is probably difficult to create a good vegan-focused social-networking site if you’re a carnivore.
Second, add in the features and benefits that “The Masses” will like while remaining true to your core user group–the few people on the fringes who will first adopt your creation (Seth Godin calls these guys “sneezers”). If you already have the extra features and auxiliary functionality that “The Masses” will like, you’ll be able to attract them to your offering quicker. Here’s an example:
Facebook started as a site for only college students. Literally, it was a “face book” of classmates in college and a way to keep tabs on them–a nicely focused niche of internet savvy student-aged people. The features and benefits that made it useful for “The Masses,” though (Mom and Dad, the boss, little brothers, etc.) were already in place: The ability to interact with other members the ease of finding old friends and classmates, and the wonderfully simple, elegant interface.
Twitter was the same way. At first, “The Masses” couldn’t see any use for Twitter. Who cares what my neighbor ate for breakfast, they’d ask. Only a handful of “sneezers” wanted to be able to communicate with others in real-time, 140 characters at a time. The infrastructure was there for “The Masses,” however. The ability to hash tag posts, include shortened URLs, and other nifty features allowed business and internet marketing types a quick and efficient way to promote, market, campaign, meet, browse, or discover.
When the “sneezers” finish wiping their noses, is there going to be any reason for “The Masses” to stick around?
Popular Posts:
- The Definitive Guide to Making Money Blogging (7610)
- 10 Online Marketing Tips for Offline Businesses (4002)
- 5 Internet-y Things Your Business Must Have (3956)
- New Book! (3625)
- How to Generate More Business In A Struggling Economy (3074)
Related posts:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is probably one of the most common mistakes businesses will run into. Let’s just target everybody! Better chances right? Nope. Like you said, you’re destined for failure. Great article.
Right on, Briton! Thanks for the comment and I look forward to reading more at your site!