The Fear of Narrowing Your Market
The Fear of Narrowing Your Marketing
Throughout my 35 years in the industry, every marketing email, presentation or seminar has emphasized one thing: be specific. Have a target market. Create an avatar of your ideal client. This advice resonates because it aligns with the law of attraction—knowing what you’re seeking makes it far more likely to find it. Yet, when we talk to advisors about focusing on a target or niche, their reactions are often the same: hesitation, tight-lipped silence and a clear unease about whether they can or even want to make that leap.
This fear can be paralyzing, preventing meaningful growth. A common acronym for fear, False Expectations About Reality, illustrates this perfectly. Many advisors worry that narrowing their marketing will cut off opportunities from their current book of business—the clients who are paying the bills, providing referrals, and helping them grow. But what if we viewed being specific not as restrictive, but as additive?
There are tangible benefits to narrowing your marketing message:
Focused Efforts: Concentrating on a target group allows you to build relationships with the clients you want to serve, unlocking exponential growth potential.
Deep Insight: By immersing yourself in your target market’s world, you’ll gain a profound understanding of their challenges, desires and needs—enabling you to craft messages that resonate deeply.
Marketplace Credibility: A clear focus positions you as a subject matter expert, enhancing your credibility through tailored messaging and targeted speaking engagements.
Efficient Marketing: Specificity streamlines decision-making, saving time and resources by investing only in efforts that align with your target audience.
Refined Sales Process: Repeatedly addressing the same concerns within your target market simplifies and strengthens your sales process.
Still, the inevitable question arises: What about my existing business? Transitioning to a specialized practice doesn’t mean abandoning your current clients, prospects or referrals. In fact, these relationships often continue organically.
Take our business, for example. For over six years, we’ve targeted advisors transitioning their practices to focus on income planning. While this focus guided our marketing, we didn’t refuse business outside this niche—especially during pivotal moments, like the recent inflationary spike and rising interest rates. These conditions demanded that advisors secure higher rates for their clients, leading to an influx of multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) business. While this wasn’t our primary focus, we adapted. By the end of 2023, 77% of our business stemmed from MYGAs—proof that narrowing your focus doesn’t exclude other opportunities but enhances them.
Shifting Your Business Gradually
The key to transitioning lies in evolving your messaging. To attract a specific type of client, speak directly to them as the hero of their story. Your marketing should articulate a vision of their success through your expertise, showcasing how working with you accelerates their journey to becoming their ideal selves. This requires:
Understanding their current position and obstacles.
Demonstrating a track record of helping similar clients.
Providing simple, actionable steps to address their challenges.
Clients don’t engage with you because of your credentials or years of experience—they choose you because they believe you can make a meaningful impact on their lives.
Telling Your Target Market’s Story
Narrowing your marketing doesn’t mean you’re confined to one audience. If you have multiple target markets, craft unique messages for each. Each group will have its own challenges, aspirations and vision of success. While managing multiple narratives may seem daunting, today’s technology—like microsites—makes it achievable. Microsites allow you to craft specific, compelling messages for each audience, while your primary website remains a hub for broader information.
Strategic marketing is about more than convenience. It’s about tailoring your approach to meet your audience where they are and positioning yourself as the expert they need.
Why Now?
We have invested time, effort and energy into helping our advisors succeed. Marketing, I believe, is fundamentally different today than just five to seven years ago. Advances in technology, coupled with the lasting effects of the pandemic, have transformed the client acquisition landscape. At Ash Brokerage, we’re equipped to help advisors navigate these changes. Our StoryBrand Certified Guides, outstanding and well-vetted partners can help with targeted digital marketing campaigns.
And we have an experienced group of Retirement Income Consultants and Specialists to help you identify the right opportunities and to help you target the clients you enjoy working with—clients who will help you grow your business.
By embracing a focused marketing approach, you open the door to opportunities that align with your expertise and vision. Let us help you create a strategy that works for you.
