Marketing ADR: How a Narrow Target Market Broadens Chances for Success

Many mediators try to do it all, trying to reach a broad market and doing a little bit in several different arenas. The reasoning, as I understand it, is that you don’t want to say no to someone who calls, since not a lot of people are calling. The fear, as I understand it, is that narrowing your target market will do you out of potential work.

This approach, while common among ADR professionals trying to build a practice, is inconsistent with some of leading marketing advice out there. While seemingly counter-intuitive, narrowing your market actually gives you greater opportunity for business success. Here’s why:

• With a focused target market, you can speak with a clearer voice and more focus to the people you’re trying to reach. When you try to write for everyone, for instance (brochures, website, letters), you end up speaking to no one in particular and your message becomes watered down.
• With a narrow target market, you know where to find the people you’re trying to reach. If, for example, you’re targeting a rock musician market (I know a mediator who does), you’re probably going to find these folks in different places and through different venues than, say, environmental agencies and organizations.
• If cast your net too widely, you spread yourself and your dollars thin trying to reach everyone.
• Marketing mediation and ADR is more about educating than selling yourself. You’ll have an easier time educating a narrow market you’re genuinely interested in and have invested time and energy learning about.
• You will convey greater passion when you focus on a narrow market in which you’re generally interested, rather than trying to convince everyone you’re interested in what they’re seeking.

A narrow market is a place to begin, not the place you have to be forever, if you have diverse interests. For instance, when I founded my practice in 1997, my one target market was institutions of higher education. That’s who knew me and whom I knew. I knew how to reach them, how to speak their language, and what their particular needs were. While I don’t only serve higher education today (neither do I market to everyone), that work provided a strong foundation with a solid income from which to build.

When I look around at the mediators I know who are making a real living wage (or better!) in this field, every single one of them has identified one or a few very specific target markets. They may offer multiple types of services in those markets (e.g ., mediation, facilitation, training), but they’re clear about their audience. Are you clear?

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Tags: marketing mediation