Narrow or Broad Marketing Strategy. Which is best for you?

When creating a marketing and brand strategy a decision has to be made whether to use a narrow strategy, which focuses on brand concept consistency –  thus strengthening some few favourable and diagnostic associations in consumers’ memory; or whether to use a broad strategy, which is useful for building the brand by using many favourable associations – thus creating a brand with a rich set of associations. The decision is completely individual to the brand and how they want to target their desired audience, figuring out how to manage this is a tough balancing act for many marketers, but it’s also time well spent.

In this article, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy and how to choose which one is best for you and your brand.

Broad Marketing

Some believe that narrow targeting is ‘counterproductive’ and so choose the broad marketing strategy as they think the best way to drive B2B business growth is to target all customers within the brand’s category. It would seem Peter Weinberg from the LinkedIn B2B Institute would agree, as he states ultimately you want to target anyone who buys your category, not just some niche segment that you think your brand can own.

It goes without saying, that an advantage of having a broad marketing strategy is that you can reach out to a larger target audience and therefore, hopefully, increase your chances of a higher number of sales. As well as this, targeting a larger audience means you can rely on the size of your target market to benefit you in future product and service offerings and so you know that you will have leads and potential customers waiting to be contacted about your product or service. 

Another great advantage of using a broad marketing strategy is the number of results you will accumulate from a range of different customer groups. Offering something for multiple customer segments to latch on to means that even if you don’t reach everyone in that segment, you’re likely to have more interest and impressions overall. This is especially important for smaller companies starting as it means they will be able to build a large customer base at first. From these results, they will then be able to pick out trends and target customers that are most interested and most likely to buy the products or services they are selling. This is a useful way to learn more about your audience and really benefit from your marketing efforts.

However, the major issue with having a broad marketing strategy is that even customers who may show interest can be difficult to convert as the message isn’t directed specifically towards them. As they go through the sales funnel, customers might be interested in your competition or realize that your product/service isn’t exactly what they need. With a narrower campaign, customers that enter the funnel are more likely to convert.

Narrow Marketing

Narrow marketing primarily uses the idea of “being the best to a certain audience” and takes it to the next level. Essentially, all of your marketing content is going to be tailored to a particular niche. This means that you need to be informed about your target audience and able to create specific strategies that you know will interest them.

Some argue that narrow marketing strategies are more efficient and effective as they know exactly who their customers are and how they want to target them. This means there is little time or money wasted through appealing to uninterested customers. It is argued that companies using narrow and targeted marketing strategies are more effective because they reach the right consumers with more applicable messages. Small companies can also choose the best media sources for their advertising by targeting certain customers. For example, they can find out the best ways to target the demographic of their target audience and then use platforms which they use often, so for younger people that may be social media whereas older audiences may be targeted through radio or TV ads. Overall, this really streamlines the marketing process and means that no time or money is wasted on unbeneficial tasks as your goals and strategies should be clear.

Another advantage to using narrow marketing strategies is instead of being solely focused on gathering as many customers as possible, you can really tailor your strategies to your target audience as well as improve customer relationships and loyalty. The smaller the audience, the more personalized your business can become. By getting more personal you can really build brand loyalty. This means that you may also be able to personalise your products or services to really cater to your audience’s need and be able to create strategies and materials that will really speak to them. 

Although, there are some disadvantages to narrow marketing, such as the time it takes to search and find appropriate customers. You are less likely to be creating generic content and so a lot of time will go into making sure your strategy is effectively targeting the right people. Rather than composing a generic email, targeted marketing requires a higher level of personal input and creative content. Due to this, expect to spend a considerate amount of time researching your customers and how you can engage with them. 

How to choose the best strategy for you

Identifying the right audience for your campaign is essential to know exactly who you are marketing to and how to target them. Ultimately, it is advised that smaller or start-up companies start broad to collect data, it’s recommended starting with a very broad audience, then steadily narrowing with additional qualifiers as you gain insight into what audiences resonate most with your campaign. As a result of this, you can work out who your main audience is from a larger pool of data and then get to work on targeting them in the future. 

However, don’t be afraid of smaller audiences! Some say it’s all about identifying your niche, because niche audiences, while tiny in comparison to broad campaigns have built-in purchasing intent. This means they are more likely to invest and buy into your products as it’s relevant to them, which can be aided by a targeted marketing approach persuading your audience that your products or services are perfect for them. This may also mean you get more loyal and returning customers as they are provided with products and services specifically catered to their wants and needs and not bombarded with advertising that’s not relevant to them.

Ultimately, every business is different and so what works for one may not work for another. The way to decide what strategy is best for you is to work out who your customer base is and how you want to target them. Also, based on your budget and resources, one may be more viable than the other. The best way to decide on your focus is to have a well-thought-out plan when it comes to your desired objectives and how to reach them.