At a certain point in life we all ask ourselves the question, How do I really want to live my life?” What is truly important to me? What really matters? As we begin to act on the answers to these questions we say “yes” and “no” more often. “Yes” to the things that matter and “No”  to the things that don’t.

In our businesses this can deeply affect the fundamental way we in which we work. Over the last two years I have witnessed the affect such a shift can have on marketing. It begins with the same realization that we only have a finite amount of time and money and a desire to eliminate the waste of both. We come to realize we can no longer be all things to all people because we never really were!  Time to get real, stop being sloppy, fuzzy and careless.

So the questions! Who really are our customers? How do we even begin to answer this question? Who gets the most value? Who can truly afford our product or service?  This is hard work choosing the right demographic, psychographic, buyer persona’s, our niche!

What this might look like for example in a B2B business:

• We will limit our direct marketing to 7  Industries (Health Care etc.)
• We will no longer market to prospects (with less than or more than) 1 million in annual revenues
• We will no longer market to prospects who have been in business (longer than or less than) 5 years
• We will no longer market to prospects who are outside of the following zip codes

Making these kinds of choices can be complex and confusing at first but stick with the process and you will find the result liberating! You will have more energy, be more focused and confident. And you will no longer be wasting precious time!