Marketing Starts at Home

When we first consult with a new client, they often come to the table expecting us to share our great ideas for advertising and promoting their organization. Instead, we spend a significant amount of time educating ourselves about their organization and their product or service lines. We simply can't produce a meaningful marketing campaign without a thorough discussion of their organization or business.

Often, clients are surprised to find they don't have much to share, either because they have not established a clear focus for their organization, or because they have simply not thought about the nature of that focus.

What do we mean by "focus"? Every company or organization provides a finite spectrum of products or services. Unfortunately, many entities do not effectively limit the range of offerings they provide. In so doing, every aspect of their operations suffer.

To establish a focus, you first must decide who is your target audience. For nonprofits, there are usually two external audiences: clients and contributors. These targets are further segmented into various groups. So your client segments may be children, adults, women, cancer patients, etc. Contributor segments may be government agencies, private foundations, or individuals.

Once you establish your target audiences and segment those audiences you can effectively choose a product mix. A product mix is simply the products or services you offer to meet the needs of your intended target audience(s). The important point is to be selective. The broader your product mix, the more diluted your marketing efforts become.

On the other hand, a selective target market and product mix produces a strong focus and fosters:

• A clear, marketable brand.


• Identification with and enthusiasm for your mission by staff.


• Operational efficiency and quality.

So the next time you consider your organization's marketing strategy, ask yourself a few questions: What is our mission? Who are our audiences? What products or services do we provide those audiences?

And when you do advertise or promote your services, select messages that specifically target each audience individually.

Establishing a clear marketing focus is one of those concepts that seems so plainly obvious, but is too often painfully overlooked. As the saying goes, "common sense is not so common."