Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Made in the UK for HR consultants worldwide. You're listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast.
[00:00:13] Hello, James here and welcome to this week's podcast. In this week's main event, we're going to talk about a very juicy and contested subject for HR consultants, and that's target markets. There's loads of confusion around target markets and niching. So. So in this podcast, I'm going to explain the importance of having target markets, the difference between target markets and niching, and give you three ways to start using target markets today to help you get new clients. And in this week's Thought of the Week, I'm going to ask you how brave you are and if you'd challenge a client, even if it meant risking your relationship. So let's jump straight in this week's main event.
[00:00:53] In this week's main event, we're going to talk about how and why you should pick a target market for your consultancy. Juicy topic this. Target markets for HR consultants are one of the most contested subjects I talk about because there's just so much confusion around target markets and niching. So in this podcast, I'm going to explain the importance of having target markets, the difference between target markets and niching, and dispel any negative feelings you have towards target markets and talk about them from a practical point of view. So let's get started by discussing two things I hear every HR consultant say. The first is, if I look at my current client base, I work with a random mix, so focusing on a target market won't work. So my usual reply to this is that you've probably grown your consultancy through word of mouth and referrals, and how you've grown your consultancy to date through word of mouth and referrals is not a reflection of how you can grow your consultancy through direct marketing. Growing your consultancy through referrals and then direct marketing are two completely different ballgames and it requires requires completely different strategies. And then the second thing I hear consultants say is, I can work with anyone, so why would I restrict myself by creating a target market? You're probably nodding your head right now because you've definitely said or thought this before. So I understand why you think that creating target markets would restrict you. But as a marketer in charge of getting new clients and growing your business, I see them as completely the opposite. For me, they're a huge marketing accelerator. From a brand point of view, it gives you a usp. From a strategy point of view, it gives you clarity. From a marketing point of view, it gives you focus. And from A messaging point of view. So the actual words that we're going to use in your marketing to attract businesses and draw them in, it gives you relevance and relevance increases results. That's probably one of the most important takeaways of marketing that you can have is to be highly relevant to those who you are targeting. And all of these things are really important to help you get better results in your marketing and help you get lots of lovely new clients that you can sell to. So they're my immediate replies of two of the most common things I hear consultants say. The next thing I want to talk about is terminology. Another reason why I think you probably shy away from creating target markets is because there is so much confusion between terminology like niching. So let me explain the difference. Target market is the umbrella term and niching is a subset of target markets. So while both activ involve selecting a specific group of customers, the key difference lies in the degree of specialism and granularity. So niching for me is going all in. It's usually at a brand level. And niching in this way would definitely alienate business owners in other industries. Which I think is your biggest fear about the whole process of focusing in on target markets. Whereas creating a target market, on the other hand, is something that you can do internally without having to slap industry specific messaging all over your LinkedIn and website. So now you know the difference between target markets and niching. I'd like to explain that there are three different ways you can use a target market in your consultancy. The first is an internal target market. So this is when you create an internal focus for a certain time period. So let's say that you're connecting with business owners on LinkedIn. For the next three months you've decided that you're going to focus on connecting with estate agents. So forward facing you're completely general. But internally you've decided to focus on a particular industry for a specific time period. So that's the first. The second is an external target market. So this is when you still want to work with everyone, but you also want to specialize in certain industries and want to be known for that. So your website will remain general. But you may have an industries tab at the top in your menu that lists the different industries you specialize in. This means if an estate agent comes to your website, they'll see a page that's dedicated to their industry which showcases all of your experience. But if I was an estate agent, I wouldn't be put off to because your website remains general. So for me this is kind of best of both worlds. And then the third and final way to use target markets is niching. So like I've said before, this is when you found an industry that you're the market leader in or want to be the market leader in. And for that reason, it makes sense for you to create a new brand or arm of your consultancy that focuses purely on one industry alone. And when I see consultancies grow, I typically see them travel through the three different ways to use target markets. They start out by wanting to work with anyone because they just need the money. When they're a little bit more established, they feel brave enough to specialize in certain industries, and then they have that confidence to create space on their website for this. And then when they've been around the block, they've found an industry that works for them and they create a niche brand alongside their general consultancy. So hopefully by now you feel like you understand target markets a little bit more and how you can use them to be more focused with your marketing. And I think a great starting point for you should be to think about a few industries that you would like to focus on internally. So what's the best way to think about what industries you're going to target? Well, I think you should use the Google My Business Listing category sheet. So this is a huge spreadsheet of every single type of business there possibly is on Google. And I advise my clients to just print it out and go through it with a highlighter and go crazy. Don't put too much thought into it at this stage. Just go through it and highlight any businesses and industries that you feel resonate with you. And then once you've done that, you can go through your list and refine it via a qualification criteria. So to help you do this, I've created an action sheet that you can follow. It includes the Google My Business Listing spreadsheet and instructions on how to refine your list using my qualification criteria. I'm happy to email this to you completely free, no catches. And to get your copy, please just email me on jameshehrmarketingguy.com that's jameshrmarketingguy.com and I'll send that across to you right away.
[00:06:54] So there are four ways that I can help you right now. The first is by signing up to my flagship video program, how to Package up and Sell HR to make More Money. This video program will help you to stop selling your time, make lots of recurring revenue, and free yourself from client delivery. I tell you all of the theory you need to know we've created templated packages for you to use and a templated promotional deck to help you sell everything you need to transform the way you sell HR to make more money. The second way I can help you is the HR Marketing Box. So it's an online portal full of ideas and ready to use content to help you increase your brand awareness and get new clients. It's a huge time saver, a thousand times cheaper than writing your own content or hiring your own content writer. And it takes the stress out of your marketing. The third way I can help is our marketing VA service. So our awesome team will create a bespoke content schedule for you, personalize all of the content and schedule it on your behalf. And then the fourth way that I can help you is one to one consultancy. So we can jump on a call and discuss anything you need to help you get new clients, grow your consultancy and create a life you love. To learn more about working with me, Visit my website thehrmarketingguy.com or send me an email jameshrmarketingguy.com and hopefully speak soon.
[00:08:12] James Thought of the Week in this week's Thought of the Week, I want to ask you a question. Are you brave enough to challenge your clients, even if that means risking your relationship? So let me explain why I'm asking you this question. In last week's podcast episode, I spoke to you about a UX consultant we worked with called Claire. If you followed me for a while now, you might know that I'm also the Growth Strategy Director for a much larger marketing company that has over 800 clients worldwide, most of which are based in the US. The business is called MSP Marketing Edge and it's a very similar model to the HR Marketing box. We create lots of awesome marketing content for IT support providers and we tell them exactly how to use it to generate leads and we deliver everything via an online portal. About two years ago, we wanted to redesign our portal to make it easier for our clients to use the content we provided. We created a brief and that's when we started speaking to Claire the User Experience Consultant. As a UX consultant, Claire has loads of experience working with big companies to create awesome online products and experiences like management systems, apps and online portals. And when we shared the brief with Claire, she basically said it was awful and that we were being really founder centric in our approach and that what we needed to do was a big research project to actually find out what our clients wanted. We already felt like we knew what our clients wanted and we just, we literally just wanted her to redesign the portal and do a good job. So we pushed back and said no, and even spoke about finding another design.
[00:09:39] But when we spoke about this with her, she stuck to her guns. She was brave, she was confident in her abilities, and she assured us that this was the right thing to do. So we reluctantly decided to give it a try. And honestly, it was one of the best things that we could have ever done. The research she conducted completely opened our eyes to what our clients actually needed from us, not what we thought they wanted. And those two things, what I've learned, are very, very different now. And as a result, we were not only able to create an awesome online portal, it took the business in a complet different direction, which has given us a huge competitive advantage. And it has completely transformed the way I work as a business growth and marketing consultant. So Claire challenged us, and as an expert UX consultant, that was the right thing for her to do, because she knew that the way that we were trying to manage the project wasn't right and that her way was best. And she was happy to challenge us, even if that meant losing us as a client. And I think there's a really big lesson for us all to learn here as consultants. As a HR consultant, you're the expert in managing people. You have the experience, you have the expertise, and you know more about managing people than the business owners you're consulting with. But so often you allow business owners to tell you what they want or what they think they want. And I see this so often at proposal stage. You go into a business and say that you can help with anything and then just try and sell this big chunk of HR and as many hours as you can, and you push the decision making back onto the business owner instead. I want you to take charge. I want you to be brave, and I want you to supportingly challenge the business owners you work with to ensure they get the very best support out of you and the very best results out of your team. So the next time you speak with a business owner, your first job is to truly understand what it is that they want. This is when you need to be strong and say that you need to conduct a HR audit, for example. And then when it comes to proposal stage, you need to come up with three different ways that they can work with you and get the results that they want. So by creating three different routes, you're giving them choice, but each route has been carefully thought through by you, the expert, to give them the results that they want as a good, better, best option. So remember, you're the HR expert. The next time you hear a business owner say something stupid, be brave and challenge them.
[00:11:59] You've been listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast, helping you to get new clients and create a life you love. Don't.
