Who Does Your Brand Serve?

You may be a business man or some high degree thief

They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You're gonna have to serve somebody,

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

~ Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody

My apologies to Dylan, who isn't fond of marketing, but how often do you think about who your brand serves? I know it's an odd way to put it, but your brand, and my brand, serves somebody otherwise what's the point?

The biggest challenge that I come across is when someone wants their brand to serve everybody. And I am here to tell you, that is a mistake waiting to happen.

When I am working with a client, I will ask "who is your primary target for this message?" Often the answer is a vague, "our customers, our prospects, the media, you know, everyone."

That won't work.

You're going to have to focus, create and share a message with smaller, more defined groups. Those are the people you serve. Otherwise, you are going to create vague, bland messages that sound an awful (that's the operative word) lot like this "we build state-of-the-art, robust and scalable go-to-market solutions for consumers and businesses."

And Dylan really would have something to say about that.

What do you think? 

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How Should We Experience Your Brand Story?

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3 Ways to Get the Media to Listen to Your Brand Story