'Fun For The Whole Family' Does Not Exist in Marketing

Whoever coined the phrase “fun for the whole family” obviously never had fun -- and never had family.

Anyone and everyone in a family knows that it’s impossible to come up with one thing that everyone thinks is fun. There’s no way to please everyone, all at once. When one person is happy, the other person isn’t. And then it flips. Trust me, I know: I just raised two very independent kids.

“Fun for the whole family,” just simply doesn’t exist. I exaggerate, for sure, but I’m sure you get the point.

And while the phrase certainly isn’t realistic in family life, it’s also not at all feasible in marketing either.

You simply can’t be all things to all people. There’s no “fun for the whole family” in marketing.

You have to be choice-ful and purposeful in all your marketing efforts.

It starts out by knowing who you are as a brand. Ask yourself, “What are your key features, and what do you uniquely offer to your customer?” Focus and pick one or two attributes where your brand can really excel. Don’t try to be “all of the above.” By concentrating on your best benefits, you can become expert at them and be known for them. And your customers will return again and again as a result.

Your brand will then have clear meaning.

And speaking of customers, focus is again key. You can’t be “fun for the whole family” here either. Not only can you not be “all things” but you can’t be “all things to all people either.” Just like you pick your best attributes, you also have to pick your best customers, too.

This is called targeting for a reason.

Targeting is an important part of marketing, because it forces you to choose those customers who you are most likely to satisfy: those most likely to turn to you again and again as an expert in your field. You can’t please all men and all women and all young and all old. You have to choose which subset of the population to satisfy the most.

You have to target your best shot at being successful.

And then, once you know your target market really well, you can continue to hone your craft and finesse your brand to please them even more.

That’s where the magic of marketing comes in -- when your brand is perfectly aligned with your target audience.

Now that’s fun.