The MVP or minimal viable product is a term coined by Eric Ries in The Lean Startup. But the notion of a minimal viable audience belongs to Seth Godin. He uses it to remind marketers how important it is to create a product for a specific group of people who share a common need.
By focusing on a tiny group, you are forced to deeply understand who these people are and how your product or service will support them. When you think of mass marketing – by definition, you get a product that is at best average. It is the least common denominator, so it is going to be a compromise and more commodity in nature.
Marketing to the MVA
When I work on marketing challenges, I like to start with a broad segment and keep slicing it down to manageable audience size.
- Can I find ten people who love my idea so much, that I’m confident that they will help market it through word of mouth? If I can’t get ten people excited, no amount of money is going to convince thousands of people.
- By creating a product for a narrow group of people, I’d need to understand how to make something just for them. Imagine the difference in making a kitchen utensil for a right-handed person versus a left-handed person. Learn about Lefty’s, a company that focuses on 15% of the population, not 85%.
- When you start with a small audience, you have to get to know those people more intimately. How would they feel if we did something for them that fits with the story of how they live their lives? Can we delight them in unexpected ways without worrying about how to scale that idea?
- Almost every business starts small serving a well-defined and limited community. A business grows if that company successfully satisfy that community and more people learn about it through word of mouth.
Table for One?
In a recent entrepreneurial class that I spoke with, as each student presented their concept to me, I asked them all the same question.
How could you focus on just 10% of the audience you have described by doing something special just for a smaller, narrow segment of your audience? Great marketing begins with a narrow audience, not the masses.
When you create a product for someone, it has a chance to succeed. If you make it for everyone, you are starting at a disadvantage because, by definition, it is average.
A simple metaphor – Imagine the difference between cooking a meal for 4 people you love versus 400 people you never met. You get a chance to know the four people and understand what they love and perhaps, what they don’t love so much. You find out about any food allergies and if they want something light or filling.
When you are feeding 400, you are doing more things for an average appetite, and probably not making anyone happy.
How big is the audience you serve and what will you be feeding them?
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
