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I'll support the contrary viewpoint that you should limit your audience. You can't have a new product targeting both professionals and consumers. These are ver

by toumhi 13y ago

I'll support the contrary viewpoint that you should limit your audience. You can't have a new product targeting both professionals and consumers. These are very widely different markets, that buy differently, that you'll reach differently, for which you need different messaging, features etc. For a new product, the more targeted and focused your audience, the better. "for professionals" for example is far from targeted enough. "for growing startups" is a more focused audience: they tend to hang out at the same place (online on forums or offline in conferences for example) they exhibit some of the same buying behaviors, they have similar needs, etc. Not saying "growing startups" is a good target for OP's product but just using it as an illustration.

januaryjin 13y ago
Thanks a ton for taking the time. We're working on something revolutionary in the learning space and if our wording makes us sound like just another cloud platform then we clearly need to go back to the messaging drawing board. But does the actual problem that we're addressing on the landing page make sense to you?
bmelton 13y ago
Seconded. You guys both make great points, but I agree that if you're going to err one way or the other, err in the direction of the smaller niche, not away from it. "for professionals" is both not specific enough and also far too buzz-wordy. A good market for this might be help desks, or small startups that offer round-the-clock support. Round-the-clock support usually means at least one person per shift, and small startups don't generally have a lot of overlap there -- so they have an increased need for quickly findable knowledge, which means that they need knowledge management. Target that, or something like it. If you can niche further, do it -- if that niche gets traction, expand it slightly. If it doesn't, change it altogether. Expansion can occur in the form of a new site with different branding or subsites. There are plenty of startups that make accounting software, but of the ones I've worked with, the one killing it the most is the one that makes accounting software "for landscaping companies". If you're a landscaping company, looking at a hundred different accounting packages, your choices are now limited to the best known (e.g., Quickbooks), and/or the ones most specifically targeted to you. You won't win that comparison every time, but you'd rather be in the top 3 90% of the time than in the top 100 100% of the time.

by toumhi 13y ago

januaryjin 13y ago

Thanks a ton for taking the time. We're working on something revolutionary in the learning space and if our wording makes us sound like just another cloud platform then we clearly need to go back to the messaging drawing board. But does the actual problem that we're addressing on the landing page make sense to you?

bmelton 13y ago

Seconded. You guys both make great points, but I agree that if you're going to err one way or the other, err in the direction of the smaller niche, not away from it. "for professionals" is both not specific enough and also far too buzz-wordy. A good market for this might be help desks, or small startups that offer round-the-clock support. Round-the-clock support usually means at least one person per shift, and small startups don't generally have a lot of overlap there -- so they have an increased need for quickly findable knowledge, which means that they need knowledge management. Target that, or something like it. If you can niche further, do it -- if that niche gets traction, expand it slightly. If it doesn't, change it altogether. Expansion can occur in the form of a new site with different branding or subsites. There are plenty of startups that make accounting software, but of the ones I've worked with, the one killing it the most is the one that makes accounting software "for landscaping companies". If you're a landscaping company, looking at a hundred different accounting packages, your choices are now limited to the best known (e.g., Quickbooks), and/or the ones most specifically targeted to you. You won't win that comparison every time, but you'd rather be in the top 3 90% of the time than in the top 100 100% of the time.