Market focus

One business can't possibly do every possible thing for every possible type of client everywhere.

So there needs to be some kind of focus.

That way, the team knows how to identify what opportunities to look for and say yes to, and the right clients can see you're the right fit for them.

But the pressure to 'niche' down on a small sector can also be counter-productive, increasing risk while not really capturing an agency's true focus.

The advisory board can help executive leadership to see the business and its landscape from a wider perspective, and gain a clearer view of where the focus lies.

Objectives

In this session, the board will review the agency's current approach to defining its market focus, and provide a perspective on options to define a clearer focus that isn't adversely constraining.

The aim is not to fully define and decide on a focus in the board meeting, but to have a discussion that gives useful insight to the CEO. They can then take that away to feed into their work on positioning.

Pre-reading

If there isn't a really clear direction an agency is likely to drift and stagnate. Growth will seem like really hard work.

A telling sign that you either don't have a clear market focus, or aren't communicating it clearly, is a low proportion of high quality inbound leads that convert.

That's because your ideal clients aren't finding you easily and immediately connecting what you do with what they need. At the same time a lot of clients who aren't a great match come knocking at your door because they haven't already self-filtered themselves out by knowing they're not a good fit.

So a lack of focus burns a lot of agency time and effort dealing with low value enquiries, and in submitting proposals you don't really have a chance with. Meanwhile a lot of perfect projects zoom right by without stopping.

A sign that you do have a clear market focus and communicate it well is if ideal clients approach you with ideal projects and just want to hire you, without competitive procurement. They just know you're right for the job.