Targets Drive Strategy

Sharp financial executives ask a lot of questions. “What is our vision?” “What makes us different?” “Should we offer this particular product?” “Should we open a branch in a certain part of town?” “What technologies should we invest in?” “Where do we spend our marketing resources?” “What is our value proposition?”

One of the most important questions we must answer, however, is “who are we trying to reach?” In fact, the answer to that question will drive your strategy and many of the answers to the above questions.

As Seth Godin says in the classic marketing book The Purple Cow, “The way you break through to the mainstream is to target a niche instead of a large market.”

When examining your strategy from the lens of your target audience, your strategic questions change:

• “What does our vision mean to our target audience?”
• “What makes us different to our niche?”