Yesterday I read a short post on LinkedIn by copywriter Luis Garau.
It started with “I open a melon with a watermelon emoji”.
And there certainly was a watermelon emoji. Curious because the melon icon also exists. Although it actually looks more like a grape than a melon. Of course the watermelon is more eye-catching and identifiable.
In any case the melon that it opened was interesting. It went like this:
“As an entrepreneur… How good an idea is it to focus on “entrepreneurs, SMEs and freelancers”?”
The thesis behind this question was that no, it is not a good idea to focus on these profiles for a very simple reason: there is little money there.
And if there is little money, then it is difficult to charge high rates.
It is difficult to find big business and big clients there.
There we will find people who have limited budgets and cannot afford to pay for high-priced services.
Among other things because the impact that these services will have will be much lower than for larger clients.
And all this with similar work.
Let’s imagine a company that offers branding services (or copywriting, or management or whatever you want).
The work of making a logo or a brand booklet will be similar for a small client as for a large one. The work of attracting a client will be similar for a small client as for a large one. The administrative work will be similar in both cases. The knowledge and tools needed to do the job will be similar in both cases.
But the small client will be able to see a much smaller impact on its image and visibility and sales than a large company.
So it will necessarily be able to justify a much smaller investment than a large company.
Worse still is when the company, entrepreneur or freelancer is just starting out. This is typically the case for startups in their initial phase.
As there is no history of sales or stable income, it is very difficult to justify any investment. Everything has to be looked at with a magnifying glass.
So, if it is difficult to make a profit targeting these types of customers… why is it so common to focus on them?
The key is how you start the question “As an entrepreneur… How good an idea…”.
“As an entrepreneur”.
It seems that entrepreneurs can only aspire to people at our level.
Another entrepreneur will understand us.
A small company is often an entrepreneur who starts to have a team.
But a medium-sized company is in a different league.
What credibility does an entrepreneur have in front of established companies?
How do we compete with other companies in our sector to attract a medium or large client?
However, if the work is similar, if we have the knowledge and the tools and the necessary skills, wouldn’t it be more convenient to try to catch a tuna than to go fishing for sardines?
And that tuna in the future can help you to attract other tuna. Not only because you can show it to others as a reference. But because you can show it to yourself.
And what do you think? Do you take into account the economic potential when deciding your niche?
Do you fish for tuna or sardines?
Photo by Stefan Lehner on Unsplash