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In today's newsletter:
There’s a restaurant in my city that used to be one of our favorite places. It had a fixed vegetarian menu that changed every day – creative dishes made from organic vegetables grown in the owner’s garden.
It was always packed. People loved it for what it was: simple, authentic, and unlike anything else.
Then, everything changed.
A new director took over and decided to rebrand it into a pizza-sushi restaurant.
Because, you know — some people love pizza, and some love sushi.
After one deeply disappointing dinner, we never went back. The uniqueness was gone. It was replaced by a generic menu that tried to please everyone and ended up meaning nothing. And let’s be honest: pizza and sushi? In Italy? Come on.
Some businesses are just like that restaurant. They fall into the same trap…what I call the “pizza-sushi restaurant” problem.
They want to sell to everyone.
Here’s how our conversation would go if our clients were restaurant owners:
Client: We want to figure out our positioning.
Us: Great! So what do you sell?
Client: Pizza. Sushi. Burgers. Ice cream.
Us: We looked at your customer feedback. People love your pizza.
Client: Yeah… but if we focus on pizza, we might lose people who want borscht.
Us: …
Client: Let’s keep it broad, just to be safe, okay?
Almost every client comes to Zmist & Copy wanting the same thing: to stand out from the competition, target a clear customer segment, and build a compelling value proposition.
But when we get to work, we often discover that business owners fear the risk that comes with focus.
As a marketing agency, we can’t solve this problem for them. We can't force them to focus.
What we can do is offer arguments. The usual ones:
But these are all marketing points.
Here’s a question for business:
If you don’t focus, how do you compete?
Because when you try to serve everyone, you don’t become the best at anything. You become just another option.
Positioning isn’t about updating your homepage copy. It’s about choosing a path for your entire business.
When you focus, everything becomes clear:
Focus shapes how you develop your business, not just your messaging.
With a broad focus, you spread your resources thin. You become a jack-of-all-trades, a master of none. Just another mediocre brand in a crowded market.
You might say: “But big companies offer everything, and they’re doing fine.”
Sure. But most didn’t start that way. They began with a tight focus. They built expertise in one niche. And then expanded. That’s the natural path.
The narrower your focus, the stronger your business.
And the stronger your business, the more effective your marketing.
Have a boss weekend.
Kate
P.S. If we aren't connected already, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you like this newsletter, please refer your friends.
P.P.S. Need a hand with content? Fix your mediocrity problem with Zmist & Copy
Break free from the stereotypical tone of voice. Be authentic to be distinct
On Friday, just before I was about to wrap up my workday and leave the office for the weekend, one of my clients sent me a message to Slack: "Have you seen the new ChatGPT? I wonder how it can be used in our SEO strategy…" I was like, "What's a ChatGPT?" (I'd never heard of it.) Read this article to learn what ChatGPT is and how you can use it to create content.
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