TL;DR:
- Trying to appeal to “everyone” is a recipe for being ignored. The market is too noisy for average products and generic messages.
- Your goal is to find the “Smallest Viable Market”—the smallest group of people who will passionately care about what you do.
- When you serve this small group perfectly, they become your marketers. They spread the word for you because it benefits them.
We’ve all felt it. The pressure to be louder. To post more, run more ads, and shout your message from every digital rooftop, hoping someone—anyone—will listen. But most of the time, it feels like shouting into the wind. Your budget drains, your energy fades, and your message gets lost in the noise.
What if we’ve been playing the wrong game?
The common advice is to scale, to grow, to reach the masses. But the most successful and resilient businesses don’t start there. They start by whispering to someone specific.
The Big Mistake: Chasing “Everyone”
When you try to make something for everyone, you end up making it for no one.
You soften the edges, water down the message, and create something “average” to avoid putting anyone off. The problem, as marketing thinker Seth Godin says, is that the world is full of “average crap.” Average is invisible. Average is boring.
Chasing a mass audience forces you to compete on volume and price, a race to the bottom that drains your resources and your soul. It’s a game where the biggest budgets win, and the indie spirit loses.
The alternative is not to shout louder, but to choose your audience more wisely.
Finding Your “Someone”: The Smallest Viable Market
Instead of asking, “How can I reach the most people?” ask, “Who are the people I can serve best?”
This leads you to your Smallest Viable Market (SVM).
This isn’t just a niche. It’s the smallest group of people who share a specific worldview, a particular problem, or a deep desire, and who would be heartbroken if you disappeared. It’s the group that is just large enough to sustain your business.
Think of a chef. She could run a buffet, serving 100 people a decent, forgettable meal. Or, she could run a ten-seat restaurant, serving a handful of regulars the best meal of their lives—a meal they talk about for weeks.
The buffet chef competes on price. The ten-seat chef competes on connection and care.
That is the power of focusing on the few. You build something remarkable for them, and they become your foundation.
How to Find Your Smallest Market: Three Simple Questions
Finding this group doesn’t require complex spreadsheets. It requires empathy. Start by asking these questions.
1. Who feels this problem most acutely?
Don’t look for people you have to convince. Look for the people who are already searching for a solution. They are walking around with a specific pain point and are actively trying to make it go away. Your job is not to create thirst; it’s to find the thirsty and offer them clean water.
2. What story are they already telling themselves?
You can’t change someone’s worldview. It’s exhausting and rarely works. Instead, find people who already believe in the same things you do. What do they value? What do they dream of? What do they see when they look in the mirror?
A company like Festool makes a $200 jigsaw. They don’t sell it to people who want the cheapest tool. They sell it to craftspeople who already believe that quality tools lead to quality work and a sense of pride. They fit into a story that the customer is already living.
3. How can you make them the hero?
Your business isn’t the hero of the story. Your customer is.
Your product or service is the tool, the guide, the magic wand that helps them win. How does your work give them status, connect them to a tribe, or solve a problem so effectively that they look smart for having found you? When they succeed, you succeed.
From a Whisper to a Roar
Here’s the beautiful part. When you obsess over serving your small group, something magical happens. You create something worth talking about.
Your customers don’t just buy from you; they enroll in your mission. They tell their friends, not because you asked them to, but because it benefits them. Sharing your work makes them look smart, helpful, and in-the-know.
They become your marketers. The whisper you shared with them turns into a conversation, then a buzz, then a roar.
This is how true, sustainable growth happens. It’s not bought with ads. It’s earned with care.
So, take a deep breath. Give yourself permission to stop shouting at everyone.
Find your someone. Begin the conversation. And make something for them that truly matters.
Are you trying to be everything to everyone? Sometimes, the first step to growth is getting smaller and more focused.
Let’s find the “someone” that truly matters for your business. Book a free discovery call with us to start a conversation.