GENERALIZING VS SPECIALIZING
I’ve seen so much talk online last month about specializing, generalizing, positioning, and niching down. So what’s one to do? Pick a narrow lane and only offer one service? Pick an industry to dominate? What if you can’t decide what to focus on? What if you fear that you’ll lose clients if you narrow your offerings?
As I was cooking yesterday, I had a thought about this topic. I was using a particular spice blend that I bought few weeks ago in Bali called “Indonesian fish curry mix”.
On the outside it says: “Works on: fish, chicken and vegetables”
︎ Now, I realize I’m using one example with one brand and I have no idea how the business actually goes or how much their sales are but go with me for a minute.
What if they called it “Curry Spice Blend” instead of “Indonesian fish curry mix”?
Not as impactful, right? Not as memorable either. They could have said they were a “generalist” by changing the name to illustrate it, but they chose the perfect name to stand out while still offering the option of it working on more than just fish.
In conclusion, get known for one thing that you do really well, and your clients will assume you’re great at other things (and most likely hire you for said things). Generalize, in other words, do lots of things, while you market yourself as a specialist, in order to get attention and awareness and to be memorable.
So the idea is to get known for something, even if you do other things holding a position in your client’s and potential client’s mind.
Generalize to start. You’ll gravitate and master one of a few things. Then specialize to market and maximize profit.
Giacomo