There are two basic engines for getting people to buy what you offer:

You can invest a lot into placing info about you in front of your customers, doing it so often that some of them will give you a try.

You can invest a lot into creating an amazing customer experience, so customers rave about you to their friends enough that that some of them will give you a try.

The results are in and I don’t think I have to tell you which engine works better in the long-term. We all want raving fans.

But how do we get our customers to tell others about us?

You have to be the very best solution available. That’s really hard to do if you are trying to be the best for a large, diverse group of people. But it’s actually pretty easy to do if you narrow your focus and customize your offering so that you offer the only solution designed for one niche.

Yes, if you narrow your focus to one group you will give up being a good fit for the many other groups. That can be hard to walk away from. But being one of several good options in a big category is going to mean constantly fighting for attention and fighting to keep your customers.

Even being the second best option means you won’t get many recommendations. Only the very best in any category really benefits from the raving fans bonus.

What if you identified a group that hasn’t been focused on by anyone else in your space? For example, you could go from being a social media marketing company to a social media marketing company that specializes in serving minor league baseball teams.

What would it take to build something just for them?

If this is stressing you out, keep in mind: You don’t have to fire your existing customers. And you can always add another specialized offering after this version has taken off.

Don’t settle for being acceptable to everyone. Be the best to someone specific.