You live in a bubble.
I live in a bubble too.
I actually got a reminder today…
I have planned a marketing experiment for my company.
The short version of this plan is to go after bigger clients.
Our current position is aimed at an entrepreneur, leader, CEO or expert.
We’re helping this very busy person make time for them by placing two executive assistants from North America.
A new practice intends to post an offer to a hiring manager or workforce executive at a company.
In this case, the client is a larger organization, and the person we sell to solves HR problems for the entire company or a department in the company.
For example, we can hire 10 assistants to support 20 people in a department.
Or 100 (if we can scale recruitment and processes) to support 500 people.
With this new offer, our deliveries remain the same – we give people back time. We would do it for more people at once.
But in this case, marketing is different. The person we sell to is different.
This is certainly nothing new. It is common for companies to target larger contracts to grow.
Expanding Your Bubble
The reason I see the bubble I’m working on today is because I’m doing some research.
I wanted to know more about it staffing solutions industry.
Our company operates in this industry (sub-segment), so I was interested in who the really big players were.
Up until this point, my ‘bubble’ consisted of about 30 companies that we were competing with that offered some sort of remote assistants.
I see these companies advertising for the same keywords we do on Google.
Their social media ads target me.
I know these companies because they come across sales calls like the options that potential customers review with us.
I also know these companies from my own research to know their offers, prices, differences, etc.
I even did a deep dive on a few competitors, listening to podcast interviews with their founders to see if I could learn the key tactics they grew by.
The biggest player in this group, based on my research, makes it around 30 million dollars a yearprobably more than when I heard that number a few years ago.
I’m pretty sure none of these competing companies make more than $100 million a year.
Today I learned about a staffing solutions company that works 25 BILLION dollars a year.
When I entered the broader HR solutions market, I expected to find bigger companies, but I had no idea the numbers could be this big.
Since then, I’ve spent hours discovering more staffing solutions companies, reviewing their service offerings, and researching their websites.
It’s been an eye-opener – and exciting, showing that more money is being spent than I previously thought.
Bubbles are dangerous
The thing about bubbles is that you stay inside them by default.
You visit the same sites. Social algorithms provide you with similar content from the same or similar sources.
All are one echo chamber until you deliberately go out.
What’s especially dangerous about being in a bubble is watching what you see and adjusting your expectations to what others are doing.
You think you should advertise as a company or person you compete with or follow.
The problem is that you don’t know what you can’t see.
Take for example the staffing solutions companies I learned about today.
I have never been exposed to their marketing before.
I didn’t even know they existed.
Their marketing is not targeting me. They cannot even advertise using media channels.
Companies can make huge profits from direct assistance and interpersonal relationships.
These methods are not “broadcast”.
You won’t hear about these companies unless you are directly targeted by them, in which case you probably work for a large company yourself.
The media doesn’t care about them because they are in “boring” industries.
We hear about tech companies and tech founders all day.
We see advertising mainly from the mass market consumer goods segment, such as food, entertainment, electronics, automotive, household goods, fashion and other items we use every day.
Staffing solutions are not mass market.
However, everyone needs a job. And every company needs to hire employees.
This is a global need, but not something that is in the public eye.
There are so many companies and industries like this that operate in bubbles that you’ve never seen before.
As an entrepreneur and marketer, I find this FASCINATING.
There are billions of dollars in transactions going on and these companies follow different marketing playbooks.
I’m excited because it shows how big industries really are and how limited our marketing is.
There is always more to do and more people to reach.
However, many give up because the few things they do don’t seem to work.
The world is big and if you have something of value, there are more buyers out there.
You just have to keep reaching new people with new messages.
Don’t stop, keep growing!
Child
