Know your strengths, capture your market.

The days of businesses trying to be “jacks of all trades” are over. Companies are no longer limited by time and space – that is, by a physical location or by “normal business hours.” Many of us who have been attached to a laptop or Blackberry (or both) at all hours for years now are already well aware of this reality. New technology and marketing tools can be leveraged to get brands to a specific audience anytime, anyplace.

Add to this the pace of entrepreneurship the world has been experiencing for the last several years, and the marketplace begins to get overwhelmingly cluttered. Your challenge is to break through that with the power of your brand. So, how do you compete with the vast number of businesses that are trying to grab the same (often distracted) customers? Become more focused. Use simplicity, clarity, specialization and one core, purpose driven message. Find your niche.

Finding your niche should not be difficult. Start the process by examining your business and finding the area in which you are the most effective, that resonates the most with your customers. Ask yourself what you like to do, what you are passionate about and what you are good at. What projects do you like? What do you do the most of? (Hopefully these two are the same.) What is most profitable for your business? Is there a subsection of the market that you perform most of your services for?

This formula works no matter what your industry, product or service. Trying to take on too many tasks or perform too many services at best dilutes your message and at worst creates a brand catastrophe.

Take, for example, Precious Moments Caskets. Yes, that is a real brand extension. Innocent images, children’s figurines, symbols of youth and childhood, just are not the same when printed on the silk lining of a coffin.

But, creepy factor aside, the biggest problem with Precious Moments Caskets is that coffins have nothing to do with the brand’s core values. In fact, they are the antithesis of the youthful figurines that are dedicated to marking important childhood landmarks. If your brand is about innocence and youth, it’s a good idea to try and keep death out of it.

When planning your brand development, do not make the same mistake and start wandering off into areas that have nothing to do with your values and previous successes. Once you know your niche, stick to it. Define one simple, distinct, memorable brand message and market it across as many different media outlets as you can. This kind of aggressive cross-media marketing is crucial to success in your niche, and to the overall success of your brand.