Why Trying to Reach Everyone Is Costing You Customers

Local business marketing gets so much easier when you stop trying to convince your entire town that you're the right choice. That sounds backwards, I know, because somewhere along the way we've all been taught that more people equals more opportunity. But if your website is trying to appeal to everyone, there's a very good chance it's actually convincing no one.

Today I want to show you why narrowing your message isn't about shrinking your business. It's about making the right people feel like they've finally found exactly who they've been looking for.

The Website That Could Belong to Anyone

I see this all the time with local business owners. Someone will tell me business has slowed down, that they're getting traffic but not many enquiries, or that people keep asking about price before they've even had a proper conversation.

Then I land on their website, and within about ten seconds I can usually see what's happening. It's not because they're bad at what they do or because their website looks bad. And it definitely has nothing to do with work ethic, because small and local business owners are incredibly hard working.

It's because their messaging is trying so desperately not to exclude anyone that it ends up giving nobody a reason to choose them.

That's a very different problem. It's also one that's very easy to fix once you see it.

The Photographer Who Photographs Everything

Now I want to tell you about a photographer, because this is one of my favourite examples.

Picture a small-town photographer who takes pictures of weddings, newborns, families, headshots, and corporate events, basically anything that involves another human standing somewhere in front of a camera. If you ask her why she offers all those services, she'll probably say something perfectly reasonable: "I don't want to turn work away." Most local businesses feel exactly the same.

But you open her homepage and the headline says: "Capturing Life's Special Moments." The subheading says something like: "Professional photography services for weddings, families, newborns, headshots and events, serving [town] and surrounding areas."

To be clear, there's nothing technically wrong with that copy. It isn't misleading or badly written. It's just kind of forgettable. If I removed the business name from that page, you could swap it onto almost any photographer's website in Ontario and nobody would notice.

That's a problem. When your copy could belong to anyone, it doesn't give people a reason to remember you.

You're Competing for Attention Before Anything Else

That's where so much local marketing falls apart. Business owners usually think they're competing on price. Or on experience. Or on who has the nicest website.

Most of the time, they're competing for attention first. Before someone compares your prices, before they read your reviews, before they decide whether to call you, your words have to make them stop scrolling. If they don't stop, none of the rest matters.

That's why I always say your homepage isn't there to describe your business. It's there to make the right person think, "Oh, this sounds like it's for me." Those are two completely different jobs. One informs. The other connects. And connection is what gets people to fill out your form, email you, or call you.

Two Visitors, One Generic Headline

So let's go back to our photographer. Imagine two people land on her website on the same afternoon.

The first is a bride who's been searching for someone to photograph her wedding. She's looked at six websites already, and they all start sounding the same after a while.

The second is a brand-new mom who hasn't slept properly in weeks and wants someone she trusts to capture those first few days with her baby.

Now imagine both of them arrive on a homepage that says "Capturing Life's Special Moments." Does either one of them feel particularly understood? Not really.

The bride isn't looking for someone who captures "special moments." She's wondering, "Have you done enough weddings that you'll still get the shot when my flower girl has a complete meltdown halfway down the aisle?"

The new mom isn't thinking about "professional photography services." She's wondering, "Will this person understand that babies don't work to a schedule, that I might look exhausted, and that this session isn't going to look like a Pinterest board?"

Those are completely different emotional questions. Generic copy doesn't answer either of them.

What Happens When She Gets Specific

Now let's imagine our photographer decides she really loves taking pictures of newborns. She still offers weddings if people ask. She still takes family photos. She hasn't changed her business at all. She changes her homepage instead.

Now the headline says: "Newborn Photography for Parents Who Want the Real Thing, Not Just the Cute Thing." The supporting copy explains that she photographs the exhausted, chaotic, beautiful first weeks of life without rushing families or forcing picture-perfect moments. Immediately, every new parent reading that page starts thinking, "This person gets it."

Now let's try the wedding version: "Wedding Photography for Couples Who Want Their Day Documented, Not Directed." Then she explains that she isn't going to spend two hours pulling them away from their guests to manufacture moments. She's going to quietly document the day as it unfolds and hand them back memories they didn't even realize were happening.

Again, a very specific person suddenly feels understood. Neither homepage is objectively better. They're simply clearer. And clarity is one of the most underrated parts of local business marketing.

Clarity Comes From What You Choose Not to Say

Most business owners think clarity comes from explaining more. But clarity usually comes from deciding what not to say. That's where people get nervous.

The first objection I hear is: "But I don't want to turn customers away." I completely understand that feeling, because it seems logical. If your business serves lots of different people, surely your website should mention every single service you provide. Except that's usually the exact thing making the website weaker.

Niching Your Message Isn't the Same as Niching Your Business

This brings me to probably the biggest misconception I see. Niching your message is not the same as niching your business. Those are two entirely different decisions.

Your business can absolutely continue serving multiple audiences. Your marketing simply chooses which audience gets the microphone today.

If someone asks that photographer to take family portraits because their neighbour recommended her, is she suddenly going to refuse? Of course not. She'll probably book the session. The website wasn't created to explain every possible way someone could hire her. The website was created to attract the people actively searching for exactly what she wants more of. That's a huge difference.

Marketing is attraction. Operations are delivery. They don't have to be identical.

The Question to Ask Instead

One of the easiest ways to improve your messaging strategy is to stop asking, "How do I describe everything I do?" and start asking, "Who do I most want to hear this sentence?"

Because when you know exactly who you're talking to, writing becomes easier and your headlines become stronger. Even your testimonials become more persuasive, because they reinforce one story instead of six different ones all competing for attention.

That's when local marketing starts feeling much less like shouting into the void and much more like having a conversation with someone who's already looking for exactly what you offer.

If you're wondering whether your own homepage is trying to squeeze five different audiences into one headline, that's exactly the kind of thing I look out for in my Website Copy Audit. Sometimes it only takes a handful of changes before your messaging starts doing the heavy lifting.

"But What If They Leave?"

Before we wrap up, there's one more idea I want to leave you with, because this is usually the point where people are still feeling a little uncomfortable. They're thinking, "But what if someone lands on my website, realizes I'm talking about someone else, and leaves?"

My response is always the same: good. And I don't mean that sarcastically. I mean it because that person has just saved themselves time, and they've saved you time too.

One of the biggest shifts you can make as a local business owner is realizing that your marketing isn't supposed to convince every visitor to become a customer. Its job is to help the right customer recognize themselves. That's a very different goal.

Think back to our photographer. A parent looking for newborn photography lands on the wedding version of the website and clicks away. Was that a lost customer? Probably not. They weren't looking for that experience in the first place.

But imagine the opposite. A bride lands on a website that speaks directly to the kind of wedding day she wants, reassures her without saying the obvious things, and sounds like someone who has already done dozens of weddings. She doesn't have to work nearly as hard to imagine hiring that photographer. The decision suddenly feels lower risk.

That's what good messaging does. It removes uncertainty.

Vague Marketing Loses Customers Quietly

The irony is that most businesses believe broad marketing is the safer choice. It feels safer to leave every door open. But vague marketing is usually where businesses lose customers.

Nobody emails you to say, "I left because your homepage didn't make me feel like you understood me." They just keep scrolling. You never know they were there. That's why this matters so much.

When people ask me how to market a local business more effectively, they're often expecting a conversation about advertising budgets, social media algorithms, or which platform they should spend time on next. Those things have their place. But if your message isn't clear, more traffic simply means more people arriving at a page that doesn't give them a compelling reason to stay.

Fix the words first. Then send more people to them. The return on your marketing gets a whole lot better when your website is doing its share of the work.

Description vs. Positioning

People are remarkably good at finding businesses they trust. Your job is simply to make it obvious who you're best positioned to help. That's the difference between describing your business and positioning your business. One fills space. The other builds confidence.

If you'd like another set of eyes on your messaging, that's exactly what my Website Copy Audit is for. I'll review your homepage and key messaging, show you where your copy is blending into the background, explain why it isn't converting as well as it could, and give you practical recommendations you can implement right away. Sometimes the biggest improvement doesn't come from redesigning your website. It comes from changing a handful of sentences.

You'll find the link in the show notes.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I hope this changes the way you think about local business marketing, because once you stop trying to be the right choice for everyone, you give yourself the chance to become the obvious choice for someone. That's where meaningful growth begins.

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If you're a local, service-based business owner who's done great work but struggling to put it into words, Market This is the podcast that helps you fix that. 

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