Narrow-focus Your Beam

Most markets today aren't competitive. They're noisy.

AI has made content cheap. Everyone can sound polished now. Polished isn't the same as clear, and clear is what's become rare.

So the question I'm asked most often isn't how do we get more attention. It's how do we stand out when everyone looks and sounds the same.

Here's the principle I teach inside the Lighthouse:

Narrow the beam to widen the reach.

A lighthouse doesn't illuminate the whole coastline at once. It throws one beam, precisely, and that's exactly what makes it visible from miles out. Brands work the same way. Try to be relevant to everyone and you become invisible to anyone.

The easy advice here is “find your niche.” That's not wrong, but it's not the whole truth either - I should know, because my own consulting work doesn't fit it.

My clients include universities, orthopaedic surgeons, structural engineers, charitable foundations, software companies, haircare brands, global insurers, hotel groups, financial and wealth management firms, sustainable tourism organisations, cities, and tiny local start-ups. If “niche” meant industry, I'd have none.

What I'm specific about isn't who I serve. It's how I serve them, and the outcome I deliver every time: a clear, compelling Brand DNA. That's my narrow beam. Everything else - the industries, the company sizes, the geographies - sits inside it.

So before you chase a narrower audience, ask a different question first: is it the audience that needs narrowing, or the promise?

A simple formula, borrowed from the “Only” school of positioning:

We are known by (a specific audience) For solving (specific pain) By delivering (a specific outcome) Thanks to our unique (specific approach).

Fill that in honestly and you'll see immediately where you're still trying to be everything to everyone.

Specificity isn't a limitation. It's the thing that makes you findable.

Where is your beam currently too wide to be seen?

Onwards, Peter

P.S. — If you want to pressure-test your own positioning, this is exactly what we do inside the new Brand DNA Builder, part of the CBO Masterclass discovery process. More on that soon.