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What Is 'Addressability'?

Addressability is a measure of how easy it is to get in touch with people who might want what you're offering. It's far better to focus on marketing to an addressable audience than a non-addressable one, and if you choose to serve an addressable market before committing to an offer, it’ll be significantly easier to market your offer when it's ready to sell.

Josh Kaufman Explains 'Addressability'

A good salesman, as the old (and politically incorrect) saying goes, can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. It’s a cliché, but there’s some truth to it: Inuit who live above the Arctic Circle use insulated refrigerators to keep their food from freezing in sub-zero temperatures.

The real barrier isn’t need, it’s finding these customers in the first place: making the sale involves traveling thousands of miles through brutally wild terrain just to get their attention, let alone land a sale and deliver the product.

Addressability is a measure of how easy it is to get in touch with people who might want what you’re offering. A highly addressable audience can be reached quickly and easily. A non-addressable audience can only be reached with extreme hardship, or isn’t Receptive and doesn’t want to be reached at all.

Yoga is a good example of a highly addressable market. It's relatively easy to find places where people are already paying attention to yoga-related information: studios, popular magazines like Yoga Journal, conferences, Web sites, etc. Yoga is an $8-billion industry worldwide, and you can tap into some or all of these outlets to help yogis and yoginis lean more about what you have to offer.

Sensitive or embarrassing topics tend to have low addressability, even if there’s a huge need. Chronic medical conditions are a good example: it’s difficult to find and reach a large group of people who suffer from an uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing condition like psoriasis or ulcerative colitis. People suffering from these conditions typically don’t gather in the same place or read the same things, and many will avoid being publicly identified as sufferers by joining organizations, so it’s hard to find and talk to them directly.

Doctors, on the other hand, are more addressable: they have publicly listed addresses and phone numbers, and are willing and able to meet with drug company representatives about new offerings. Since each doctor sees many patients and acts as a gatekeeper for prescription medications, it’s clear why pharmaceutical companies spend so much time and money marketing to MDs.

The Internet has dramatically improved the addressability of many markets. People who have a sensitive medical condition are highly likely to search for information anonymously on the Internet, which is addressable via advertising. Blogs, discussion boards, and databases like WebMD.com make it easier for people who don’t know each other to share their experiences and knowledge, making these low addressability markets more accessible than ever before.

Addressability is a huge concern when developing a new offer. If you have a choice, it's far better to focus on building something for an addressable audience than it is to go around and hand-sell or try to address an audience that is not naturally addressable, or doesn't want to be addressed.

If you choose to serve an addressable market before committing to an offer, it’ll be significantly easier to market your offer without breaking the bank.

Questions About 'Addressability'

• What do your probable purchasers pay active attention to?
• Do they congregate in groups you have (or can obtain) access to in a quick and cost-effective way?

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"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason."

Jerry Seinfeld, comedian

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https://personalmba.com/addressability/

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