When I invited "everyone" to my bar event, 12 people showed up.
When I invited only "regulars who like jazz," 80 people showed up in a 25-seat room.
Same bar. Same night. Completely different result.
What I Did Differently
The first event, I promoted to everyone I knew. Posted flyers everywhere. Told every customer.
12 showed up.
For the second event, I got specific. I had 30 regulars who always stayed late on Thursdays. Jazz fans. I called them personally β not texted, called β and said: "This Thursday is for you. Don't tell everyone."
The exclusivity did something. Those 30 each brought someone.
80 people. Fire code violations. Best night of the year.
What STP Actually Is
Two years ago, I learned the marketing term for what I'd done by accident: STP.
Segmentation: Divide your market into groups with shared characteristics.
Targeting: Choose one group to focus on. Not "everyone." One group.
Positioning: Design your message to speak directly to that group's specific needs and desires.
I'd segmented (regulars vs. casual customers), targeted (jazz fans who come on Thursdays), and positioned (exclusive, personal, "this is for you").
Most small businesses skip segmentation entirely. They aim at "everyone who might like our product" and wonder why nothing lands.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Targeting feels wrong at first. You're deliberately excluding people.
But exclusion is the point.
When you speak to everyone, you're relevant to no one. When you speak to one specific person's situation, everyone in that situation feels seen.
The 80 people who showed up that night weren't all jazz fans. But they were all friends of jazz fans. The targeting created a word-of-mouth chain that a general invitation never would have.
How I Use This Now
I built Growl because I saw this pattern failing in small businesses everywhere.
Most restaurant owners, salon owners, and contractors market the same way: post something generic on Instagram, hope someone sees it, repeat.
Growl uses STP under the hood. When you answer 5 questions about your business, it segments your market, identifies your highest-value customer type, and positions your weekly content to speak directly to them.
The output isn't generic content. It's content written for the specific person most likely to become your loyal customer.
Free to try β no signup, no credit card.
π growl-app.vercel.app
Built solo, Kanagawa, Japan. Former bar and restaurant owner. Day 365.
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