Is ‘fishing’ a good metaphor for marketing?

Fishing where the fish are pays off

Many times we have made a simple statement when discussing how to approach marketing planning with a new client: “When you go fishing, it is best to fish where the fish are.” Seems like a no-brainer. So how about we take the metaphor further in approaching planning to marketing?

What this metaphor will illustrate is the difference between just throwing out something to get numbers of respondents — regardless to qualifications — compared to focusing on reaching qualified respondents that are interested in the offer because they are your target market. In other words, fishing where the fish are. In the first example, you don’t know or care if they are a potential customer. You are just glad to put them into your response rate report and hope a