Does your marketing help bring in truckloads of new clients? Would you like to get more engagement from your customers and win more business?
Think about your marketing messages: Do you actually know who you are targeting? If you said “everyone”, you ‘re probably wasting valuable time and money chasing the wrong crowd. Instead of trying to market to everyone with generic messages, you’re more likely to see results if you narrow your focus and target a specific group of clients. To achieve this, your marketing message needs to resonate with your audience, as if you are speaking directly to the individual, which motivates them to buy from you. You want your prospect to read your marketing and say “Yes, that’s me you’re talking to. I need your help. I’m ready to buy from you!”
Why Identify your Ideal Clients?
By getting clear on who your ideal clients are, you can communicate value to them, making their purchasing decision less about price and more about how you can help solve their problem. This makes them a hot prospect, who is more likely to be ready to buy.
So, who is your ideal client and how do you target them? You can start by creating an Ideal Client Profile (ICP).
What is an Ideal Client Profile?
An ICP is the collation of detailed information about your ideal clients, such as their wants, needs and habits. This information will help you to address the clients “pain points”, with the aim of increasing engagement and sales. It can also enable you to identify and work with a specific group of people who you want to work with, and can help you to develop future products or services which directly serve their needs.
You can just start with a basic profile, which can be revised and updated on an ongoing basis.
How to gather the information
If you have an established business, you can ask your customers for their information through a survey – either in person or online. There are several free online tools, such as Survey Monkey or Survey Planet, which are ideal for this purpose.
You can also take a close look at your top 10 clients – the ones who bring in the most income and/or who you prefer to deal with. Do they share common attributes, such as location, profession, interests or marital status? How did they become your client – did you pursue them, did they come to you or were they referred to you?
If your business is new, think of a friend or a number of people who epitomise the type of clients you want to work with. Create an imaginary person from a combination of these traits.
What you may need to ask
The information you need to know will vary between businesses. Make a list of things you believe are important to you and your interaction with clients from the prompts below.
- What are their wants, needs, interests, fears, concerns, desires, hopes, dreams, motivations, short and long term goals, challenges, problem to solve?
- List the things that keep them awake at night
- What do they expect from your company and your product or service?
- How are they using your product?
- What do they like/dislike about your product or service?
- Nail your point of difference
- Find out what influences their buying decisions
- What influences them to favour one product or service over another?
- How much time do they have available to research and make a purchasing decision?
- What are their demographics? Age, gender, income, marital status, job, level of education, life stage, etc.
- Describe their behaviour – likes, dislikes, sports, hobbies, etc.
- Location – where do they live, work, spend weekends
- What do they read – online / offline
- What do they search online?
Include any other questions or information which is relevant to your business.
Once you’ve gathered all the information, you can compile your ICP. Depending on your range of products or services, you may need multiple ICPs. Set out an individual profile for each of them, giving them a fictitious name, together with a profile photo (online photo libraries are ideal for this), and a detailed description.
Targeting your Ideal Clients
Now that you know who you’re targeting, you can create a specific marketing initiative which addresses the needs of your ideal client. This will have a stronger impact than any generic campaign ever could.
Your new marketing message could address the ICP’s pain points or a problem they wish to solve, it can express how your product or service can help the client and provide a specific call to action which speaks directly to them.
Ideally, your ideal clients will have common interests, problems and challenges to overcome. When this is the case, your business is able to be very precise in addressing the customer’s needs and can quickly become known as an expert in your particular niche.
By targeting your ideal clients, you’re much more likely to engage with them and, in turn, you greatly increase your chances to win more business!
Hi, I’m Lyndall Guinery-Smith, The Professional Writer. I have a strong background in small business management and I love to write copy which attracts and engages your customers – improving your bottom line. I happily work with clients all round Australia. Email me to arrange an obligation-free discussion about your latest project.
