You have decided on your niche and now it is time to decide on an ideal client profile. It can be a challenging task for a new marketer. When you google it, you come up with hundreds of articles and different takes on how to decide who you should be putting your products and services in front of with your fingers crossed that they may purchase from you.
The first thing as a marketer you have to realize and accept is, not everyone is your customer. You don’t want everyone as your customer. If you try to sell to everyone it will only dilute your sales process, and more importantly, it will completely drain your energy.
Let’s jump into the process on narrowing it down so specifically that you have such a precise customer that your content speaks directly to them.
What is an Ideal Client?
An ideal client is:
- You can relate to and connect with emotionally
- Has problems that your product or service will solve
- Is in need of your product or service
- Gives you energy and not drains your energy
Someone You Can Relate to:
The easiest way for me to identify an ideal customer is to look at myself. If I was searching for a product, found it, and bought it then others will too.
People buy from those that they know, like, and trust. The fastest and easiest way to get to reach these three things are to find people with similar interest and characteristics as you. I am a 41 year old hypothyroid, introverted soccer mom that works from home that struggles with low energy, weight gain, and anxiety.
Therefore, I have a lot of things that I can relate to people on. I can relate to other moms, soccer moms, hypothyroid women, women with low energy, women needing to lose weight, or work from home moms. We instantly have something in common so it helps them know me faster. It helps me understand what is going on in their heads faster. Now I am not going to describe my ideal customer as those characteristics. I am going to think about some of the problems that those women may have. See how it could make the know, like, and trust process go faster.
Someone that has problems that your product or service will solve:
The simplest way to figure this out to me is to sit down with a piece of paper and draw three columns. In one column put benefits of your product or service, the middle column list problem, and third who has the problems. Once again, choose the ones that you can relate to or would connect emotionally. Download the ideal client profile worksheet I have created below.
Someone In Need of Your Product or Service:
Just because I can relate to you doesn’t mean that you are in need of my product or service. That is where the table will come in handy. It will help identify who actually needs the products that you want to market.
If you can narrow your ideal customer down so specifically that you are creating the content you with a single person in mind, then you know you have succeeded. When they read your content they should feel like it was written for them.
Once you know who you are marketing to, it’s time for you to start creating content that will speak directly to customers.
The process of identifying your ideal customer is ongoing. It requires that you are continually researching and talking to a lot of people. Identifying that ideal customer will make creating that emotional connection much easier and lead to a lasting relationship
Finally, it is time to get to creating!