Why you need an ideal client profile
Persona or profile – whatever you choose to call it your business needs to have a clear understanding of who wants what you’ve got. And what are the benefits to this individual by choosing what you have on offer?
After speaking to a potential client this week and hearing them say “I have no clue who wants what I have” I am inspired to write this post.
You would think that it is fairly obvious that this is something business owners would consider prior to developing a product or service – clearly this is not always the case. You may be or you may know someone who has never looked at this idea. Make sure you keep reading or send this blog to that person you know. You could be losing sales by not doing this simple task.
A client profile gives you a focused sales strategy. It tells you who is a good prospect and who is not. From here you can create marketing materials that are relevant to only your ideal clients. Thus saving you time, money, and effort. And if you do all this before you even get your business started you will know if your product/service is, in fact, a good and viable idea.
Where to start
Demographics – age, gender, ethnicity, income, mortgage, homeowner/renter, marital status, geographic location, children, vehicle type, occupation, education level etc.
Psychographics – mindset and attitude, beliefs and opinions, aspirations, goals, dreams and wishes, Interests (parenting tips, pet ownership, travel, wealth building, weight loss), activities (hobbies, books, stores, restaurants, TV shows, movies, how they spend their free time), personality and values, lifestyle and priorities, how they spend their money, worries and fears etc.
Behaviours – what types of email they open most, what blog posts are most read, what email subject lines perform the best, what social media posts have the most shares. Analytics data to identify what action, email, blog post, sales page, ad, etc. triggered an actual sale. Real feedback from clients and customers about their experience with your brand, products, and services, both online and off. When sales have increased and why, time of year, holiday, special promotion. Figure out why repeat customers continue to buy and what motivated new customers to buy from you. Who uses your product/service the most, how to do they use it when do they use it (time of day, day of the week, frequency). How do potential clients and customers gather information before making a purchase from your business? How are they affected by price, quality, convenience etc?
What does a day in the life of your ideal client look like? Be as detailed as possible.
Make a list
If you have clients already, who are your 5 or 10 favourites and why!
- Profitability
- Great payers
- Repeat purchasers
- Fulfilling work
- Demographic
- Psychographics
- Behaviours
- Feedback
- Purchasing decisions
- Challenges
Think about the future
- How will you gain these ideal clients or more of the favourite clients mentioned above?
- What will be the journey they take towards doing business with you?
- How can you meet and combat any objections they may have towards doing business with you?
- Why would they aspire to do business with you?
Now forget generalised marketing and speak directly to your ideal client. Do not try to appeal to everyone just appeal to your ideal clients. Your new client profile is powerful and the work you do following the creation of it will be successful. From here you can explain to anyone who your ideal client is and if you are outsourcing your marketing it makes the conversation very easy.
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