In 2022, target markets are out and ideal clients are essential! It’s no longer enough to just broadly define a target market. Today you need to drill down to who your ideal client is and understand what they like/dislike, what they read, where they go, what they do, and what motivates them to enter a keyword into a search engine that will take them directly to you.
Before starting a business and building your marketing strategies, you have to know who to promote your business to. If you skip this step, you might miss engaging with the very people who matter to your business the most, your ideal clients.
Your marketing message, brand, and core values should line up with your ideal client’s values. If you haven’t invested the time to identify your ideal client, all your marketing efforts will be wasted on people who won’t value your brand and aren’t likely to do business with you.
It’s imperative to learn why knowing your ideal client is the essential ingredient of your marketing strategy that your business cannot afford to ignore. Read on to understand how to identify who your ideal client is, comprehend their wants, why they need you, and how to find them.
What is an Ideal Client?
An ideal client symbolizes the individual who needs your product or services the most, and who your marketing strategies should be targeting. Your ideal client is comprised of a specific demographic, not a broad client base.
To identify your ideal client, you have to know who they are, what they want or need, where they are located, and the reason your ideal client needs you. In an earlier blog, we discussed building a client persona. This is a vital first step to understanding your ideal client, and if you haven’t already done so, now would be the time to do it.
Developing your client persona requires understanding demographics such as age, gender, occupation, family status, and income range to name a few. Evaluating the demographics of your target audience helps you understand how to present your content in a way that will appeal to your ideal client. Then you need to define their values, beliefs, lifestyle, and buying traits. Through market research, you’ll learn about your ideal client’s likes, dislikes, lifestyle, habits, and opinions. Drilling down all of these areas of these will reveal your ideal client.
Taking all that into consideration, let’s take a deeper look at how to identify who your ideal client is.
Who Is Your Ideal Client?
Business owners operate their companies for years without truly knowing who their ideal client is, questioning why the sales process always remains so hard and why it never seems to flow. This is why it can be a truly transformational moment when they first discover who their ideal client is and identify their true marketplace niche.
You might be thinking that this constricts your market and the number of suitable clients. In actuality, it allows you to attract an audience that truly values what you do. The better you come to know your ideal client, the simpler it becomes to create content that speaks directly to them. When a potential client feels like you “get them,” your offer becomes so much more appealing.
Here are some things you can do to identify who your ideal client is and how your product or service can help him/her achieve their goal:
- Look At Your Current Client Base – Invest some time in understanding the people you currently work with. Look at their gender, age bracket, industry, location, and income level. Ask them what attracted them to working with you. It’s okay to exclude clients you don’t enjoy working with. They probably aren’t your ideal client and in the long run, your business will be better off without these kinds of clients.
- Consider Their Habits – Dig deeper. By understanding where they are and what they are looking for, you are more easily able to reach them. Ask yourself things like what your ideal client reads, what they Google, what information are they searching for, are they primarily on a mobile device or on a computer, and where do they hang out (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)?
- Identify Their Goals – Understanding what your ideal client desires to accomplish is valuable information to have when creating marketing content that will reach your ideal client where they are at.
- Understand Why Your Ideal Client Makes Purchases – People make purchases for a number of reasons. Often it comes down to having a desire they would like to be fulfilled or a problem that they need to be solved. If you can identify a challenge your ideal client faces and provide them with a resolution, it’s likely you will find yourself in high demand.
- Identify How Your Ideal Client Makes Their Purchase Decisions – People make purchases in different ways. It’s important that you understand your ideal client’s purchasing habits to ensure they have the right resources to make a purchase from you. Remember, not all people (even your ideal client) make purchase decisions the same way. Some purchase impulsively. Some take the time to research, read reviews, and look at alternative options within the market.
- Who Would You Want to Work With – If you enjoy working with someone the process is often much easier and the results attained are often much better. You want to be excited about who you work with and your ideal client will feel the same way. Ask yourself: If you could work with one demographic every day, who would it be? What would you help them do and what value could you deliver?
Believe it or not, a simple client survey with a value-added free offer can be an easy way to find out what you need to know.
Why Your Ideal Client Needs You
Once you’ve done your market research, created your client persona, and identified your ideal client, you can use the information to create content that resonates with your ideal client. Your ideal client will feel a deeper connection to your brand because your marketing messages will speak to them and their needs.
When ascertaining the needs of your ideal client, you should look at it from a variety of perspectives; emotional, physical, mental, and social. You’re not just persuading them to buy something from you. You’re delivering a solution to their need or problem.
You want your ideal client to have an emotional connection with your product or service. To do this, you have to make sure they understand the benefits of choosing your business and how it aligns with their needs, values, and perspectives.
In Summary
When crafting your marketing messages, it’s vitally important today to understand your ideal client. When you connect to their needs, values, beliefs, and what motivates them you can create a bond of loyalty to your brand. This is why trying to be all things to all people is an outdated, and ultimately unsustainable, business practice.
Your marketing message, brand, and core values need to be in alignment with your ideal client. If you are promoting your business to the wrong crowd, you are not maximizing your marketing efforts. And, in today’s competitive marketplace, that’s a mistake your business cannot afford to make.
At Obsessed With Success, we have the experience you need to identify your ideal client and craft a unique marketing strategy to reach them and help them connect to your brand. To show you that we have the “right stuff” to help you we’re offering you a free, no-obligation, marketing strategy session. Book a free, no-obligation strategy session today and let’s get you connected to your ideal client!
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