Making your business a runaway success is easy. All you have to do is identify your ideal client. Once you’ve found them, it’s simply a case of sitting back and watching the profits roll in from their repeated custom. Just be sure to prepare yourself for the steady stream of new business that will soon flock to your door, based on your ideal client’s recommendation.
Like I said, easy, right?
Actually, hang on. What if you don’t know who your ideal client is? Or you’ve got some idea, but you’ve not quite zeroed in on the golden goose just yet? Or you’re marketing your products and services to everyone, and not sure how to narrow things down?
Well, friend, that’s where the real work begins. Follow me.
Let’s look at your current client base.
Who are they? What industry are they in? What is their age, gender, income? Budget? Where do they live? What (if anything) do your clients have in common? How did they hear about you?
You could send out a client survey to get answers to some of these questions. Granted, not everyone will wish to divulge all this information. So for bonus points (and more replies), consider offering a reward, discount, or prize of some sort. Like I say, this information is incredibly valuable to you, and any marketer you work with. So it’s worth paying for.
Try and establish what problems your clients face, and what your business does to solve them.
The more you know about the problems your clients face, and the value they see in what your business does for them, the better you can tailor your offering to meet their needs.
Don’t be afraid to peep over the digital fence at your competitors’ laundry.
Now, I’m not talking about industrial espionage here. But nobody is going to stop you paying a visit to your competitor’s website. And if they’re offering free content to people who sign up to their mailing list, be sure to check it out. Often, this will give you insight into where they are finding their ideal customers. For example, if they’re offering up a free ‘time management techniques for HR managers’ white paper, it might clue you into the fact that they’ve identified a strong market opportunity in the HR management niche.
List your current clients, and privately rank them from worse to best.
Okay, whisper it, but some clients are better than others. So ask yourself: Who do you get excited about working with? And who can ruin your morning with a one sentence email? Who understands the scope of what you do for them, and who expects all the extras that were never on the table in the first place?
The truth is, we often do our best work when we’re working with people we like. When relationships flow smoothly, going above and beyond is a natural extension of what you offer.
Once you’ve identified your secret list of favourite clients, see if you can spot anything they have in common. Do they share a demographic, industry or other linking factor? If so, you may be onto something. At which point, it’s time to create a strategy for finding more of these people, and convincing them to become your clients.
Let’s find and secure your ideal clients together.
Plenty of people out there will tell you that business success relies on your ability to determine your ideal client. In my decades of marketing experience, I’ve often seen businesses do alright, often for many years, without really understanding their client base. They don’t thrive, but they don’t always fail. What they tend to do is quietly stagnate.
However, when I’ve sat down with these kinds of businesses, and we’ve done the research and analysis, and finally hit on who those ideal clients really are, I’ve seen incredible changes happen. Sales and marketing budgets suddenly go much further, because the focus is there to target specific types of people. And from there, business growth suddenly becomes an achievable goal.
If that situation sounds familiar, then get in touch today.