Are you Attracting Your Ideal Client?
Are you attracting Negative Nancy’s or Ghosting Gina’s? You know those red-flag waving clients? Perhaps you need to visit (or re-visit) your Ideal Client Avatar?
Identifying your Ideal Client Avatar (ICA) is one of the most crucial steps to helping you attract the right kind of clients, yet it’s a step many new business owners don’t think about when their first getting started. More often, many business owners forget to re-visit their ideal client on a regular basis. Your ICA will evolve over time. My ideal client today certainly isn’t what it was 6 years ago.
Think about this for a moment: Do you think the pain points would be the same for these 3 client types? A Bachelor vs. Stay-at-home-mother vs. Empty Nesters
Certainly not.
So would you write the same copy on your website (or social media, welcome kit etc.)?
No. You wouldn’t.
When you identify your ideal client in crystal clear terms, you start to build a brand that is attractive to that person.
You’re going to get into their hearts and minds. You’ll understand their lifestyle, desires and dreams.
Then…
Your instagram posts are going to talk to them.
Your website is going to talk to them.
All of your collateral is going to talk to them.
“But Kate - I’m afraid if I get too specific, I’ll be leaving out potential clients”?
Keep these 2 things in mind:
Not every client you agree to work with will be a Unicorn Client. It simply means you’ll be in a better position to attract the best possible client.
Your Ideal client will evolve over time. You can (and should) revise your ICA over time as your business grows.
I know it’s hard to imagine when you’re first starting out, but the best projects and outcomes happen when we are working with someone who trusts you and is excited to work with you. Wasting your time on a project you can’t (or don’t want to) photograph or with a client that is mediocre about working with you, spells disaster. I believe it’s better to leave the door open for someone who is a better fit.
How to Identify your Ideal Client
We are going to get very specific. Your ICA will even have a name. It’s an exercise you’ll want to spend time on. Let’s quickly look at the kinds of things we want to identify and what questions we want to ask about our ICA.
#1 Who is your client? Write the details of your ideal client’s life in a snapshot. I find this most helpful to write in “story” form. For example: “Laurel is a 42-year-old art professor. She has 2 adult daughters and enjoys cross-country skiing…” You get the idea.
Name: Give your ICA a name.
Demographics: Age, Location, Income, Education, Career level/type
Family Life: Single, Married and expecting, Young family, Empty nesters, Retirees
What do they do for fun? Athletics, gardening, travel, cooking, entertaining, etc.
What does his/her social life look like: Well-connected, home-bodies, socialites, small groups, big entertainers
Style: Where do they like to shop? How do they like to shop (online or in-person)?
Who do they follow on social media?
What are his/her pain points? Now that we have a picture of who this person is, we want to turn her reason for reaching out to you into a story. Here we will apply the Storybrand™ method by Don Miller. I highly recommend his book, “Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen”
This exercise is just a small feature of his process. Complete this exercise to craft a bigger picture of your ideal client and his/her needs. (Note: I use the pronouns “Her” and “She”, but if your ideal client is a “he/him”, or “they/their”, just replace your ideal pronoun)
What is her biggest pain point?
What is she frustrated about?
What is she afraid of that has kept her from taking action sooner?
Her biggest desire is to…
What she really wants is to…
What she really needs is…
She really wants to feel…
Once the home/room/space is transformed my client will feel…
Once complete, the first step I encourage you to do, is start with your homepage of your website. Ask yourself, “Am I talking directly to my client’s pain points?”
Start there. Then you can work on other web pages.
Finally, print this out and save it in your quick reference “Business Binder”. Whenever you’re writing a blog post or social media post, write it directly as if you’re talking directly to your ICA.
