I ask people all the time, “Who is your ideal customer?” or “Who do you want to buy what you’re selling?” And, too often, their answer is some version of “everyone.”
Marketing success is all about focus
I get it, we all want everyone to like us. Not much has changed from grade school!
I'll be honest with you. You will never sell to everyone nor will everyone ever like you.
That’s the truth. But that’s ok! You shouldn’t aim to sell to everyone.
If you try making your marketing be everything to everyone, you'll end up not being anything to anyone.
A message with universal appeal is going to be watered down and uninspiring. And you don’t want people to feel indifferent. You want them fired up about your business. Your message should be powerful and clear. When your ideal customer hears it, they assume that you’re talking to them and only them.
Think of the sun. It produces 386 septillion watts of energy. That's 386 with 24 zeros after it! When you stand outside in the sun, you feel a bit warm.
An industrial laser produces 5 watts of energy. Those 5 watts can cut a diamond. See the difference? It’s all about focus. Focus your message on a few people. It’s way more powerful and effective than one that’s trying to light up the whole world.
In your quest to be likeable, you’re going to have to be unlikeable.
To attract the perfect clients, you’re going to need to exclude people who don't fit. Any message that strongly attracts one type of person will repel a different type of person. That's the goal.
Where business owners go wrong is that they're afraid to repel anyone. This comes from a belief that they should be hustling for every customer they could possibly get. In their effort to broaden their appeal, they extinguish the spark that their ideal client is responding to.
Think of it this way.
Your perfect client is the bull's eye on a dartboard. Your marketing is the dart. When you try to hit the bull's eye, you're going to end up hitting the parts of the dartboard all around the bull's eye, too.
So go ahead. Be exclusionary. Talk directly to your perfect clients. Don't worry about the others. If they want to buy from you, they will.
Your best prospects look a lot like your best clients
So how do you find your perfect new client?
Clone your perfect current clients.
Think about your best 5 to 10 clients. Write down everything you can think of about them.
- Capture their demographic profiles (Age, ethnicity, geography, education level, vocation, socioeconomic status, etc).
- If you sell to businesses, capture basic business profile information (industry, size, etc).
- Describe your clients' personalities
- Describe the type of problems you help them solve
- Write down the outcomes they want
Once you've done that, look for similarities. I guarantee you'll find some.
There's your ideal client.
Now you know what to go look for. So go get your (laser-focused) message out to them.
Get out from behind your keyboard
Speaking of getting your message to them, are you getting out there? Be active and go directly to your clients. Scope out local events or spaces where you’re confident that you will find some of your niche. Work a room and get to know your clients in person. The world is one big networking opportunity. Use it!
I tell my clients all the time the best way to get to know your client is to, well, get to know your clients.
In-person is always better than virtual.
Try to make genuine connections and get face time with potential clients. You will have better results talking with someone in real life, because it's a two-way exchange. Pay attention during these interactions. Body language and verbal cues will give you a lot of valuable feedback on how your message is or isn’t hitting with your potential audience. Use that feedback to hone your message and your ideal client.
Want to talk about finding your perfect client? Book a consult with us.