Why You Really Need to Define Your Ideal Client

When you first start offering your service, you’re likely willing to work with anyone and everyone who’s willing to pay for your service. As a result, you end up trying to sell your service to EVERYONE.

Big mistake.

When you try to market yourself to everyone, you end up marketing yourself to no one.

That’s right.

Think about it. Can you think of something that absolutely everyone likes? Probably not. By trying to appeal to EVERYONE’S pain points, you end up being too general and not driving home why YOU’RE the solution to your potential client’s problem.

Potential clients don’t want a “one size fits all” solution. They want a solution that’s tailored to their unique wants and needs.

While it may seem small, it’s super important not to skip the step of defining your ideal client when you’re getting started in your business. Defining your ideal client allows you to design your brand and marketing strategy to appeal to your DREAM clients.

Today, I want to walk you through how to define your ideal client so that you can start marketing yourself more effectively.

What is an Ideal Client?

Before jumping in to defining your ideal client, it’s important to understand what an ideal client actually is. In short, an ideal client is a specific person who finds the solution to all their problems in the services or products that your business provides.

An ideal client is also a client that you LOVE to work with. They’re someone you’re excited to help and whose problem is EXACTLY what you specialize in fixing.

Why Do I Need an Ideal Client?

You may be wondering why it’s so important to define your ideal client. After all, doesn’t marketing to a wide range of people mean you’ve got more of a chance of landing a client?

Unfortunately, having too broad a target audience can actually hurt your business and make it more difficult to attract high-quality clients. If you don’t know WHO you’re speaking to, how can you tailor your marketing to them?

I know what you’re probably thinking.

“Won’t I LOSE clients if I narrow my audience?”

Let’s review an example.

Imagine you’re a dietitian who needs a graphic designer for your private practice website. Would you choose a graphic designer who has “websites” listed as one of the many services they offer, or would you choose a web designer who specifically has experience designing high-converting websites for dietitians?

Defining your ideal client allows you to market to (and land!) best-fit, high-quality, DREAM clients that are willing to pay premium prices to work with a specialist with their particular kind of problem.

By defining and marketing to your ideal client, you become a magnet because they feel like you truly “get them.”

Identifying Your Ideal Client

While you might think that identifying your ideal client starts with them, it actually starts with you.

Ask yourself the following questions:

·      What am I most passionate about in life?

·      What inspires me?

·      What types of people do I already enjoy working with?

·      What are my strengths?

·      What sets me apart from my competitors?

By taking the time to think about what gets you excited in your business, you’ll start to get a sense of what kind of people you enjoy working with.

Next, you’ll want to dig deeper on WHO you want to help, as well as their habits, values, fears, and goals.

Who

·      What is their gender?

·      What is their age?

·      What is their marital status?

·      Do they have kids?

·      What do they do for work?

·      What’s their income?

·      Where do they live?

Habits

·      What do they Google?

·      What kind of information do they search for?

·      What social media platforms do they hang out on?

Values

·      What are they passionate about?

·      What do they value?

Fears

·      What are they struggling with?

·      How does their problem make them feel?

Goals

·      What does their ideal outcome look like?

·      What are their expectations with hiring your service?

·      What’s stopped them from seeking a solution up until now?

·      What’s holding them back from achieving their goals?

By asking yourself these questions, you can start to paint a picture of the specific person you want to help. Don’t just think about the answers to these questions – type them up or write them out to really cement it in your mind.

Final Thoughts

Defining your ideal client can seem like an overwhelming task, but it’s not a step you should skip when building your business.

And don’t just stop at defining your ideal client. It’s important to take that information and incorporate it into your marketing strategy so that you can attract the RIGHT people to your business.

Not sure where to start? Download my free Ideal Client Workbook or book a free 30-minute discovery call to talk about how we can work together to attract your ideal client using search engine optimized (SEO) blogging and email marketing.