If you’ve ever tried to define your ideal client, you probably know that it’s:
- Incredibly important for creating and establishing a strong brand.
And; - Possibly the most difficult thing you have to do as a business owner.
I know, you’ve probably heard all of this before. The best way to succeed in business is to pick a niche that you want to service, and that will give you a target market to centre all of your marketing and branding on. But the question I want to ask you today is – have you found yours? Because what I’ve found is that many business owners, even established ones, think they know who their ideal client is, but either they’re targeting the wrong people, or their branding doesn’t match that client.
As a brand alchemist, this makes me a bit sad. And I see it as my mission to help bring out the perfect branding to attract your ideal client every time.
Table of Contents
Choices, Choices, Choices
Choice is an amazing thing. We all love being able to choose our favourite ice cream flavour from a big menu of options, and for customers, being able to look at a number of different suppliers and choose the best fit for them is a fantastic thing. They can be picky about who they choose to work with, and they can select their providers based on who gives the best service and best fits their own ethos.
But for your business, it’s not so great, because you have so much more competition! Now, you have to fight to stand out from the crowd of other businesses, and make each prospect want to choose you from the menu. The best way to do this? Have branding that is designed to speak directly to them, and make you irresistible. The better you know your target client, the easier it will be to create a brand that attracts that kind of client, time and time again, and leaves them spellbound.
But What About You?
This is the bit a lot of designers won’t talk about, but to me, it’s the most important of all, and that’s how your ideal client impacts you.
Not how many leads you get or how much money you make, but the effect the people you work with have on you. Because ultimately you started your business because you love what you do, and you want to do it every day. If you’ve been doing it for a while, then you will have had some good clients and some not so good clients, and by now you’ll have a good idea of what kind of clients you prefer working with. So, what if you could work with only that kind of client?
Because understanding who your ideal client is isn’t just about who your business can help the most. It’s also about who you want to work with, and who will make your inner light shine and bring out your best work. If you know that, then you can really hone your branding and marketing to attract exactly that kind of client for you, every time. Wouldn’t it be great if you could work with your favourite type of client every day? Wouldn’t you be happier, and your business more successful? That’s the power of knowing your ideal client, and good branding.
5 Ingredients for Defining Your Ideal Client
So now the big question is, how do you define your ideal client? While it sounds like a difficult task, the reality is much simpler than you’d think.
Look at Your Current Clients: A great way to start is to look at who you’re already working with. Get out your client list and give each one a grade from A to D based on how much you enjoy working with them. When you’ve done that, look at what you’re A and B clients have in common. What makes you love working with them? Are they in a certain industry? Do they have a certain size of business? Are they a particular type of person? When you realise what brings those customers together, you have a good basis for your ideal client. And it leads nicely into my next point…
Who do You Want to Work With: Ask yourself who you want to work with? This is important, as you’re always going to do your best work when you’re doing something you enjoy, with someone you actually like! So be honest and write down a few points on the type of person you really want to work with, and why.
The Who, What and Why: Now it’s time to get detailed. Once you have this high-level view of your ideal client, it’s time to dig deeper. To do this I like to make a spider diagram, with the client at the centre. From there I write down their habits, their goals, their fears, what kind of things they enjoy, what they struggle with, what they do in their free time, and how they make their buying decisions. Keep going with as much detail as you can about this specific person. This will all be fuel for the branding fire!
What Can You Offer: Finally, look at your business and ask yourself ‘what can I offer this person’? You may find that your current services and products all fit quite nicely, but more often than not you’ll discover some holes. When you do, ask yourself if you could tweak your services slightly to make them more appealing to your new ideal client? Are there any extras you could offer that would give you the edge over the competition when talking to your ideal client? The client really should be at the centre of your services and your branding, so knowing who they are and what they want is a great starting point!
What do I do Now?
Of course, knowing who your ideal client is one thing, but attracting them is another. That’s where your branding comes in. Every element of your business branding, from your logo and website down to your social media and even your email signature, should be branded to appeal to that ideal client. That’s a lot to work through, but it’s worth it when that one ideal client on your books turns into two, three, four and more.
At Infinity Creative, I start every new client journey by digging down into who their ideal client is, with some workbooks and exercises to help out. This gives me a starting point to create branding that really speaks to that ideal client, and makes you absolutely irresistible to them. With my help, we can cast the perfect branding spell that will bring you only your ideal client, every time. If that’s something you want, then we definitely need to have a chat .. ping me a message via [email protected] !
Or, if you’re not sure yet, you can also download my kit for the ultimate branding love potion, so that you and your clients can fall in love with your branding all over again. ✨
Remember lovelies, stop appealing to everyone as you’ll attract NO ONE!!
-xo