Last week I had a great one-on-one “Breakthrough Session” with one of our Main Street Inner Circle members. We covered a lot on the call, including the key obstacles preventing her from hitting her 12-month goals. One obstacle in particular stands out because it’s a universal problem across businesses.
The obstacle was identifying her ideal customer. Do you really know who your ideal customer is? And I mean REALLY know.
Think critically about your answer and don’t accept a vague categorization like “anyone with a clogged drain.” We’re not talking about anyone who would or could purchase your product or service. We’re talking about your absolute dream customer. Who is that person? What does she do for work and for fun? Where does she live? Or is it a he?
In our AdWords Success Formula course, we spend a LOT of time in the first couple weeks working on what’s called your “customer avatar.” That’s because your entire advertising and marketing is built around your ideal customer. You simply cannot be successful in any marketing campaign until you complete this first step.
Your Ideal Customer Determines…
As I just mentioned, the first step in any marketing campaign is to identify your ideal customer. Let’s look closer at how this step impacts the rest of your decisions as you build your campaign.
Your ideal customer determines… your targeting options. If your ideal customer is not searching in search engines like Google to find your products or services, then SEO is not a good option for you. Or if you know your ideal customer spends a lot of time on Facebook, then social media marketing and advertising may be good strategies. It’s pretty obvious that the only way to know which targeting options are a good fit for your business is to first know exactly who you’re trying to reach.
Your ideal customer determines… your front-end offer. You first must know exactly who you’re selling to before you can expect to create an irresistible offer. Different people have different wants, needs, problems, fears, goals, desires, buying power, price sensitivity, etc. So the only way to craft the best offer is to laser focus on your target.
Your ideal customer determines… the social proof you highlight. Again, in AdWords Success Formula, I cover the importance of using social proof from customers who closely resemble your ideal customer. That way, the testimonials have the biggest impact.
Your ideal customer determines… your advertising and website copy. Ads and websites targeting stay-at-home moms will certainly look and read differently from ads and websites targeting single, young professional men — right?
Your ideal customer determines… EVERYTHING! I think you get the picture that this list could go on forever. If you’re not absolutely clear on who your ideal customer is, then take some time this week to get more clarity. This will help you make better decisions with everything else you set up in your marketing system.
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