how to figure out who your ideal client is In 2024
When you start a business all anyone ever talks about are “ideal clients.” Making content for your ideal client and marketing to your ideal client.
In the first few months of my business, I truly struggled with this concept because I wanted to set out to help the nation, right? Honestly, I thought everyone was my ideal client. I kept it generic, white pages, cold, and corporate language. Boring.
So, if you’re wondering what the heck an ideal client is, how to appeal to your ideal client once you figure out who they are, and why any of it even matters, you’re in the perfect place.
What is an ideal client?
They’re the person who is encountering the exact problem you solve and they’re the type of person who is ecstatic to find you and pay whatever prices you charge.
(Sometimes ideal clients are referred to as dream clients, soulmate clients, and buyer personas.)
And as your business evolves, so will your ideal client.
FIRST THINGS FIRST- Whose problem can you solve?
Let’s use home remodeling throughout our example.
Are you the guy with the lower prices that most people can afford while still giving top-shelf remodels? Or are you a little pricey because your team installs beautiful high-grade tile and have in-house designers?
Once you establish this, it will effect your marketing language, imagery, and way you go about all client communication.
Why does an ideal client even matter?
You know the saying, “if you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one”? That’s why it matters.
In business, the magic happens when you can get clear and specific about exactly who you want to attract is the first step.
Your ideal client is your business’s main focus because they’re the person you need to get to know intimately so you can understand what they’re struggling with, how they’re feeling, what they care about in life, and the types of messages that will appeal to them so you can best help them.
In other words, your ideal client is the key to everything.
The better you know this person, the more specific you’ll get, and the more specific you get, the better you can sell because you’ll be speaking to one person directly, and when you speak to one person directly, they know it’s for them.
So, how the heck do you identify who your ideal client is?
1 – BEGIN WITH THE BASICS
- How old might this person be?
- Where do they live?
- What do they do for work?
- What’s their gender identity?
- How much money do they make?
Do all the classic demographics stuff. And then…
2 – GET MORE SPECIFIC
- Does your ideal client buy all of their groceries at Kroger or are they more into budgeting and shop at Walmart?
- Does your ideal client spend their weekends chugging beers at divey bars, getting a nice sunburn on the beach, or spending quality time with their kids?
- What kind of TV shows do your ideal client enjoy watching? What kind of TV shows does your ideal client like watching but only as a guilty pleasure?
- When your ideal client opens up their Instagram or Facebook, what does their feed look like?
- What’s important to your ideal client? What are they passionate about? Why?
As you get to know your ideal client, you want to connect their behaviors and their desires back to your offer and…
3 – THINK ABOUT WHERE THEY ARE AT WHEN THEY COME ACROSS YOUR BRAND
- What does your ideal client like about you? What caught their attention and drew them in?
- What do you two have in common? How can you relate to what your ideal client is experiencing?
- What even is your ideal client experiencing when they come across your brand?
- What problem is your ideal client having? What roadblock are they facing that they’re trying to overcome?
- What is your ideal client struggling with and—this one is SO important—how is it making them FEEL?
Also, I’m not saying to think about the answers to these questions, you should be sitting your butt down in a chair, or on a bed, or any place where you can actually type or write your answers out. Your ideal client deserves to be taken that seriously.
A helpful real-life example for you (this is completely fictional).:
Lydia is a divorced 45-year-old who lives in Johnson County Indiana with her dog, Tobi. She loves visiting local coffee shops, trying out new restaurants, and spends a lot of time reading. She works as a middle school teacher and makes around $65,000 a year.
She likes watching reality TV, and she prefers spending her weekends making food at home and hanging out with friends rather than going out to bars.
She knows her home is in desperate need of repairs because it’s been five years since she moved into the house that is now eighteen years old and she’s interested in the possibility of moving into a better functioning house since she struggles with a dated bathroom, banged up wood floors, and drafty windows.
WHAT WE CAN CONCLUDE ABOUT MS. LYDIA:
- Budgeting is important to Lydia
- Her home is more than likely located around other homes built in the same time frame and might be dealing with similar issues (mentally note this)
- She has a single-income
- She values taking time to connect with others
- She’s solution-aware meaning she knows what problem she has and what she’s looking for but hasn’t found the exact solution that fits her budget
Getting to know all of this information isn’t only a fun exercise, but it also helps you with all of your marketing. Instead of creating graphics or writing copy for your “buyer persona,” you’re writing it for Lydia, a real person. This adds another layer of depth and specificity because you’ve spent time getting to know Lydia including, what she is looking for, how she feels, and how she wants to feel and that makes the job of marketing to your ideal client so. much. easier.
Now, if you are the guy I first mentioned who is the budget-friendly option while still providing great service, Lydia might be your ideal client. If you offer high-quality tile and top-grade equipment, Lydia is not your ideal client.
The high-quality material remodeling company is going to be on the hunt for a dual-income house, people who would value their job well done with more elegant tile or cabinets (whatever it may be) and are willing to spend a little more money for the service.
4 – ONCE YOU HAVE A GOOD FEEL FOR WHAT YOUR IDEAL CLIENT IS LIKE, GO OUT IN THE REAL WORLD—OR AT LEAST, THE ONLINE WORLD—AND FIND PEOPLE LIKE THEM
I’m serious. Get to stalking.
If you know your ideal client is a homeowner living in a dated neighborhood, find the neighborhoods that fit your time frame and get to know the age range of those individuals, how much money they make, where they work, where they get their groceries, etc. The key to a really, really good ideal client is to know them inside and out so you can speak their language.
If your ideal client lives in a neighborhood with all of the houses built around the same time as Lydia’s and she’s been having issues with drafty windows, banged-up wood floors, etc., you may want to consider targeting this whole neighborhood and sending a friendly direct mailer if it’s in your budget. We offer great prices for direct mailers and can narrow down to just the addresses in specific neighborhoods so ask me about it!
5 – LAST BUT NOT LEAST, CONTINUOUSLY REASSESS WHO YOUR IDEAL CLIENT IS
As you grow and your company changes, your ideal client will change too. It’s natural!
(You also can have different ideal clients for different offers, so that’s something else to keep in mind too.)
Over the course of your company’s doors being open for future decades, you’ll continuously revisit who you want to work with based on who you’ve enjoyed working with. Whether that’s refining who your ideal client is or changing them up entirely, don’t be afraid to rework it.
Your ideal client is the dreamy person you can’t wait to work with, the person who gives referrals values your educated direction to help their problems, heck- maybe they even like your Facebook Page or leave a Google Review!
Bottom Line
If you read this and felt overwhelmed, that’s normal. It takes work to figure out how to communicate to your ideal client. Take it step-by-step. Your ideal client doesn’t have to be something you decide on, figure out every detail of, and stick to forever. It’s more about researching how to communicate effectively to those interested in your services and getting in front of them.
As always, I am happy to sit down with you for a free strategy session and help you dig into your ideal client research and learn more about your company’s big ideas for this year.
If you would like to schedule a time to get to know each other, hop over to our contact page!
