Firmly Establishing Your Ideal Client
“Everyone is not your customer.”
I’m keeping it short and sweet this week so you can be on your way and do your homework.
What is an Ideal Client?
Your Ideal Client (...some call it an Ideal Client Avatar – ICA) is the one single person you direct all of your marketing efforts toward. This is the person (either real or imagined) who you always write to in order to keep your brand’s voice consistent.
Last post, we talked about the importance of nailing down this person early in the life of your business.
This week, we’re going to put that into action.
An Exercise to Flesh out your ICA
Below is a handy little visual to help you work through the details of your target client. Use the questions below to prompt you.
Don’t skimp on details!!
ICA Questions to Consider
Use these questions to prompt you toward filling out your Target Client Exercise. And remember: this ICA can be a real actual person, completely fictitious, or some combination.
What is your client’s:
Gender?
Age?
Education?
Occupation?
Income? (Personal and household)
Hobbies?
Family? (Marital status, children, pets, parents, siblings, extended family, etc.)
Home location?
Political opinions?
Community involvement and responsibilities?
Interests? (Books, movies, skills, desires, etc.)
Schedule? (Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.)
Vehicle(s)?
Health? (Physical, mental, emotional, etc.)
Race/Ethnicity?
Life satisfaction? (Job, family, life goals, house, etc.)
Personality? (Enneagram, Myers Briggs, overall demeanor, etc.)
How to use this Information
When thinking through the above questions, fill in your “answers” on your target client exercise page. Having this information in visual form will help you greatly when writing and branding.
This is the one person who you should always be writing and marketing to. It’s someone who now must be considered in all decisions regarding how your business is portrayed to the world.
Why do we put this ideal client on a target? This is your bullseye client. That means that (in theory) if everything is aimed directly for this bullseye client, you will also frequently get surrounding clients similar in many ways to this ICA.
And even when you occasionally miss, you’ll hopefully still be close enough that it speaks to this client and others.
Now you can move forward in your marketing and entrepreneurial journey, knowing you have a clear picture of who you’re aiming to serve. Now, you can feel confident that your voice is consistent, clear, and trustworthy.