Why and How to Identify your Ideal Customer?
If you want to scale your business one of the most important things you need to focus on is your ideal customer. The reason being that we all have limited resources (like time and money) so it’s best to focus your marketing strategy on what is going to bring you the best return.
And that is focusing on your best customers and finding more like them! Also, Determine the specific features your customer is seeking in buying your product which can also create new customers for your product. As a marketer, I understand that customer experience is a huge factor in any business. Customer experience is an integral part of customer relationship management.
So think about your best customers.
The ones that spend the most with you – they keep coming back to buy more – they love your products and services. They’re the customers that give you amazing reviews. The ones that refer you to all their friends.
The brand advocates that are out there spreading the word about how amazing your company is. Don’t we just love those customers?
Those are your ideal customers.
If you can get more of those in through the door and get them to keep buying from you, then scaling your business is going to be a much easier process!
You might have more than one ‘ideal customer’ as you might have different products or offerings that appeal to a different kind of customer.
How to Define Your Ideal Customer
Well, what you need to do is some research on your best customers.
You can either do a survey, or you can get in touch with them and ask them if they are happy to answer a few questions.
You’re going to ask them as many questions as you can about themselves so that you can find out all about them and then create a customer persona.
Ideal Customer Questions to ask.
You are going to ask them lots of questions so that you can build a customer persona or profile.
This will be things like their demographics; where they live; where they shop.
You are going to ask them about their likes, their dislikes, their challenges and their pain points. What is keeping them up at night? (I don’t mean their kids, I mean their issues, their problems, the thing that is causing them pain/stress or challenge)
Ask them why they buy from you and whether they buy any products from your competitors. If they don’t buy from competitors then why not?
Ask them whether there are any other products that they would buy from you if you were to offer them (good to know for future growth)
Ask them about the pricing and any promotions or offers that they liked.
You’re going to get as much information as you can so that you’ve got an amazing idea who your ideal customer is.
And you’re going to create a custom persona for each of your ideal customers.
As I said if you have different products or offerings you might have more than one ideal customer.
Your Ideal Customer is not everyone!
This customer persona is the person that you are going to think about any time you do any marketing. Make sure that you do create this customer persona (or more if you have more than one ideal customer). Hang it up on the wall in your office.
It’s super important to focus on your ideal customer – that’s the first step in marketing.
It’s very tempting to say, “Well, my ideal customer is anyone,”
But it’s great if you can ‘own’ a niche and sell the very best product or service in that space.
If you focus on selling the best product and doing it well then you become known as the expert or go-to brand.
It makes it a lot easier to get new customers as you’re not really competing with so many other brands.
Remember you don’t want people shopping on price (as this is just a race to the bottom). You want them buying from you because you have the best product. And they want it.
So, rather than trying to sell everything to everyone, try and think about who are the customers that you can help?
Example of an Ideal Customer (that’s mine below!)
So, in my example, I’m looking to help the founders of small to medium-sized businesses that are looking to grow a business that thrives. They want help to scale up and to market their business effectively. They probably have between 5-50 employees and have a very successful business due to their great products and services, where a lot of their business growth has come from referrals. Now they want to take things to the next level.
There is a lot more information that I know about them, but I won’t take up your valuable time telling you all that!
I want to focus my limited resources (time and money) marketing to my ideal clients. The ones that can afford me, the ones that value me, the ones that want to buy from me time and time again. The clients that refer me to their friends.
I don’t have to turn business away if it’s not my ideal client, but when I am marketing I am going to focus on them. This means that I am not wasting time speaking to clients that won’t be an ideal fit for what I offer
Does that person sound like you? If so you might be my ideal customer – come and say hello!
Its the same with your business. Does that make sense?
Targeting your Advertising to your Ideal Customer
Once you have created your customer persona then you can be more targeted with your advertising. And this means scaling your business faster.
If you have the Facebook Pixel on your site, you can look at the data on Facebook. You’ll get a huge amount of information from that.
You can also use Google Analytics.
That will also give you information on your customers and their behaviour on your site.
You’re also going to speak to your best customers or do a survey.
Talk to Your Ideal Customer in their language
Once you have a very clear idea of your ideal customer then make sure that you talk to them, in their language. On your website and in your marketing material.
Make sure that when they land on your site they know that they are in the right place.
They know that your products can solve their problems. That your products are what they have been looking for.
Make sure that the content that you create, your messaging, the promotions that you use, the photography and the video that you create all talk to your ideal customer.
You want them to feel ‘at home’
