73. Mastering The Art of Marketing To Your Ideal Client

Welcome To the High-Performance Marketing podcast, a show focused on helping small business owners connect with their ideal customers using simple marketing and quality content. I'm your Marketing Guide, Ali Garbero.

If you’ve been watching the news lately you’ve noticed that some big name, well known brands have either forgotten who their target audience is, struggled to connect with new ones or tried to reinvent themselves to appeal to completely different market segments. Bud Light, Target, and Disney are just a few that may come to mind.

I think what we learn or take away from these brands, is that, hey, even companies with massively talented marketing minds can get it wrong when it comes to communicating their marketing message to the right people. And the right people are usually referred to as your ideal client, target audience or customer.

I think much of this is because these companies have forgotten who keeps them in business - or  they’re trying to hard to appeal to as many people as possible with mass marketing, instead of tailored and customized communication.

On today’s episode of the Podcast let’s tackle the topic of mastering the art of marketing to our ideal client. —So that you attract more customers, avoid alienating the right ones, and do your best to steer clear of getting too ambitious and trying to cast too wide a net.

First, let’s start with the obvious and what you’ve probably heard a thousand times. Business marketing begins with knowing who your ideal client is. 

But before you think I’m going to lead you down the path of asking you to think of your ideal customer by way of their age, income, where they live, what social platforms they hang out on, and other statistical types of demographics. Instead, you know I’m going to recommend we use the Story Brand 7-part framework, which teaches us to see our customers by way of transformation. And what I mean by that is taking some time to understand how your product or service helps your customers change, improve or become the hero of their story. 

For example, let's think of a financial planner - a financial planner helps their customers undergo a transformation by taking people from financially unstable futures to confident wealth builders, men and women who invest their money wisely.

Another example is a real estate agent - who takes renters from renters to owning a part of the American dream, or helping current homeowners who no longer love their home, live in their dream one and living like the Joneses.

Taking  some time and write down who or what your product or service is helping them become is important. Because it digs deep into their aspirational identity. I talk about Tony Horton and P90x a lot. He was helping me become a fitter version of myself. Because what I wanted was ripped muscles, not necessarily a bunch of exercise videos.

Some of you might have really niche clients. You might say my ideal client is age 65, has 3 adult children, lives in Connecticut, earns $350,000 a year. Those are good stats to know, but more important is knowing why your client hires you. Is it because you are the person they trust to confidently help them grow their net worth so they become millionaires or billionaires. Those wants are aspirational and when you talk about them, customers pay attention. You can market to your ideal client by always talking about what they want, agitate their desires so your marketing message hits right to the core of what they want most.

Once you have an idea about what your clients really want from your product or service, it’s important to revisit these ideas at least once a year. 

I recommend that you go back and look at your sales and marketing numbers. As you wrap up each year, take some time to look back and reflect where did most of your business come from and what did those customers have in common? What marketing helped you attract their attention most? If you’re even more on top of your game, do this once a quarter. This way you can shift your marketing message quickly if you feel like it’s not hitting home.

For example, coming back to the financial planner. A client may have started investing early when they had young children and all they really needed was life insurance. But as their children grow, they’re thinking about college and other death and living benefits. They’re also probably earning more and may have more to invest. For the real estate agent, your first time home buyer, initially may have wanted to stop renting. They wanted to become a part of the American dream, but now over time, having owned a home for a few years, they know more and want more out of their home. They want their forever home. Which means your marketing has to adapt to those core needs and wants. Failing to keep up with the pace of change can create a disconnect between your business, your marketing and your ideal client.

Next, let’s talk about your brand values. You should hopefully be working to continuously build an emotional connection with your company and brand.  I understand we need to sell things, and that can cause us to focus more on selling products or services instead of building meaningful relationships. But more than ever, modern consumers want to invest in products or services that align with their societal and sometimes even moral values.

They want to feel like the products they buy represent what they believe and stand for.

Take time to identify and share your core values. These values should align with the aspirations, beliefs, and desires of your target audience. So for example, I sell marketing services, right? I spend time helping my clients understand and implement effective websites, email marketing, social media and more. Some of my core values include a deep respect for the sacrifice every small business owner makes to run their own business. It’s scary and sometimes risky to invest in yourself. And I have a big heart for small business owners and I value helping them grow, because I know that as they grow, the fuel the American economy. As the daughter of an immigrant I value a country that gives its people the opportunity to build and create things. When I share this with my clients, we meet on common ground in our desire to grow their small business.

Now be advised, sharing your values may mean you attract more people with those kinds of values —-which I believe is a good thing - but for some of you, you may feel that’s too narrowing. 

One way it’s helped me is to weed out clients who want things done cheaply. I value quality and time. So my prices aren’t the most expensive, but they aren’t the cheapest either. Many people believe they can just hire someone on Fiver, or their cousin can help them write their website. I don’t judge anyone for that, but I value quality work and I stand by my values to deliver it, as well as the value of time for both myself and my clients. I’m clear about those things, I  communicate them so that I actively attract clients who want those same things.

Now, let me share something that personally annoys the life out of me. And that’s generic messaging, and a lack of personalization. It’s one way we can fall short of connecting with our ideal customer. Generic marketing feels so impersonal to me and let me explain what I mean by talking about ways you can avoid doing it.

The content you create, and your marketing message - from your social media graphics, to your website or emails should speak the way you would to a friend you know well. 

Let’s say you have a friend named Jane. You would know things about Jane’s marital status most likely, or who she’s dating, or things about her kids, or her employment, about the car she drives, and the hobbies she enjoys. So when you speak to Jane, you’d ask her something like “Hey Jane, how’s that book you were reading?” You wouldn’t say Hey friend, Hey Mrs Smith. You’d use the one word in marketing that will always capture attention and that’s your client’s name!!

When you create marketing content, make it sound conversational as though you’re speaking to Jane, and not to a sea of prospects or leads. With phrases like “hey everyone.”

One example is the Hey Friend greeting. I know that Amy Porterfield, loves to send out emails addressed as Hey Friend. I can’t even tell you how much I hate that. I’m not bashing on Amy - that’s her style and she clearly knows what she’s doing. But you would never call your friend Jane up and say “Hey friend.” You’d just be like “Hey or Hi Jane.” When your communication feels genuine and real, it cuts to your customers heart.

Also be authentic in your story telling. Share things about your brand, your company, your product that most people wouldn’t share. Where were you the moment this product or service burned in your heart? What experience did you live through that made you want to do what you’re doing today.  For example, I attended a Christy Wright event, (she was a Dave Ramsey personality) here in the Salt Lake City area, when the last speaker at her event was Donald Miller. He spoke about the framework of story and it changed my career and my life. It took me back to my days of being a talented writer. Of those moments I’d spend hours in my high school computer lab writing, where hours turned into minutes. In that moment, I knew I wanted to use my close to 15 years in corporate business to help the little guy. The small business owner who risks everything to make their dreams come true. To help grow the American economy. Share those stories because they humanize your brand and they build connection with your target audience.

I also recommend that you engage and listen to what your ideal clients are saying on social media, facebook groups, forums, and events. This allows you to actively listen to their feedback, concerns and suggestions. And then help create solutions to address them. 

For example, let's say you’re a real estate agent, and you’re hearing that renters are frustrated with high rents or costly home prices, you can show empathy and make them aware of mortgage buy downs and seller credits that help alleviate these issues. This helps show that you’re paying attention. It also helps position you as a trusted brand, as well as create brand loyalty.

Now let me come back to not just how to understand your ideal client but why it’s important you do. When you intimately know the people you serve, the people who love your product or service, you are empowered with the ability to create targeted marketing instead of marketing to everyone and marketing to no one.

Custom tailor your marketing efforts to reach your people. Knowing your ideal client helps you allocate your resources more efficiently. Whether that’s your marketing budget or the workforce you hire to help you, or even the technology stack that you invest in.

Instead of trying to spread yourself thin with mass marketing where you’re attempting to appeal to as many people as possible, you can dominate your market with a narrow focus.

The benefits of a narrow focus or selecting a niche, whether that’s a client niche or a product or service niche, makes it a million times easier for you to market to your ideal client. Niching down can feel scary. You worry if you’ll miss out on more potential clients if you do. But niching down has also been proven to help you increase your authority, so that you are seen as the expert in your field as well as allowing you to develop products or services that cater to that specific market need, which gives you a competitive advantage too.

Something that is an often overlooked need that can help you master the art of marketing to your ideal client is market research. Market research doesn’t have to be tremendously pricy.

A simple way to do this is to use affordable survey tools like Survey Monkey or Typeform. Now you’re probably thinking, well great Ali, what questions should I ask? Well, I’d say start with thinking about the questions you really want answers to, and then asking about how you can offer better service. Other ideas include asking things like:

• Kindly share a few things we could do better?
• How does our product/service make you feel? 
• How satisfied are you with the purchase experience? 
• Do you identify as a loyal customer of our brand? Why or why not?

I’d also say don’t overlook doing some research on your competitors. Look at their websites, social profiles, if they’ve got facebook groups, join them - maybe even download some of their free resources or paid ones - and enter their email funnels to see how they communicate with new leads. I’m not saying plagiarize or rip anything off, just identify gaps or opportunities that can set you apart. 

Hopefully what you’ve taken away today is that understanding your ideal client and marketing to them isn’t just about knowing their key demographics. Knowing your ideal client means walking in their shoes often, seeing your product or service from their eyes and that means crafting a marketing message that helps you gain their trust and loyalty. 

If you’re just starting out and have no idea who your perfect client is yet, or what marketing approach to take, I recommend reading the Book Building a Story Brand, taking the online course, or scheduling a call with me at writebrandmarketing.com for a Brand Messaging Workshop.  Thanks for joining me today. I’m Ali Garbero, copywriting is what I do, content marketing is what I create, more customers is what you get.