You’re not for everyone and that’s ok. As a recovering people pleaser, I’ve found accepting this concept very hard and the honest answer is that I’m still not immune to it. It’s a very common feeling, particularly when you run a business that you pour your heart and soul into. 

In addition, society conditions us to be ‘nice’, to ‘get along’ and try to please everyone but that doesn’t necessarily serve us well as adults.

When someone unsubscribes from my list or leaves my membership (ouch), I don’t love it but I’ve grown to understand how important it is that we strongly attract or strongly repel people in both work and life situations. 

I mean, I was STRONGLY attracted to my husband when we first met and on occasion, I’m strongly annoyed by him too. You can’t have one without the other.

Where am I going with this? If you don’t know who you are for and what they want more than anything else in the world, then you won’t be able to step into your expertise and shine. ‘Nice’ doesn’t sell. It’s beige and it’s boring. 

I’m reading a book at the moment, called Light Is The New Black, by Rebecca Campbell and this is the paragraph that really spoke to me.

“The world is full of people who, no matter what you do, will point blank not like you. But it is also filled with people who will love you fiercely. 

“Talk to the people who can hear you. Don’t waste your precious time and gifts trying to convince them of your value, they won’t ever want what you’re selling. Don’t convince them to walk alongside you. You’ll be wasting both your time and theirs.

“You are not for them and they are not for you; politely wave them on, and continue along your way. Sharing your path with someone is a sacred gift; don’t cheapen your gift by facing yours in the wrong direction. Keep facing your true north.”

In case you’re not already convinced, defining your ideal client will set you up so that everything you do, say, and write will speak directly to your most perfect customers or clients. 

In this blog post, I’m going to set out the simple framework you can use to describe what you do, who you serve and how you can help them. In fact, there are only 4 questions to answer. 

Before we get started, the best advice I can give you to help get this right, is to start by asking your current and past clients some questions. I call this emotion-based research and I’ve written about this extensively here, because it provides the foundation for all of your marketing activities. 

Many of the answers you’ll need can be drawn from your emotion-based research and the results will give you a rich bank of language for you to draw on.

As we work through this, remember that your clients need clarity, so strip away everything in your offer that doesn’t lead to the quickest path to their result. 

Who do you help?

You’ve probably done marketing exercises before where you’ve been told to get really personal about your ideal client, describe where they live, work, shop and even give them a name.

Socio-economic profiling used to be the foundation of all marketing plans (and it probably still is if you’re working on campaigns for big brands). 

But I think that behaviour-based targeting is far more powerful because it goes to the very heart of how your ideal clients think and feel and what they believe you can do for them. Once you start to connect with your audience on an emotional level, they stop making decisions based on price and you become their must-have choice.

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself.

• Describe the most favourite client you’ve ever had and want more of…

• What key behaviours does your ideal client exhibit?
  Eg. fast decision-maker, appreciates quality over price

What do they really want?

Understanding the difference between need and want is the difference between good marketing and great marketing. 

I might NEED a haircut, but what I truly WANT is to feel confident that how I look represents who I am.

Your ideal client might NEED a new website, but what they WANT is more clients and more revenue.

Do you see the difference? With that in mind, here are a few points to work through.

(Most of this can be pulled straight from your emotion-based research BTW).

• What does your perfect client want more than anything else? (If they could wave a magic wand, what would they change?

• What are they struggling with the most?

(Most of this can be pulled straight from your emotion-based research).

What do you offer?

Although this isn’t the most exciting part, you need to make a list of the nuts and bolts of what you actually do for people. 

Writing down every single tiny part of your process can be illuminating because I bet that you do a lot of small things very expertly and, almost subconsciously, which adds up to you to delivering an excellent service without really understanding why. 

For example, every photographer I know is meticulous about downloading the images from their memory cards the minute they get in the door in order to minimise risk for their clients. And that’s just one tiny example. 

But the real game-changer is being able to answer the following question.

• What is the biggest result I can help a business or person achieve? (This is the part where you answer their deepest ‘wants’)

• What are the 3-5 necessary steps you’ll walk them through that will get them their desired result? (These are the core elements that make up your unique offer).

What will happen if they don’t act or choose you?

If you know exactly how you can help someone, then you sure as hell know what consequences they will face if they don’t choose you.

For example, if a couple were looking for a wedding photographer, and their deepest desire was to have beautiful images of their closest family members at key moments of their big day, and they hire a photographer who isn’t experienced enough to do that, then that’s likely to lead to a hugely emotional disappointment. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not encouraging you to guilt your audience into buying from you, but being able to answer that question and reframe it positively will help your potential clients understand your true value. 

Eg. “I’ve photographed hundreds of weddings and I understand how important it is to capture those you love the most during the iconic moments of your wedding day. I know you’ll want to treasure those forever.”

The cost of not choosing you or not acting could be financial, emotional or impact the time they have.

If you’ve got more clarity after doing this exercise and you’re ready to create your ideal client avatar now, then this is EXACTLY what we cover inside The Marketing Fix. 

When you first join, you start with The Business Blueprint, where you complete your emotion-based research, create your offer, put a together a simple business forecast and learn how to set goals and manage your time.

It’s the foundation you need to nail your business marketing. Want to join us?

Visit https://themarketingfix.co to find out more.