This is Your Most Important Marketing Step

When I first started blogging many years ago I got very frustrated because no matter how many things I talked about, my visitor data didn't reflect the work I was putting in. I wanted to reach as many people as possible (who doesn't?) and I tried to appeal to just about every type of person, age, gender and location.

I was exhausted and with very little results. This marketing plan was not working!

Then one day I attended one of those super valuable online webinars where I learned that no matter how much content you put out, or how great your product or service is, if you have not 100% identified WHO your target market is and what their specific pain points are, then you will sell told no one. In fact, I think it went something like this “If you are selling to everybody, you are selling to nobody”.

Now many people, including myself at that time, would say to themselves… well my target are MEN. Or WOMEN. This is definitely not specific enough. As independent business owners we must identify with our ideal customer:

1- What do they like

2- What do they dislike

3- What are the things that bother them the most that your product can address

4- What are they struggling with

5- What ticks them off

Understanding and sympathizing with this persona you are trying to reach will help you CONNECT and ATTRACT your customer at a different level. If you are selling an anti-aging cream for example, forget the 20 and even 30 somethings, they won't be all that interested and many of them will even be offended you even suggested it! LOL. Your ideal customer is probably in her 40's, might have even tried other creams before with no significant results and is tired of paying an arm and a leg for something that just doesn't work! She is feeling young but counting the numbers, her 401k is moving along but not as quickly as she expected. Her household is a two income household and the kids are somewhere in elementary through high school and happy hours are a thing of the past with all these play dates, trips to the mall, and sleep overs. A Friday night drinking at home sounds much better than a loud bar!

You know your ideal customer when you run into her, or him. Just hold on to that feeling and define your marketing around how you would sell to them and what you would want THEM to read about on your blog. Imagining a REAL person is much easier to embrace than what you WANT your ideal to be. Dig into your list and figure out WHO you would want your customer to be and start drafting your message that way. When you write your blog posts, address them to HER (or him), instead of YOU ALL. Speak directly to that person as if you were having coffee with them or training them on something 1:1.

The infographic above is a good start at identifying your Ideal Customer Profile. Feel free to share it (it's Pinterest friendly!).