This post is the second in a series of eight posts focused on building a successful personal brand online. The eight topics that I’ll be covering are below and I’ll link to these articles as they go live so that you can follow the entire series.
- Brand Foundations / Brand Strategy
- Ideal Client (this post)
- Messaging
- Signature Offer
- Brand Identity
- Website
- Marketing Strategy
- Client Experience
Knowing who you want to work with is an important step in building and growing a flourishing online brand.
However, really understanding your ideal clients is more than just knowing their demographics. Yes, it’s important to know whether they are male or female (or both), their age and their location but to really know who they are, you need to identify what it is that they need help with.
In this post, I’m going to walk you through how to identify your ideal clients. Let’s get started, shall we!
Before you begin to work out your service offerings, you have to know who you are creating these offerings for. There’s no point in creating a service and then working on your ideal client because you may find that the service you have created, isn’t the right fit for what your ideal clients want and need.
But what if I haven’t started working with clients yet I hear you ask? Don’t worry, your ideal client will likely change throughout your business however, you should at least know the types of people you want to work with. Again, this may change as you go on.
In order to create a connection with your target audience, you need to be able to resonate with them. This is why it’s likely that your ideal clients will be a version of yourself, especially when you are just starting out.
When working on identifying who your ideal clients are, you should be asking yourself these questions.
1. What are the challenges that my ideal clients face?
In order to create products and services that sell, you want to really identify what it is that your ideal clients are struggling with.
For example, as a brand and marketing coach for online business owners, my ideal clients are:
- Struggling to attract their ideal clients.
- Spending too much time trying to do all the things but nothing seems to be working.
- Getting clients but it’s either not consistent or they are not their dream clients.
- Finding that they are often competing on price alone and are losing out to others in their industry.
- Wanting to position themselves as an expert and create a loyal community of ideal clients that are ready to buy but they are unsure on how to do so.
- Looking to grow their business in a way that feels effortless and enjoyable.
They want all of the above but they just don’t know how to do it and that’s where I come in.
I help my clients to brand and market their business so that they can confidently get booked out with 1:1 services and grow their business. I help them build and grow brands that are unique to them and position them as an expert in their industry.
Can you see how identifying the challenges that your clients have will help you to create offerings that support them in solving these challenges?
2. What goals do my ideal clients have?
Every successful business owner has goals that they want to achieve in their business. You need to identify what goals your ideal clients have in order to support them in reaching their goals.
For example, my ideal clients are working with clients 1:1 but they are not consistent in doing so. They want to confidently book out their 1:1 services to enable them to either transition into or add passive income to their business.
They know that in order to continue to grow their business, they have three options. Either keep putting their prices up, grow an agency style model or move into the one-to-many space. They want the third option. That is their goal and I help them to do so.
So ask yourself, what are your clients goals and how can you help them to achieve them?
3. What blocks do my ideal clients have when it comes to achieving their goals?
Your ideal clients aren’t achieving their goals and there’s a reason for it. You need to work out what blocks your clients have that are stopping them from hitting their goals.
For example, if you are a virtual assistant, your ideal client’s goals may be to grow their team. The blocks that might be stopping them from growing their team are:
1. They don’t have the time which is where you come in.
2. They don’t have the processes in place ready for them to onboard a team. Again this is where you come in.
By identifying what challenges/pain points your ideal clients have, the goals they want to achieve and the blocks stopping them from doing so, you are able to create offerings and messaging that speaks directly to them.
Join the waitlist for the Brand, Market, Flourish Group Coaching Programme
If you like this post, I go into this and a whole lot more in my group coaching programme – Brand, Market, Flourish. Join the waitlist and be the first to hear when the next round opens plus recieve an exclusive early bird offer!
During this high-touch programme, I’ll walk you through the process of building and growing your brand from start to finish.
With fortnightly Q&A group coaching calls where you have direct access to me, a private community, access to my video trainings, workbooks and resources, you’ll feel confident and excited that you too can grow a sustainable and successful online brand.
