How Well Do You Know Your Customers?
In the world of business, there are few cornerstones of success that are as important, as clichéd or as misunderstood as the concept of knowing your customers – in fact, you could almost call it the “Rosetta Stone” of success in business. No, we’re not referring to the language learning software, but to the original Rosetta Stone, a large stele on which an ancient Egyptian decree was carved in three separate languages, allowing scholars to eventually decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.
By truly understanding or “deciphering” who your ideal clients and target market are, including the problems they are attempting to solve and the factors that motivate them to seek out a specific solution to those problems, you can reach a new level of understanding and empathy, allowing you to tailor your branding, your products and services to be as attractive and as appealing as possible!
It’s Not About You
One of the more common mistakes that entrepreneurs make is deciding that they represent their own ideal client. However, if you stop to think about it, it’s surprisingly easy to make and continue to believe this misconception – after all, if you’re an expert on your own industry and products and services, and especially if you’re an enthusiast of your company, it’s easy to believe that your ideal client is just like you.
Unfortunately, this is very often an incorrect assumption, as your ideal client may not have a lot in common with you at all. While you are your own boss and you get to call the shots, misjudging your ideal client and target market can seriously hobble your business and possibly jeopardize its long-term viability.
Your Ideal Clients Are Real People
Another mistake that entrepreneurs make when attempting to form their brand is to over-simplify their ideal client and target market. This is surprisingly easy to do, because when you are asked to form an outline of a hypothetical person, especially one that presents an ideal of a person, most of us tend to stop after applying the broadest and most simplified attributes to our composite. However, your ideal client isn’t a cheerful automaton whose sole mission in life is to patronize your business and drive your sales and revenue – instead, your ideal client is a fully-formed person, with dreams, aspirations, desires, problems, and needs. Understanding that first, ask how your products or services will address their immediate and long term needs.
Elevate Your Brand
Of course, we also know that you’re likely not a novelist or screenwriter with the talent to conjure fully-formed characters out of thin air, so how can you form a detailed and accurate picture of your ideal client?
The keys, of course, are right in front of you! In this module of our Go Ahead. Dream Big. program, we will provide the tools you need to correctly identify your ideal client and target market. It will help enable you to form a fully-realized composite of your objective and provide the knowledge you need to develop and launch a brand that directly appeals to the ideal client you want to target. The foundation is in place, and this determination will set your business up for years of continued success and viability!