clairedavies

Do you really know your ideal customer? Here’s how to…

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Not doing any research on your audience is dangerous business. It means you’re building everything on guesswork. Which is a big risk. I don’t mean chatting to your mates who are sort-of, maybe, yeah I guess would fall into the ‘ideal customer’ category. I mean real research.

Ok, you get the point! Now tell let me tell you how…

1. Start by creating a survey focused on what people know. Focus on their experience of your brand/products/services, your competitors brand/products/service, their pain points, their objectives, what makes them tick, how they feel currently and how they want to feel. What is their ideal future state?

2. Interview 7 – 10 prospective customers/clients and go deep! Get to the crux of what they really think. Walk in their shoes. It’s a good idea to interview both existing customers with experience of your brand and those who haven’t worked with you or bought from you before.

3. Recreate your customer’s journey and how they experience and feel about each touchpoint of your brand that they would encounter.

4. Find out where they hang out and observe them (in a non creepy way). How do they behave? How do they communicate? Make notes.

The idea is to look for insights into how they feel, think and behave. By the end of this exercise you should have a solid idea of who these people are, the problems they’re facing and how you are uniquely positioned to alleviate these problems for them and help them reach their desired future state.

Building a business without really knowing your ideal customer is like shooting in the dark. And you’re likely to shoot yourself in the foot. It pays to get curious about your ideal customer.

Do you think you truly understand your ideal customer? If not, can you get to know them better using the framework above? Let me know how you get on: claire@claireholly.co.uk 

Fancy a chat about your marketing strategy?

Pick my brains, for free, by booking a virtual cuppa: click to book

Or read another article:

Here are 6 reasons why it’s crucial to know your audience: click to read

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Marketing guff that needs to die…

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The last thing you need is yet another Instagram ‘expert’ telling you to create more reels. Or to post a thousand times every.single.day. Or that your business will fail if you don’t start ‘showing up’ on Threads, X or whatever other dick swinging contest of a platform Musk or Zuckerberg dream up next.

I’ll help you build a marketing strategy without the snake oil.

It’s easy to overthink marketing, but it really doesn’t have to be so gruelling.

I’ve been there! I was once obsessed with using ALL of the latest techniques and being on every platform possible (hello Caffeine and Twitch, my old friends). But you end up dragging your customers to your website and killing yourself (or your top line) in the process.

Anyone who tells you that you ‘have’ to market everywhere, all the time, every day is talking out of their arse. That’s a speeding train to burnout hell. Your marketing strategy should be tailored to your values, purpose, ideal customers, resources and objectives. It shouldn’t be a living nightmare.

What you need is a no-faff, tried and tested strategy that doesn’t make you cringe.

Instead, focus on creating a strategy that:

> Has clear goals and objectives
> Appeals to your ideal customer and speaks their language
> Shows up where your ideal customer shows up
> Feels authentic to you
> Establishes credibility, authority and relatability
> Is easy to implement and doesn’t drive you bonkers

That’s the framework I use with my clients.

Keep it targeted. Keep it simple. Make sure it feels like ‘you’.

Fancy a chat about your marketing strategy?

Pick my brains, for free, by booking a virtual cuppa: click to book

Find out why it’s crucial to know your audience: click to read

Why I almost quit my own business

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It was the middle of the pandemic. While Instagram was busy making banana bread, the only thing I was baking was severe burnout. My clients were in panic mode. Revenues were down. It felt like I was drowning. Panic set in as thoughts of looking for a ‘normal’ job started to grow. Thoughts whirred around my brain about whether it was time to quit my business.

I fell out of love with my business and it happened fast.

Then it dawned on me. It wasn’t running my business that I’d come to hate, it was how I was running my business. So I pulled on my big girl panties, ate some banana bread and sat down to work out a plan.

Find out what I did and how below…

Sometimes it’s not what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it. Even small tweaks can make a huge difference. When I was facing down my business towards the end of 2020 I did what I do best. I developed a strategy to fall back in love with it.

Fancy following my method? Grab a notepad and pen and get cracking:

How I fell back in love with my business

1. I wrote down what my drivers were

Why do I really want to run my own business and why this business? Is there a certain type of lifestyle that I want? What do I want to achieve? What impact do I want to make? How do I want to feel? What risks am I willing to take?

2. I deep dived what was and wasn’t working

This involves brutal honesty. And columns. Make a column titled ‘working like a dream’, a column titled ‘has promise but could do better’, a column titled ‘necessary but I hate doing it’ and a column titled ‘not working, needs to go’. Then assign the different parts of your business into each column. Consider everything from your processes, team members, and output to your admin, marketing and branding.

3. I set boundaries

I’m a big believer of firm boundaries with soft edges. That means that you firmly stick to your boundaries but you do so with kindness and the littlest bit of agility when it feels right. I established boundaries upfront with my clients and team.

Then I repeated them throughout the entire process – in our contract, in our project management software, verbally and by email at various touch points. And I ensured my team were doing the same. Our boundaries cover things like working hours, revisions, response times, out of spec requests, how we communicate and so on.

4. I got help

I hired a financial advisor. And a coach. And I added ‘help and delegation’ to my 1, 3 and 5 year plans. I started automating as much stuff as possible (and I got help with that too). What kind of help will depend upon what your individual needs are.

The moral of the story?

Don’t be afraid to ask for or spend money on help. It’s an investment in your business and your sanity. It will save you money, earn you money, save you time, reduce your stress levels and give you clarity. Investing in help holds you accountable. It takes some of the load off and allows you to feel more supported and less alone. It opens up opportunities. Even coaches like me have coaches! And mentors. People we can lean on and learn from. It makes us better coaches.

> This strategy led to me completely restructuring my branding agency.

> It led to me launching my coaching and consultancy business for female founders.

And I’ve not looked back since!

Falling out of love with your business? I’ve got you. Let’s have a chat about what’s going on for you and how you can catch feelings for your business again.

Book a free, no obligation, virtual cuppa with yours truly: click here to book

Find out why it’s crucial to know your audience: click to read

6 reasons why it’s so important to truly know your ideal customer

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6 reasons why it’s so important to truly know your ideal customer

When you’re not clear on who your ideal customer is, you get crickets. You’ll spend a bucket load of money, time and effort marketing to absolutely everyone and speaking to precisely no one.

We’re constantly bombarded with huge amounts of information. To give you an idea of the sheer amount of information out there: WordPress users alone are generating about 82.6 million new posts a month. So, if you’re not out there speaking to a specific group of people, in the way they want to be spoken to, there’s a good chance your message will end up drowning in that sea of unfocused noise.

When you identify and fully understand who your ideal audience is, your marketing efforts go so much further. Even better, your conversion rate will improve dramatically. It also means that you’ll be able to work on the type of projects you’ve always dreamed of and with customers you absolutely love. *Breathes a sigh of relief*

Here’s why truly knowing your ideal customer is crucial:

1. You can offer solutions to real problems

If you start with a product or service and then look for an audience to sell it to, then you’re doing it wrong. Instead start with your ideal customer in mind. If you know the problems they’re facing you can create products or services that help them and that they’ll actually buy.

2. You’ll have loads of ideas for great marketing content

Knowing your customer’s problems will help you come up with ideas for your content marketing. Simply put, you’ll know what your audience wants to see, know and learn. This is a great opportunity to show your ideal customers that you understand them, can help them and that you’re an expert in your field. Leading to lots of lovely incoming leads to help you grow your business.

3. Your marketing efforts will be far more effective

If you know who you’re targeting, you’ll know where they’re hanging out and how best to reach them. What a disaster it would be if you built a presence on one platform – only to find out your target audience doesn’t even hang out there? Aligning your brand marketing efforts with your ideal customer means no more wasted money advertising to the wrong people or in the wrong places. 

4. You’ll turn your ideal customer’s into raving fans

If you know who you’re targeting, you’ll know where they’re hanging out and how best to reach them. What a disaster it would be if you built a presence on one platform – only to find out your target audience doesn’t even hang out there? Aligning your brand marketing efforts with your ideal customer means no more wasted money advertising to the wrong people or in the wrong places.

5. You can say goodbye to clients and projects that aren’t a good fit 

We’ve all been there. Unenjoyable customer experiences and projects that just weren’t a vibe. However, as soon as you get clear on who your ideal customer is you can start attracting them. So you’ll spend far less time working with people and projects that don’t light you up.

6. You won’t waste time in phone calls and meetings with the wrong people

Not only will working with the wrong people be a thing of the past, you’ll also stop wasting time having conversations with them. Sounds harsh, but this is best for both of you! We all know that stressful feeling when you’re half way into a sales call only to realise you’re just not a fit. Or the frustration of waisting your time playing email ping pong before it becomes evident that they can’t afford you. Being crystal clear on who your actual ideal audience is will cut all of this out.

So there you have it, 6 reasons why knowing your ideal customer is absolutely critical for business success. All of your business and marketing strategy should start with a solid understanding of your target audience.

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Considering investing in a brand coach? You’ll walk away knowing exactly who your ideal customers are and how to attract them. Pick my brains, for free, by booking a virtual cuppa: click to book

Wondering why brand strategy is so crucial for business success? click to read

This is why having a strong brand strategy is crucial for success

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Simply put, brand strategy is the foundation for all business development, brand design, sales and marketing. It’s the day dot. Without it your business won’t operate effectively or efficiently. Much like frantically flinging dry spaghetti at the wall and hoping some of it sticks.

To have a really successful business you need to stand out among a big, loud crowd of competition.

Moreover, you need to connect with your target audience in meaningful ways, so they actually want to buy from you. But this doesn’t happen with stardust and hope. In order to make this happen you need a plan and a confident strategy to go from where you are now to where you want to be.

Ok, but what is brand strategy?

In a nutshell, it’s your game plan. A 360-degree business blueprint.

A strong brand strategy is meticulously crafted. It takes into account all aspects of your market, niche, product/service offerings, customers, and competitors. And all of this should be built from as much data as you can get your hands on.

In the early stages of your business you’re probably going to have to take some leaps of faith. It’s pretty unavoidable when you’re starting from scratch. Eventually, as time goes on and you get more customers and fans you’ll have more data to work with so you can tweak and improve your strategy as you go along, to make it even more effective.

Let’s get to the nitty gritty – how exactly does this help me?

For the nerdy ones at the front (hello my people), here’s a list of what brand strategy includes:

<ul>
<li>Getting unstuck and reconnecting with your personal ‘why’.</li>
<li>Clarifying where you want to be and building a roadmap to get there.</li>
<li>Pinpointing why your brand exists and the impact you want to make.</li>
<li>Refining your brand story and mission statement.</li>
<li>Nailing your strengths, USPs and competitive advantage.</li>
<li>Becoming the obvious choice and standing out from your competition.</li>
<li>Communicating effectively and sending the right message. </li>
<li>Identifying, understanding and becoming irresistible to your ideal customers.</li>
<li>Mapping out and maximising your customer’s buying journey. </li>
<li>Optimising each encounter your customers have with your brand.</li>
<li>Streamlining your processes, tools and time. </li>
<li>Refining your offering and developing new income streams.</li>
<li>Aligning your team with your values and vision.</li>
<li>Building brand awareness with a no-faff marketing strategy. </li>
<li>Figuring out how to translate all of this into the way your brand looks and sounds.</li>
</ul>

A strong brand strategy will help guide you through the ups and downs. It will keep you focused on who you are and what you want to achieve. Even better, it’ll save you time and money by helping you to market to the right people, in the right way.

Above all, brand strategy is your secret weapon helping you battle the competition and become the obvious choice. Your guiding light, your shining star, your love… sorry, I’m having a bit of a Luther Vandross moment over here.

If you want to grow your business, you’re in the right place!

Your free, no obligation, virtual coffee with me is one email away:

<a href=”mailto:claire@barefacedstudios.com”>claire@barefacedstudios.com</a>

Struggling with your sales? You might not be selling to your ideal customer! Find out more by <a href=”https://claireholly.co.uk/6-reasons-why-its-so-important-to-truly-know-your-ideal-customer/”>clicking here</a>.