Carissa Daniel

The Number One Key to Success in Marketing and Sales is Knowing Your Ideal Customer

One of the very first questions, I ask any client is, "Who is your Ideal Customer? "The popular responses usually are "Everyone, Men, Women, Children, Young Adults. " And my popular response usually is, "Ok, but who really, is your Ideal Customer."

Your Ideal Customer is the person who buys your products and services. Getting clear on their characteristics is extremely important to the success of your marketing and sales. It will help you to find them and present them with a message that will move them to action.

For those of us with companions, wives, husbands, partners, girlfriends, boyfriends or significant others, when you first met that special person, did you ask them to marry you or be your partner on the very first day you met? I bet your answer is no. I'm sure you would have spent as much time getting to know as much about that person as you possibly could? Why did you do this? Why didn't you ask them to spend the rest of their lives with you on the very first day?

Well, for the non-eccentric types, we spend a great deal of time getting to know the other person because we are first and foremost evaluating and assessing to determine if they are viable partners, possessing the required characteristics, values and principles we want in a partner. Secondly, we gather as much information as possible about the person because we want to effectively serve them, cater to them, contribute to their happiness and support their dreams and goals.

Your romantic relationship in this regard is very similar to the relationship with your customers, however, the deep investigatory work we conduct when getting to know our potential partners is almost never emulated when it comes to our potential customers. Your business exist because of your customers, they are the ones you are serving and the ones buying your products and services, however in most instances you have no clue as to who they are.

Do you agree that knowledge is power? I'll go ahead and answer for you, without a doubt it is. Knowledge of who your Ideal Customer is, will impact and influence every aspect of the marketing and sales process (and of of course every area of your business) including:

1. Product/Service Creation

What exactly is your customer looking for and how your product/service will satisfy their needs.

2. Copy Writing

How you describe your offers, speaking specifically to the needs of your ideal customer when preparing any type of ads.

3. Content/Email Marketing

What topics you choose to write on for your blogs, social media posts, videos etc. that will attract and convert your ideal customer.

So, by now you are probably asking what kind of information should you gather and know about your Ideal Customer. I am happy you asked. There are five (5) things or category of things you should know about your Ideal Customer. You are essentially creating a profile for your Ideal Customer which is referred to as a Customer Avatar or a Buyer's Persona. You can create several Avatars based on the various types of customers you serve:

1. Who are they?

Demographic information such as age, gender, marital status, number and age of children, location, occupation, job title, annual income, level of education and other pertinent interests. This vital information, while extremely detailed will help you to speak directly to your intended customers when writing your copy for your ads. It will also help you when choosing targeted audiences for your social media marketing efforts.

2. What are their goals and values- relative to your product and service

This is where you go a bit deeper seeking to identify what it is they really want, what is important to them and what they are aiming to achieve. You will use this information to design your ad copy for your flyers etc. and it will also help you to design your content and email marketing material.

3. What are their challenges and pain points

The purpose of your product or service is to solve a problem your customer is experiencing. Knowing what their fears, anxieties and problems are will empower you when tailoring your message to your customers. You will be speaking directly to their pain by offering a viable solution and compelling them to action.

4. Sources of information

This will help you to determine where your customers are looking and subsequently determine where you need to promote and advertise your products and services. Pertinent information such as what books they read, magazines they subscribe to, blogs and websites they visit, conferences they attend, gurus they follow and other interests is vital when deciding on marketing platforms. When using social media ad platforms like Facebook for instance, this information will help you to narrow your targeting, which will attract your Ideal Customer and will exclude less than ideal prospects.

5. Objection to the sale and role in purchase process

Ask yourself why would your Ideal Customer not purchase from you. List all the possible reasons and then use this information to customize your product or service to counter those objections. You should always seek to reach your Ideal Customer where they are at, ensuring  of course that both you and your customer win. Further, knowing your Ideal Customer's role in the purchasing process is critical to the success of your marketing and sales campaigns: Are they the primary decision maker or are they a decision influencer? Once again this information will help you to speak directly to the relevant personnel and persuading them to action.

There are essentially three ways you can gather this information:

1. Conduct a survey by creating a questionnaire and sending it to your customers.

2. Have conversations with your existing customers to flesh out the different areas.

3. Make some assumptions based on your knowledge of your customers.

Now, it may seem like a lot of information to gather about your Ideal Customer but remember my analogy above about the great deal of time spent getting to know your spouse or partner? It is worth the effort, after all your Ideal Customer is the person who buys your products and services. I guarantee you that this information will profoundly impact the effectiveness and success of your marketing and sales.