Reach the right people for your brand
You’re a business owner whose company is past the early stage, has built up a strong initial client base, and you have a strong team at your side: everything seems in place for you to be on track for growth, yet something is keeping you stagnant. As many professional service firms are emerging from the pandemic with minor business disruption, growth is top of mind looking forward. Whether yours is a business looking to expand or bring in new clients, there’s one key that unlocks the potential for exponential growth: defining your audiences.
Why is defining your audience so important?
This year, professional service businesses have come to us with one big question in common: Who should we be reaching? Rather than going after every new client that comes your way, or putting all your eggs in one basket of a specific target market, you can find the magical spot in between: Discovering and connecting with exactly the right people for your brand. Imagine a world where you know who you need to talk to and what you need to say to them in order to reach your business goals.
One of our HR clients came to us with a need to hit a homerun with their marketing, as their current efforts were falling flat and not attracting the right people that support growth. They needed to infuse energy into their marketing plans on the road to higher revenue, so the first step was finding out who they needed to reach and then what value they could offer them.
How do you determine your ideal client?
So how do you choose the right audience? You start where the money is, of course. To craft your audience messaging, you first need to figure out who your ideal client is. Go ahead and make a list of all your clients (yes, all of them!) and then highlight the ones that answer any of these three questions:
- Which clients are most profitable?
We all know revenue matters in the business world. As much as you enjoy partnerships with certain clients, it’s equally important that their business is helping you grow stronger too.
- Which clients are happiest with our outcomes?
When you ask most people why they got into their industry, one of the most common answers is to make an impact. So who do you have the biggest impact on? Clients that find the most value in your services are the ones you want to keep for the long haul.
- Besides clients, who needs to know us and trust us in order to be effective?
Trust is an essential aspect of client relationships. Whose trust do you value the most? Think of the clients who truly know you, and have full confidence in your ability to meet their needs.
Ideal clients are the ones you enjoy working with and the ones who are on your side– cheering you on, leaning on your team, and trusting your process.
Now what?
For our client mentioned above, discovering their ideal clients meant refocusing their marketing efforts. Not only did they determine new audience personas to pursue, but they strengthened their understanding of current audiences. Going into this process, our client had expected a long-time audience would be eliminated from their plan. Instead, the opposite happened: They realized it was a segment that brought some of the greatest value to their business.
Once you know your ideal clients, it’s time to focus on what messaging will resonate with them the most. The power that comes from being spoken to directly is undeniable. When it comes to marketing, knowing your audience, and creating content and communication for them, is a necessary step to elevate your communication.
