Attractive Marketing
Are you targeting the right people? Attractive-Marketing. One of
the biggest mistakes I see consultants, coaches and professionals make
is to be unclear about who their ideal client is, and to carry out their
marketing without any specific definition of their target market. In
fact, most are hedging their bets and trying to appeal to everybody.
Intuitively, this seems the right way to go. We might presume that the
more people you can appeal to, the more likely you are to get business.
It's the law of large numbers - if you throw enough darts at the board,
then eventually you'll hit the bulls eye.
However, this approach has a number of drawbacks.
First, when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. Your marketing message will be bland and, quite likely, meaningless to everyone that is exposed to it.
Secondly, trying to market to an undefined group of people is extremely hard work and involves a lot of wasted energy and expense. How will you know where to place your ads, who to send direct mail to, where to network, who to call or who you want to attract to your website? Thirdly, if you don't specialize in any way, then you'll never build up specific expertise in any particular area or get paid the premium that specialists get paid.
So, if you haven't already, I suggest that you define your precise
target market and start building up a profile of the ideal client.
Who is NOT an ideal client?
For a lot of people, who they think is their ideal client and who
genuinely is an ideal client may be world's apart.
Here's a list of types of businesses or consumers you probably don't
want to target and ones that are not a candidates for Attractive
Marketing
Price-shoppers:
People who are shopping on price are very, very rarely your ideal
client. Unless you have a business model that allows you to somehow
"mass produce" services and leverage your time, then you'll never create
your dream lifestyle or large pension fund working for price shoppers.
My experience, and that of thousands of other service providers, is that
"cheapskate" clients are often more demanding, take up more of your
precious time and cause more headaches than clients who are looking for
a premium service.
People who you think "need" your services:
Virtually every small business I come across could use my know-how and
expertise to improve their marketing. I could surmise that they "need"
what I have to offer. However, there is an abundance of research that
shows that people rarely buy what they need, but nearly always buy what
they "want" (finances permitting). This is a critical distinction. You
may be meeting people all the time who you feel "need" what you provide,
but until such time as they actually want it, they're unlikely to buy,
and therefore your time spent marketing to them and building the
relationship is largely wasted.
People who can't comfortably afford your services:
You may meet people who both need and want your services, but if they
can't comfortably afford them, then it's going to be an uphill battle
proving the value of what you do and why they should invest. If they do
decide to buy your services then they may also become "problem child"
clients.
Sometimes you will get business from people who can't comfortably afford
your services, but to actively target them and to spend too much time
wooing them is likely a false economy. Your marketing efforts and
resources will be better spent when aimed at a market that can easily
afford you. This market will also perceive less risk in hiring you, as
they can more easily rationalize the purchase to themselves.
People who don't see you as credible:
20th century marketing has taught most of us to be skeptical. Because
people have made bad purchasing decisions in the past, and sometimes
been outright ripped off, they're wary of how they spend their money and
who they spend it with. This is true whether they're a corporate buyer
(they don't want to lose face or lose their job) or a consumer. They'll
look to minimize their risks, and the easiest way of doing that is by
buying from someone they trust who has a substantial amount of
credibility. This goes hand in hand with positioning yourself as a
specialist and expert in your field - high end clients who are willing
to pay high fees will want reassurance that you can produce the results
you claim to produce.
People who don't truly want change:
As a service provider, it's highly likely that what you do involves some
kind of change on the part of your clients. If you're a consultant or
coach, then your clients will probably have to change what they do or
how they think in order to implement the strategies, tools and
techniques that you advise them to use. If you're a professional, then
they may need to change how they do their accounting, how their website
works, their visual identity or their contracts in order to benefit from
the improvements you provide.
If you find yourself speaking to people who show all the signs of
resisting change, then move on! They may pay lip service to wanting
improved results, but if they don't seem prepared to actually make
changes and move with the times, then they're probably not a good
client.
What are the criteria for defining your perfect client?
When you come to defining your target market and ideal client, here are
the factors to consider:
- Who's prepared to pay a premium for the outcome you provide?
- Who wants what you offer, rather than who needs what you offer?
- Who can comfortably afford your services?
- Who trusts you and sees you as credible?
- Who's willing to embrace the change you represent?
- And finally, one last distinction - and this may be the most important one. You'll build your own success more rapidly when you spend your time marketing to businesses and people who are already successful but want to move to the next level, than if you target businesses or people who are struggling. This may seem counter-intuitive. After all, aren't those who are struggling the ones who most need your help? Yes, they probably do need your help the most. However, if they don't want it, or aren't prepared to pay for it, then you're wasting your time and money marketing to them. Not only that, but the people and businesses that need your help because they're in a mess probably got into their predicament by being short-sighted and not wanting to invest in professional help at the appropriate time. This points to them not having a success mindset or wanting to implement change, which means that not only will it be a harder sale, but they're less likely to implement the changes you advise in order to become good success stories for you. And at the end of the day, if you want to build a successful business, it pays to surround yourself with successful people, especially your clients!
This article was written Jane Hendry, Attractioneering - The 7 Step Process to getting all the clients you can handle. For more articles like this and to get your free Attraction Marketing Starter Kit and "The 3 Secrets To Easily Attracting All the Clients You Can Handle" please visit www.attractioneers.com
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