If you’ve seen contest shows such as American Idol, you’ll note that they don’t simply bring on each contestant and tell you where they’re from. Oh no. They pull back the curtain and show you the deepest challenges that person had to endure – a death of a family member, an illness, a social challenge. This is done for a reason – because there’s so much more to a person than meets the eye. There is always a fascinating story in there, and oh boy do we love to hear it. That’s how humans connect with humans.
Now you’re not scripting a TV show but you are showcasing your offer to an audience of potential buyers. To that end, content marketing is a fabulous way to give the prospects real VALUE – industry information, timely tips, expert know-how; but this is also your opportunity to go deeper and tell a story.
Who is your ideal client? Not a fake avatar, your ideal client profile is made up of the most common qualities of your best (real) customers. While you write smart content for them, remember to address the deeper impact they will connect with, to show them that you really – truly – know them and are speaking directly to them.
I recently wrote content for a wonderful owner of a fitness studio. She loves to provide exceptional personal training to her clients. Previously her content focused on great tips on fitness and nutrition – all needed and valuable stuff. But we’ve been doing work on clarifying her ideal client and we know exactly who that is now.
Once you know “your people”, writing generally informative content aimed at “anyone and everyone” just isn’t good enough. You want to let your ideal client know that you are empathetic to their unique situation, challenges and goals. You understand the impact of their circumstances. And you are the one to help them get to their vision.
So the content I provide my fitness studio client targets one specific client set. Anyone who is in that circle will immediately know that my client intensely understands them – and this helps attract more of those ideal clients to her.
For my own business, my ideal client is a woman entrepreneur who has been building her company for 5 years or more. She is stoked to help more clients, build a great team, and is determined to take intentional action to dynamically grow her business. She loves what she does and this is a full time career, not a dream or a hobby. But as much as she wants to spend every moment with her clients, she knows that growth means putting processes in place and creating focused marketing strategy and messaging. As my clients’ businesses grow, they are hiring employees and sub-contractors – building a stellar team. And now that there are others who depend on the company for revenue, my ideal client is dedicated to steady and consistent growth of revenue and profit.
If I just described you, why not reach out to me for a 30 minute call. Let’s chat about your goals and we’ll see if we make a good team for growth.