What's the difference between a target market, a niche and an ideal client?
You know you need to define your ideal client or customer. But those avatar exercises don't really seem to work and then you're also supposed to niche down while you don't want to tie yourself down too much and then there's also a target market you need to focus on.
Yep, that's quite confusing.
So in this blog, we're diving into:
What a target market, a niche and an ideal customer is,
How these relate to each other
Why you need an ideal customer
How to create an ideal customer profile
And how to use an ideal customer profile in your marketing
Let's start with some definitions.
Target market: When you Google Target Market Definition the description is: 'a particular group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed'.
Niche: When you do the same for niche, the description is a specialised segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.
So you can see your target market as a large group of people or businesses to who you could offer your services or who could benefit from your services. While your niche is a subsection of this group of people or businesses.
Where you can already define your target market based on external factors like demographics it is still very broad. You're narrowing this down when you're talking about a niche. And then you narrow it down even further when you're talking about your ideal customer.
Ideal customer: one specific person within this niche who would benefit most from what you have to offer in terms of the services that you offer, the price point at which you offer them and the way that you offer them. So to define your ideal customer you are looking for internal factors like their needs, values, what are they thinking or feeling, what are their struggles or what is holding them back and what are their goals
Important to note here is that this is not only about who would benefit most from your services or who would love to work with you. It's also about defining who would you like to work with. Are people who don't like to work with deadlines or who don't value your process and just want you to do what they tell you to really the people you want to work with? Want to know more about this? Read my blog about how to determine your ideal.
So now you know what each of these 3 are, let's look into why you need to know this.
Why do you need an ideal customer?
You've probably heard the phrase: when you're talking to everyone, you're not talking to anyone. And that's what is happening when you would base your business around a target market or even a niche.
Why?
Because if you don't target someone specific your services, pricing, blog posts, newsletters, IG captions etc will not be geared to anyone specific so while they may be useful for your audience, they don't feel like you're the right person to work with.
And I know it can be scary to niche down and define this ideal customer. It feels much safer to keep it broad as then you're more likely to find people to work with right?
Well, you shouldn't just think about this from a business perspective where you want to keep your options open, don't tie yourself down or don't want to say no to opportunities. But also look at it from a client or customers perspective.
Let's say you are a brand designer and you want to hire someone to set up your Dubsado. Do you pick a systems strategist that works with everyone? Or will you go for the systems strategist that specialises in working with designers and knows the needs of a design business like all the steps in a workflow from mood board to final file handover, to getting designs approved, the importance of multiple feedback rounds etc?
You'll probably go for the one that is specialised right? And you probably are willing to pay a bit more as well for that specialised knowledge.
There are 2 things I do want to mention about this example:
I have used a niche here based on an industry; brand or website designers. Which makes sense for a systems strategist where the industry their clients are in will dictate the workflows of their clients and therefore how a system like Dubsado needs to be set up. While this is the type of niching I see most, there are a lot of different ways to niche like horizontal niching, vertical niching, industry-specific niching, technology/system/software specific niching and more. So what will make sense for you will depend on your business.
This systems strategist will still need to define their ideal customer based on internal factors as not every brand or website designer will be the right client.
Now you know why you need to have an ideal customer, let's look at how you would create an ideal customer profile that you can use to guide your marketing efforts.
How to create an ideal customer profile
To me, there are 3 different stages when it comes to determining your ideal customer (after you have decided your target market and niche). Firstly you have to decide who you want to work with and who you don’t want to work with. If you have not done that yet, check out this blog first.
Then think about previous clients and projects. Which projects were your favourite? When you know start writing down:
Why is this your favourite?
What was the client like? Where were they in their journey?
What was the project?
What were the objectives?
What was the problem this client had?
What did you like most about the project?
Was there something you did not like?
What were the results for the client?
What was the feedback from the client?
If you only have 1 that is fine but if you have more projects that you really liked review what you wrote down and check if there were similarities between the type of project, the client, the problems and the objectives. If so, highlight these.
Now you have a great starting point to create your ideal customer profile but now it's time to test it through market research to really get to know this ideal customer you want to work with.
But what should you include in your ideal customer profile?
I believe that client profiles often go wrong, or are seen as not useful because we're thought to list a bunch of demographics or psychographics that don't seem relevant to our business and then don't know how to use it (which is quite logical when you're listing things that have nothing to do your ideal customer)
So before you start listing all the demographics that you usually see in profiles like gender, nationality, age, race or marital status you need to determine what is relevant for you.
When you looked at who you wanted to work with and you really only want to work with other females then use gender as one of the elements in your profile. If you want to work with other moms to show how they can build a business while taking care of their kids, then absolutely list this in your profile.
But if you want to work with copywriters and help them market their business on social media, these two factors might not be relevant so have a look at which factors are and are not relevant for you.
So use those demographics and psychographics that are relevant to you and then spend some on your ideal customer's mindset and struggles. You can think about:
What is their attitude like?
How do they feel about what they do?
What makes them unique?
What are they struggling with?
What have they tried before to solve their issue that did not work?
What objections might they have when it comes to your solution?
What are the risks for them if they do not solve their issue?
Especially these last 4 questions are great to use for your market research. When you get to know more about your ideal customer you start to see a picture in your head of the perfect person and you will start to recognise them when you meet new people or can relate it to people you have met in the past.
And then, you need to come up with a strategy on how you can connect with this ideal customer.
How to use an ideal customer profile in your marketing?
Determining your target market, niche and ideal customer is impacting other parts of your business. It will impact which services you offer (you don't just want to offer what you think they need, but what your ideal clients actually want), how you position your business, it impacts your brand messaging, your content topics and where you show up online.
As we're talking about marketing here, I am not looking at the services you offer but at how you can connect with this ideal customer.
Brand Messaging
Because you now know exactly who you are targeting your brand messaging can be really specific. From calling them out (how much clearer is it when you say you target luxury brands as a website designer instead of saying passionate small business owners) to your ideal customer's struggles, goals and the transformation that needs to happen to get them to overcome those struggles and reach their goals.
This is also where your market research will come in. When you know the exact words your ideal customer's are using to describe their goals and their struggles they will recognise themselves in your messaging. Whether you are using that is in your IG captions, in Facebook groups or on your website, they will know you are someone that can help them.
When you then follow that up with how you can help with their transformation (those services you based on solving their struggles and with a process that they love) and have testimonials from clients you helped in the past you will not just be seen a someone that can help them but you will be seen as the right person to help them out.
Just imagine: when you exactly know what to write about just imagine how much faster your content creation will be.
Related post: How to determine your brand messaging.
Content topics
Where brand messaging is more about the words you use as well as your tone and unique voice, content topics are the subjects that you are talking out in your blogs, IG captions and newsletters.
In these topics you can talk about the beliefs or mindset they have around your services (maybe they feel they don't need them or see how it can help them), the objections they might have (too expensive or not enough time), the goals that they have, what they are running into while trying to achieve their goals. These topics are great to show that you know what you're talking about and they will see you really know your ideal customers.
Next to that, you want to talk about where they need to be in their journey or what they need to have in place before working with you, you can break down your processes or what the first step is in working with you. Anything that can help break down the barrier or concerns potential clients might have in regards to your services.
Where you show up online
You don't only want to know who your ideal customers are, but also where you can find them. Because when you know where you can find them you know which platform you should spend your on. So instead of trying to write IG captions, create stories and reels, have a Facebook Group, comment in other peoples Facebook Groups, create weekly YouTube video's, create countless pins and be on Clubhouse as much as possible you know which 1 or 2 platforms to focus on.
Final thoughts
Determining your ideal customers and knowing where to find them is the topic I get the most questions about. And I would love to give you a one-size-fits-all approach on how to identify and find them and then convert them through your copy and content.
But this looks different for each business. So I would advise you to use the steps above as well as the articles I linked to, to create your initial profile and brand messaging and then go test them. Nothing in business is on a set-it-and-forget-it base. Everything is a starting point that needs to be tested and improved, from your website, your landing pages and newsletters to your messaging and your content pillars. So it will take time to make this work.
But there is also something you can start doing today. You have probably heard the phrase: You attract what you put out. So whether you're on Instagram constantly hoping to position yourself as an authority, rely on word of mouth referrals or you're in Facebook Groups where your ideal customers hang out what do all 3 have in common?
Those potentially ideal customers on Instagram, Facebook but also when you get referred only happen as a response to how you behave. So how can you be more like your ideal clients?
Do you want to work with mission-driven clients? Then how can you show up more in line with your mission?
Do you want to work with clients who are open to feedback? How can you show them, that you are open to feedback as well?
Do you want clients who challenge their limits? How can you show them you do the same?
The more you are those same things you want to see in your ideal customer, the more you will attract ideal customers that are this way.
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