How to market your coaching is a often requested topic, in today’s guest post coach Cindy Hillsey shares her expertise and knowledge in:
Marketing and your Ideal Client
Ideal Client. Target Market. Niche Market. They all mean the same thing, right? Wrong!
And this, I believe, is where the confusion sets in for many business owners. How many times have you read an article, attended a seminar, and/or just had a conversation with someone where all three of these terms are used interchangeably? I’ll bet by now you don’t even hear those words anymore. And if you do, do you really understand what they mean and how they apply to your business? Unless you are clear about what these terms mean for your business, you will more than likely struggle with marketing your business.
I have a number of clients who contact me with what they call ‘marketing problems’. They are having a difficult time filling their practice. During our conversations, I find they don’t really have a marketing problem so much as they have an Ideal Client problem. They are trying to be everything to everyone. When I ask them who their Ideal Client is I am usually given a broad, vague answer such as: women, or women in transition, or Coaches, etc.. While that sounds great, it doesn’t tell me who your Ideal Client is and why she’s ideal.
If you don’t know who you are doing what to, how can you do it? And therein lies the real problem: It’s not about marketing, but about knowing who you are marketing to and why at a deep core level.
Let’s talk a bit more about Target Market, Niche Market, and Ideal Client. These terms do not mean the same thing. Please don’t confuse them as they serve different functions.
Target Market – This is a grouping based on one or more common characteristics. For example, age, sex, location, occupation, product purchases, etc.
Niche – This is primarily an occupational grouping. For example, Sports Channels, Financial Planners, Coaches, CPAs, VAs, etc.
Ideal Client – This is the person (and yes I am going to refer to this as one person even though you will have several of the one person) who you connect with at your core. This is the person you know extremely well, so well, in fact, that you can list their problems as though they were your own problems. You understand their values, desires, beliefs, as well as you understand your own. It is because of this deep understanding that you are able to offer effective solutions and/or guidance to your Ideal Client.
Here’s a visual of the above:
It is this concept around the Ideal Client that will allow you to address the problems of your Ideal Client, offer solutions to your Ideal Client, and create the content on your website that speaks to your Ideal Client. In turn, this will allow you to market more effectively and easily. Once you know who are doing what to the rest of your marketing becomes easier.
Let’s take a moment and review some essential elements of the Ideal Client:
- It’s counter-intuitive in the sense that it is most effective when your Ideal Client is highly specific and narrow.
- When you try to be everything to everybody, you end being nothing to anybody.
- There is a common center of interest and/or lifestyle of your Ideal Client.
- Your Ideal Client exists in a sufficient quantity.
- Your Ideal Client has the ability to pay you.
- (Hint) Your Ideal Client is really you on some level!
What does having an Ideal Client do for you and your business?
- An Ideal Client provides you with a clear vision and an obvious focus.
- It enhances your credibility and your reputation.
- It increases the demand for your services because of the specialized market.
- It greatly simplifies marketing and increases your return on investment (ROI).
- It provides a firm base from which you can expand your business.
So, how do you go about determining who your Ideal Client is? One way I would suggest is for you to write a story about your Ideal Client. Give him/her a name, an education, a family life (single or not), a social life, a business, and write about the problems they have in their business that you can help them solve. Get very detailed. Let me repeat that…get very detailed. I want you to know this person like you know your family!
These questions should help you begin to craft your Ideal Client:
1. What are the basic characteristics of your Ideal Client? (demographics, age, gender, salary, education, location, etc.)
2. Who are your clients? Are they business executives, artists, small business owners, micro business owners?
3. What kind of values does your ideal client have? Do these values match yours?
4. What exactly do your Ideal Clients do? How do they need your help? (Be very specific in your answers to these two questions.)
5. How do your Ideal Clients treat you? Do they pay on time? Do they understand you are a business owner and treat you as such?
Whether you know exactly who your Ideal Client is or not, please take the time to answer the above questions so that the next time you are asked, “Who is your Ideal Client? You can answer them without hesitation!
About the Author/Further Resources
Cindy Hillsey, CPC, ACC, is a Creative Small Business Coach and the owner of Virtual Partnering, based in Grand Rapids, MI. Cindy has an extensive background in small business, both online and offline. By combining her experience, business skills, and her coaching skills, she is able to offer her clients a unique perspective to help them achieve their business goals. She coaches women entrepreneurs who wish to express their creativity through their business by helping them put a solid business foundation in place step-by-step so that they can grow their business while fostering their creativity.
Cindy holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Davenport University. She is a certified coach through the International Coach Academy. Along with being a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF), she holds the Associate Certified Coach designation through the ICF. In addition, Cindy is currently working on obtaining her Certified Coach designation through the Creativity Coaching Association.
Cindy’s websites:
Connect with me:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cindyhillsey
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cindyhillsey
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyhillsey
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