Finding your ideal customers might not always be as easy as it sounds, and although you might just assume that anyone could and would buy what you’re selling, the truth is that it’s usually a smaller number of people who are far more likely to need what you’re offering. And once you find them, success becomes much easier to achieve, but until that time, you might find yourself being held back. With that in mind, here are some helpful ways to find your ideal customers so you can really start moving forward.
If you’ve already made sales, that’s the best place to start - look at the people who are already choosing your product and service and ask questions like what they’ve got in common. It could be their age, location, interests, or even the problem they need you and your business to solve for them.
You don’t have to know every single thing about every single customer, but a few common traits can definitely help you narrow down who you’re marketing to, and that means you can create a message that’s going to appeal to the right people.
Most people buy something because they’ve got a need rather than it being a random decision, so understanding what problem you’re solving for them is going to help narrow down who’s most likely to be interested in your business.
It could be something practical like saving time or money, for example, or perhaps it’s something a bit less obvious like convenience or peace of mind, but whatever it is, if you make it very clear what you’re helping with, that’s going to make it a lot easier to find the people who actually need it.
Once you’ve got more of an idea of who your ideal customers are, the next step is working out where they are - it could be online platforms, specific websites, or perhaps it’s physical locations; it’s really going to depend on your business and the customer profile.
It’s important to know where they spend their time because then you can put yourself in the same place, and make sure they know about you more easily. After all, what’s the point of having a great message targeted to the right people if you’re not using that message where the right people are?
It’s helpful to back up any assumptions you’re making about who your ideal customers are with real information where you can - analytics, customer feedback, and tracking can all give you a better understanding of what’s working and what isn’t.
For businesses that rely on secure transactions or onboarding processes, tools like digital ID verification can also give you plenty of insights into customer behaviour, and help to boost trust and security at the same time, for example.
You’re not expected to get everything right from the very start, and the truth is that finding your ideal customer tends to be a longer process where you test different ideas and see what works best.
It’s good to try different messages, platforms, and offers, because then you’ll be able to refine things over time until you’re sure you’re speaking to the right people and telling them what they need to hear.
Until next time, Be creative! - Pix'sTory