When building a marketing strategy, it’s helpful to look at your marketing in the same way you would a relationship. This is what I call “Dating Your Ideal Client”.
The first step is called The Introduction Phase. This is the step in the marketing process that business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, and online course creators tend to miss the most. And, overlooking this step causes delays to their success down the road.
This phase is so important because it establishes your strategy. It’s about being purposeful about who it is that you’re talking to, what you want them to do, and how you’ll be successful in the process.
Here are three steps to create a successful Introduction Phase:
#1. Understand Your Ideal Client: Gather a deep understanding of your ideal client.
You want to know who they are, what they’re doing, what they’re thinking, what they really need, and so on. In order to discover this understanding and to use it in your marketing, you’ll need to know the following two pieces of information:
- Demographics: age, gender, jobs, marital status, etc. These facts play a role in how you’ll craft relevant messaging to capture the attention of your target audience.
- Psychographics: These are the “adjustables” — the aspects of a person’s life that are always changing and that you can step in to help them change. This encompasses what they’re thinking, how their feelings, and their challenges. And, most importantly, how you can help them alleviate their struggle.
And, again, this information helps you create messaging that is exactly what they need to hear in order to connect with you and move on to the subsequent phases of your customer journey.
#2. Create a CONSISTENT Message: Again, you want to create a message that captures the attention of your ideal client. And, the keyword is CONSISTENT.
What key problem are you helping them solve? What is your solution?
Speak directly to your ideal client in a way they can hear. When you speak to the problem that you will help them solve, they connect with that. They hear that. And, they’re open to understanding how you can help them solve this problem.
Can you consistently, accurately, and clearly convey that problem across all the steps of your marketing? This message needs to be clear whether someone lands on your website, on your lead magnet, on a call with you, or wherever they’re connecting with your content. Teaching them how your solution will help them solve their problem is the focus of your marketing.
Why is this so important? Think about your customer journey. If your customer is receiving mixed messages, how–or even if–you can help them solve their problem become really unclear. A clear, consistent message, however, establishes trust and motivation to continue on the customer journey.
When you’re growing your business, focus on the ONE problem and ONE solution. Build this until you’re reaching your goals. Then, once you’re successfully converting to reach your goals, you can gradually add more to scale your business. But, especially in the beginning, focus on one goal and one solution to ensure the success of your marketing strategy.
#3. Understand What Success Means: Think about this: what does successful marketing look like for your business?
In this part of the Introduction phase, analyze the data associated with your marketing strategy. Figure out your goal and how much you need to sell to reach that goal. Then, examine the conversion of every step of your customer journey. Why is this understanding so important?
- You do this to ensure the success of your marketing. If you find that a part of your strategy isn’t working the way you’d like, you can make adjustments to increase your conversion.
- You are able to set realistic expectations for your sales cycle and for your budget. Every business owner has a unique sale cycle–the length of time before a person will commit. Understanding your sales cycle helps you not only have realistic expectations for your marketing campaign but it also helps you set a realistic budget to reach your goals.
Just like it’s important to know what you want out of a relationship before starting one, it is imperative that you know what your end goal is so that you can make sure that each step along the way is working.
This phase–the Introduction Phase–helps you do that. Understanding your ideal client, creating a consistent message your ideal client can hear, and knowing what a successful marketing strategy looks like for your business, ensures that you will establish an initial connection that will continue to grow throughout the process of dating your ideal client.
Do you have a need, want, or desire to scale up your business and increase your revenue? Contact me today!
For more information about Dating Your Ideal Client and more, check out my Marketing Matchmaker podcast!