How To Find Your Ideal Clients Online

As an entrepreneur, no matter how great your product or service is, it all translates to nothing if your ideal client cannot find you or vice versa. Before you start working with any clients at all, you need to be clear on who you are promoting to, so you don’t end up alienating the people that matter to your business the most, your ideal clients. Most times when business owners go into operations without truly knowing who they want to serve, they end up questioning the business in itself because a few months down the line, Crickets!

There is little to no client inflow and the sales process, as expected, is difficult.

Why is it Important to know your ideal clients?

The benefits that come with finding your ideal clients are innumerable. Here are a few:

1. It helps you clearly define who you want to work with and who you wouldn’t want. You want to fill your clientele with people who appreciate your help and respect your boundaries, not those who will frustrate your efforts.

1. Your marketing efforts are minimized – You don’t waste your time in endless cycles because you know what to do at each time. You have access to the right insights to drive major decisions you will make in marketing.

1. It helps you figure out the platform to promote your products and services – If your ideal customer is not on Instagram for instance, there’s no point setting up your business on there.

1. You get to communicate with your clients in an effective way – You can see clearly into their pain point and then offer a solution to show them you’re there to help them and that you know what they need. This is because you have taken the time to study them inside and out.

1. Your marketing spend is better utilized – Just as your marketing efforts are minimized, your marketing budget is used adequately because you’re talking to the right person.

As long as your solution solves a challenge for humans, there is definitely a pool of people who need what you offer, you only need to find them. However, your entry into the marketing process can make or break whether they do business with you.

There are a number of ways to do marketing. They include;

1. Outbound marketing – This involves proactively reaching out to customers to get them interested in your product. In this setting, you send messages to a huge amount of people with the hope of making a sale. For instance; cold calling, direct emailing billboard advertisement, radio, TV, newspapers etc. The Outbound approach is rooted in the thought that the larger the group you send messages to, the larger the return. This is fast becoming an outdated way of marketing in that, asides being inaccurate in its approach, it is very linear with limited channels. Also, the Return on Investment in Outbound marketing does not match up.

1. Inbound marketing on the other hand is focused on attracting customers to your products and services. They begin by searching for content to solve a problem they have. As such, your content is well positioned to answer key questions they have and explain how your products or services will resolve their issues and solve their needs.

With Inbound marketing, you’re able to stay laser focused on the entire mix – Content, Positioning, Strategy and so much more. Some of the examples of inbound marketing include; social media content, blog posts, ebooks, webinars, podcasts, email marketing etc.

Let’s say a customer is looking to lose weight. First, they may type “how to lose weight” into Google to explore options they find.

The first organic result may be a blog outlining the ways to start your weight loss journey in a clear, neutral way (Search Engine Optimization). After reading the blog post, they might want to learn more about weight loss or fitness in general.

Conveniently, the end of the blog has a link to encourage them to sign up for an upcoming weight loss challenge, to kick start that journey for themselves, for free. They click the link, they find case studies and testimonials of others on the landing page who successfully lost weight. Seeing other people like them, they are encouraged to join the community.

Once they sign up, right on cue, you will send them a follow-up email, containing information they need about the community.  After the challenge, you’re most probably upselling them to a higher offer – your weight loss program (Email Marketing)

Inbound marketing can be done organically or paid for. Organic marketing focuses on attracting traffic for free. From our weight loss example above, the customer found the brand organically through search engine results through SEO – Search Engine Optimization, a process that involves getting web pages to rank higher in search engines such as Google. Organic marketing as an approach involves a great deal of patience and consistency.

Paid marketing on the other hand, involves paying for traffic which allows you to specifically target audiences, instead of waiting for them to find you organically. You try to focus on buyer interests, internet searches, and past interactions with the business or brand online so you’re able to target adequately. Examples are Google Ads otherwise known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Social Media Ads, Influencer Marketing, Banner Ads, Ad Retargeting etc.

While paid marketing is relatively faster than organic marketing, they both have their uses, and one is not inherently better than the other.

1. There’s also some part of marketing that is relationship based: This is when you get strategic about collaborating with other people that already serve your ideal client so you can get your business in front of their audience. Building up trust is essential for your business’ growth and survival, especially in the online space. Collaborations help you widen your reach/client-base and add authenticity to your brand.

It can be as simple as a joint social media post, engaging on a community facebook group or even as robust as launching a co-branded product with another business. It may not always be free but when done with the right partner and the right goals, it is usually worth it.

Finding the right marketing type at different points in your business goes a long way to attracting your ideal clients to you.

How do you begin this approach?

• Identify who your ideal client is

This is very different from your target market or audience, it is that one person you serve. It is very common to hear, especially from service-based businesses, that what they offer “is suitable for everybody”. Now this is where many businesses miss it, no matter how general your product or service may be, it is not for everyone. As a matter of fact, it shouldn‘t be.

For instance; if you design websites and you think you should target everyone who needs a website for their brand, this is going to miss the mark as it is not specific enough. Instead of trying to sell to anyone with a business, how about you target thought leaders who need personal websites or product business owners who need an ecommerce site to sell their products.

You may think that it is narrowing your client-base, but what it actually does is enable you to appeal to an audience that truly values what you do. Remember that you want to appear in a way that a potential client feels like you “get them,” so it needs to be narrowed down to that one person. They are a real person with needs, desires, and pain points that your business can help them with. Try it today and see how much clarity and growth it will bring to your business.

You however cannot identify them by taking a wild guess, it needs to be done through intentional research. (How to build your ideal customer avatar video)

• Understand your business goals

Your business goals are the steps to achieving the result you want for your business. They depend on the results you want as well as your needs as a business so, they may vary at different points in your business. Some examples of goals include; brand awareness, lead generation, customer acquisition, brand engagement, etc.

One thing to note however is that your goals should be measurable, you need to be able to assess progress and make necessary changes in your strategy. To measure a goal, you need the right metrics. These metrics are commonly known as KPIs – Key Performance Indicators that help you see progress made.

• Find your ideal clients online

Once you know where your ideal client spends time online, you can effectively determine where your business needs to establish a voice and presence and find the most effective ways to present and distribute your message.

-What platform does your ideal client typically use?

-Where do they go for information?

-What type of content is your ideal client usually looking for?

Images, videos, long form blog content, Guides etc.

-What phrases or search terms does your ideal client tend to use?

When speaking to your ideal client, your marketing content needs to be as effective as possible.

Say you are a skincare consultant focused on helping busy moms in establishing a seamless skincare routine that works for their schedule and day to day life, your ideal client can be a 9-5 mom who gets information from mom blogs, facebook support groups etc. A typical way to reach out is target her through paid marketing or create content around her challenges as a busy mom in alignment with your brand offerings.

• Employ your strategy

There are several touch points before a sale is made. It is possible to still find yourself in the endless struggle for clients even after you start relating with your ideal customer. This can happen due to several reasons but it is all summarized in the fact that they may not like you or trust you yet. There is something I call the KLT framework. KLT stands for Know, Like, and Trust.

After your audience comes to know you, they are not sold immediately, they need something to hold on to, that will make them like you and eventually connect with you and trust you. This is where Content and Positioning comes in. You need to provide value to your ideal client so that your business is top of mind to them. This way, they are most likely to look for your content, posts, etc. in the future.

Value is relative however, whatever solves the pain points of your ideal client is valuable to them. Sticking with the skincare example above; She begins to get acquainted with your brand when you keep dishing out content that speaks to her pain point. She starts to trust you as that expert with the answers to her questions. Getting her to pay for your services at this point becomes easy.

The work that involves knowing your ideal client and attracting them to work with you is one that cannot be avoided. It is one of the best things you can do for your business as regards marketing. You experience more conversions, more quality leads, and a better ROI for your digital marketing investments and efforts.

It is all wrapped in first, understanding WHO your Ideal Client is, WHERE they can be found online, and HOW to begin conversations with them!