niche
Attract Your Ideal Client in 5 Simple Steps
June 14, 2011 | 
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If you could work only with your ideal client, who would that be? What are their problems, how would you serve them? And HOW would you get that message across to them?
5 steps to attracting your ideal client
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Nail your niche and stop stressing!
In the last week or so, I have talked with several business owners who are who are still struggling with overwhelm when it comes to marketing their businesses.
Most of the time, they are spreading themsleves too thin in an efffort to ‘put themselves out there’, as well as cope with the day to day running of their businesses, all the while trying to embrace new technologies and master social media!!
Enough is enough!
What I have noticed, in the effort to ‘get noticed’ they are running themselves ragged.
BUT, in most cases they have not yet identified a clear target audience, and are trying to cast a net over a very wide group of people, who each speak different ‘language’, and have differing priorities. In the process, their message becomes watered down, and is often lost in translation.
Does that sound familiar to you?
Let’s put this in perspective – if someone came to you and offered you are cure all for ‘everything’, how would that make you feel? Would you trust it?
What if someone offerered you a solution that had been found to be particularly useful in your unique situation. What if the marketing of that solution was consistent and believable, backed up with evidence and social proof (through their facebook page and website or blog), and your friends where supporters of it too. Would you be more likely to trust it?
YES! That is the power of niching!!
First I want to share two niche journeys in highly competitive fields (a life coach, Kama Frankling, and a personal trainer Jen Forster). This is an encore interview. You can listen into those here:
P.S. (Kama has just launched her book, The Happy Migrant, created especially for her chosen niche).
5 Starters to Nailing Your Niche
#1 Don’t be afraid!Although narrowing your target feels like the opposite of what you should do. It’s not (if you listen to the audio, you’ll discover how Jen and Kama found this out for themselves). A narrow target makes it incredibly easy to create a defined marketing message. This in turn helps others to grab hold of what you are offering. If you are unclear, your potential clients certainly will be.
#2 Describe your ideal client in detail.If you find your self saying things like “my clients can’t afford much, so I need to discount my prices”….what do you think you’ll get? Excactly. More of the same. Describe your IDEAL client. Who is she, what does she like, what is important to her? What are her priorities. Then everything you do, and everything your create, will have her in mind. .
#3 Explore who you’re already attracting The greatest clues will be found in your existing client base. Who are your favourite clients now, what do they have in common, and where can you reach more of those. What else can you do to meet their needs?
#4 Who can you help the most that is ready to buyEven if your solutions could be useful to many, they won’t all be ready to buy. The lower and more ripe the ‘fruit’, the better. Target those who are ‘ready’. Perhaps they are at breaking point, or have ‘had enough’. They will also see your service as a priority, because it solves a problem for them. Keep in mind that ‘problem solving messages’ are more powerful than ‘prevention’ messages.
#5 Decide on a niche, then provide services that meet their needsOnce you know who, create products and services that you can sell. Once you have those products and services, you will need to market them. This will be much easier with a target niche.
Take a look at your current products and services. Is it clear who they are for and the problems you are solving?
If you would like some help, get your copy of the Healthy Marketing Blueprint which will clarify your niche, marketing messages and how to connect the two to get customers and reduce the stress and overwhelm. You can read more about it here.
Why does niching feel so damn hard? 3 common myths.
Niching your business isn’t that hard!
Defining a Niche to Attract More Clients….
One of the greatest struggles I see health practitioners and coaches have is around making a decision to define a specific market to work with. Let me ask you this. If someone had a service to offer you, what would be more meaningful? Something that is simply offered to ‘everyone’, or something that is offered in terms that you care about, in your language, that speaks to a problem you have? Today I’m going to outline some of the benefits of defining your niche and offer some practical suggestions on how to determine a great niche for you.
Even if everyone could benefit from your product or service, trying to promote what you to do ‘everyone’ is hard work, costly, and will quickly burn you out with little real results. To truly make an impact with your marketing efforts, it makes much more sense to define a group that you can direct your marketing message to who are ready and willing to hear what you have to say, and are likely recognise your product or service as a good choice that can solve their specific problem.
7 Great Reasons to Define Your Client Niche
1. Creating your marketing messages become easier when you know specifically who specifically you are talking to!
2. When you know who you niche is, and what they want, it becomes easier to deliver solutions in a way that engages them – you can speak their ‘language’.
3. You’ll be seen as an expert in your field, which automatically attracts more clients to you.
4. You can refine your services to really serve your niche well
5. You are seen as an obvious choice to solve specific problems your niche have
6. You actually reduce the number of competitors you have
7. When you specialise you stand out from the crowd
There are two main keys to defining your ideal niche –
WHO are ready and willing to hear what you have to say, and
WHAT is the problem you can help them with.
Generally I find that practitioners I work with usually have an existing group of clients they have been working with, so that is a great place to start. Beginning with your existing client profile provides lots of clues on how best to move forward with clarifying your niche. If you are just starting out, focus on defining your ‘ideal client’. Refining your niche is a process that may take a little time. But it is absolutely essential. The key is getting as specific as you can. Note that just because you are deciding on a niche, that it doesn’t exclude others. But it will definately make your marketing and promotion much easier.
Answering the questions below will allow you to gain some clarity around a potential niche. Note that some of the questions seem similar, but I encourage you to answer them anyway to help draw a solid niche out of you! Do not generalise. Be as narrow and specific as you can.
Your First 10 Steps Toward Uncovering Your Ideal Niche
Take a sheet of paper, note down each of these questions with the associated response.
1. Who are your favourite clients
2. Who are your regular clients
3. Who would you ideally like to work with most
4. What type of client currently uses your services the most
5. What type of comments do you receive from current clients
6. Who gives you the most favourable comments
7. What are the MOST COMMON problems they see you for
8. What issues do you care about most
9. Who would benefit the most from what you do
10. Why do you do what you do?
Is a theme or pattern emerging? You should begin to see some common threads in your answers. As soon as you begin to see that a logical niche can be seen, you will be able to explore what it that you offer that can specifically meet their needs. This will become the start of uncovering your ‘unique selling proposition’. We will explore that further in next weeks Healthy Marketing. Stay tuned….!
If you have struggled with this or found it helpful, I would really love to hear you comments about it. Have you found the right niche for you?
