On defining your client profile

Good to see you again! I hope you enjoyed my last post about telling the world who your clients are? If not, you might like to pop over here and have a quick read. 

Building a client profile is such an incredibly invaluable exercise for any business. As you become clearer on who your client is, you'll find it miles easier to model your message in a way that appeals to exactly the right people. It becomes less about shooting into the wind and more about asking yourself; what does Jessica need to see to convince her that we're the perfect match?

Shall we get started?

Think about your best clients; those who 'get it', behave impeccably and bring you exactly the right kind of work. Create a list of a handful of people who represent that golden client to you. What characteristics do they share? Are they all from the same industry? Are they open minded and liberal or quite conservative? Introverted or extroverted? Conventional or rebellious? What specific reason bought them to your door? Think really deeply, and go back over previous conversations that may provide clues. I promise there'll be something that they have in common, but it may not be immediately obvious. 

Look beyond the conventional demographics: I'm finding more and more that age, gender, location, salary and so on has less of an impact on who we work with. It's deeper and more meaningful than that.

Hopefully you're beginning to build an idea of who your best clients are. Now define them further. Where do they love to shop? What do they do at the weekends? When they go on holiday, where might they go? Five star resort or an airbnb off the beaten track?  What kind of blogs and instagram accounts do they follow? What sort of life do they aspire to lead? Do they shop on the high street, or do they seek out independent boutiques? What does this tell you about what at==matters to them, and what drives them?

Here's an example for you. We worked with a wedding photographer a few years ago who was struggling to narrow in on her target client. As we explored who her perfect couple might be, she spoke of a couple, Harriet and James, whose wedding she had photographed the previous year. They were relaxed, down to earth, and the absolute opposite of the diva-ish clients she wanted to get away from. Their wedding was not about being a slave to the latest trends, but about meaningful, personal details that they'd made or collected themselves. They were getting married on a beautiful rustic farm and their friends were all involved heavily: the cake, the band, the car, the food: much of it was taken care of by friends and family. Compare this to a couple who are getting married in a stately home, and have hired a wedding planner to make sure that the napkins are the exact same shade as the bridesmaids' dresses, and you get an idea of how powerful this profile is. The things that appeal to Harriet and James are totally the opposite of the divas that we wanted to deter, and so by adjusting the feel of this photographers' brand, we were able to transform the kind of enquiries she received. 

You can go back to my last post to read about how we adjusted the language, imagery and design styles that we use in order to speak directly to the people who we can't wait to work with. I really hope this will help you; from experience I know how completely game changing it is! 

Let me know how you get on...