Are you really clear about your target market?

When I ask someone who is their ideal client is the answers are shockingly similar. For example, when talking to a Business Coach I might hear: Women, between 20 and 60 who are trying to start their own business or when speaking to an image consultant I might hear Women between 20 and 60 years old, trying to start their own business.

Hmm, aren’t those the same people? Well, the answer is … Maybe. So what, if anything, separates the Ideal Client for the Image consultant and the Business Coach? Neither of these descriptions of an Ideal Client is complete. There are far more questions that need to be asked before you have a crystal clear image of who your Ideal Client is.

You need to start by asking yourself the following questions:

• How old are they?
• What is their sex?
• What do they all have in common?
• What do they do for a living?
• What do they earn?
• What do they read?
• Where do they hang out?
• What do they do for fun?
• What keeps them up at night?
• Do they have kids?
• Are they married? Single? Divorced? Widowed?

Until you’ve answered all these questions and dug down deeper, you’ll never know what separates your ideal clients from the rest of the population. Without that information, how can you possibly know the right way to market to them specifically?

In my original example, the Ideal Client for the Image Consultant will most likely end up having a slightly different set of characteristics than those of the Ideal Client for the Business Coach. Of course, there may be overlaps. Those overlaps could end up leading to wonderful Strategic Alliances.