If you asked me what’s the main reason most companies don’t have as many customers as they want, I’d say that they don’t understand their customers.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, how in the world can you sell something to someone you don’t understand? You can’t.
So, how do you get to know your customers? By creating an ideal customer profile.
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that not all your customers are the same, but you still need to create a persona that represents 70% of your customers. If you try to talk to a group of people on your website, you’ll most likely fail. But if you talk to that persona whose profile you created, your visitors will feel that you’re talking to them and they’ll be a lot more responsive.
So, how can you create an ideal client profile?
The first step is to create a document describing their ideal day. Make it as detailed as possible. These are some questions that will help you know your ideal customer better:
– How old is she?
– Where does she live?
– Is she married? Divorced?
– How many kids does she have?
– How much does she make?
– What does she spend her money on?
– What is her average day like?
– What does she have for breakfast?
– Who does she have breakfast with?
– What are her friends like?
– What does her husband look like?
– What movies does she like?
– What kind of books does she read?
– What does she do before going to bed at night?
– Who does she admire? Why?
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. This exercise is so powerful that I wouldn’t even consider starting a marketing campaign without doing this first.
After you’re done with this exercise, I have another one for you. Do a profile explaining how this person makes buying decisions.
– Does she buy online?
– How does she do it? Does she use Google? Does she go to forums?
– Is she an emotional or a logical buyer?
– How will she use my product?
– Does she do research before buying stuff? How does she do it? Does she use the Internet? How?
– Who does the research? Who makes the final decision? Who has to approve that decision? Who influences in her decisions? Who does she justify her purchases with?
– How important is price to her?
– How important is quality to her?
– Does she like getting products shipped to her or does she prefer to pick them up?
– What would she use my product for? How often would she use it? Where would she use it? Who with?
By now you should have a very clear idea of who your ideal client is and it should be a lot easier to sell your products to her. Remember: identify what her hot buttons are (what motivates her to take action) and push them!
One last thing, when you write the copy for your site, write for Marie (don’t forget to name your ideal customer), not for a group of people. Use sentences like “our product will help you lose weight and feel more energized than ever before” instead of “our product helps people lose weight”.
