2020 Has Changed Your Ideal Client
2020 has changed all of us in one way or another. Your Ideal Client has changed and I encourage you to understand the ways 2020 has changed them. It's the most important, most purposeful work you can do for your business right now.
Let's start at the beginning: As savvy and generous business owners, we know that before we write one word, record one podcast, or post one thing to social media, we must identify our Ideal Client.
Whether you call them your Ideal Client Avatar, Ideal Client Persona, Aligned Buyer, Joe, or Sally, simply doing the work to really understand and get to know the human behind the purchase is the most important work you can do. Why? Because otherwise, your marketing material is vague, broad, and likely irrelevant.
Unless you get into the nitty-gritty-details of who your Ideal Client is; until you know...
why they lose sleep at night,
why they pursue their hopes,
what keeps them going when they lose motivation,
what they love,
what story they tell themselves,
and what their limiting beliefs are,
what matters to them,
your marketing material isn't going to resonate. And marketing efforts that do not resonate are simply just noise unworthy of attention or appreciation. And if you've done this work but you did it months ago, or years ago, I'd invite you to revisit this exercise because we humans are dynamic. This is a good practice to do at least once per year. But here we are and 2020 has rocked our worlds.
2020 has caused a major state of turmoil for many/most people. How has your Ideal Client changed? What matters to them now that didn't matter to them a few months ago? How has Covid-19 changed their hopes, fears, and the narrative in their lives?
Can you answer the following questions:
has what was once important to my Ideal Client changed since last year?
how have their finances been impacted by Covid-19?
whose content are they consuming now, but wasn't in their life before the pandemic?
how have their fears and hopes changed this year?
what do they value now that they may not have prioritized pre-Covid19?
how has remote learning, or remote working from home impacted their decision making?
what's their hope for the future? For 2021? Beyond?
how does your offering impact and improve their life now in ways it didn't before Covid-19?
We must understand what moves people, what matters to them, and why in order to make a difference in their lives. This changes over time as people grow and develop. A pandemic and it's fall out have caused significant change worth noting.
In order to honorably receive the payment of time, money and attention, we have to first create content with intention and a clear purpose for an audience we know well. This pandemic has changed our audience in at least one way.
Here are a few reminders of why we need to know our Ideal Clients well:
1. You're weaving yourself into their story. You're asking for precious time and attention, which you know is hugely valuable, and you have a responsibility to honor it; to use it wisely. If you don't go to great lengths to understand your Ideal Client on a personal level, your marketing material feels like mindless clutter in their feeds and in their inbox. We all know how that feels... we put those people/brands on mute and we unsubscribe. But how has 2020 changed what matters to your Ideal Client?
Understand what your Ideal Clients really need from you so that when you have their attention, you literally help them by improving their life in a generous way.
2. Growing an audience is humbling. It quiets the voices in your head that tell you that your material, expertise, and ideas don't matter. While this may drive an ego-boost, I find it to be exactly the opposite. The people who pay attention to your content are spending minutes, hours, or days of their life consuming & applying what you've created for them. When you know that your material is making an impact, it's incredibly humbling. It's also incredibly motivating to keep going. You have a responsibility to deliver. When people's hopes, goals and dreams are feeling fraught in 2020, being a source of inspiration, hope and education is a great way to serve.
The work you do to understand your Ideal Client is some of the most generous, humbling, and grounding work you'll do during your entrepreneurial journey.
Generously understanding and serving your Ideal Clients will organically and exponentially grow your business. We must adapt with the current state of things and meet our audience's where they are. If you have a hard time "going deep" to try and understand your Ideal Client, please send me a note. Or if you're unsure how your Ideal Client has changed over time, let's revisit the exercise together. I'll gladly lead you through this process and ask you the clarifying questions you need to answer because I want you to create content that really helps people and informs thoughtful decisions in their lives.
This is the work of honest, authentic, and generous content marketing, after all!
Thanks for being here,
Kelly Smith
Owner, Willow & Oak Business Solutions