Hello again! Yes, I know I've missed a question, but I'll come back to it. Why skip? Because I realized that sometimes, like with any playlist, you need to shuffle.
So, we discussed in general who this blog is for, now it time to get into specifics with question 5:
Who is your ideal customer? Did you really think you wouldn't have to answer that question during this process? If so, sorry to disillusion you. You must know exactly who you want to read this and love what you have to say and follow you. Tell me all about him/her/them. Why, because while a blog should serve as many as possible, your ideal client is your ideal reader. All posts should be written to them.
Now, I want to be clear, and I cannot believe I’ve gone this far without mentioning this (bad marketer, Colleen), but the answers to all these questions are very different when it comes to my product helping create the ‘About Me’ page for a website. Those clients are in a different place in their journey running a business. And I’ll get to answering that question later on, promise, but right now, we are talking blogs.
Let's Start With Some Definitions
Ideal: 1.a person or thing regarded as perfect; 2. satisfying one’s conception of what is perfect; most suitable
Client: a person or organization using the services of a lawyer or other professional person or company. It stems, however, from the word cluere from ancient Latin, meaning to hear or obey and was used to describe a dependent relationship, like a plebeian to a patrician. In modern terms, a hanger-on
So an ideal client is someone who is the perfect fit for your expertise and uses it to build their business. Your goal is to get them to a place where they no longer need you, but remain a fan, or, following the ancient mode, an ideal hanger-on.
Who is My ideal client? Here are some basic fact
Name:
Diana. I always name my ideal client Diana. Why? Because I was/am a huge fan of the Superfriends cartoon, back in the days when there were Saturday morning cartoons. My favorite, by far (and she NEVER got enough airtime!) was Wonder Woman. And then Linda Carter embodied her in the live action series. Sorry DC, but she’s MY Wonder Woman. However, for most of the time on that show, she’s in disguise as Diana Prince. Reserved and wearing classes (it's ALWAYS GLASSES), she hangs back, does the saving when necessary and then, it’s back to the glasses and wallflowering.
That’s my person. Someone with real power, real skills, but is not owning it for whatever reason. Someone close in age to me (I’m posting this in April of 23, and I’m 53). And look, I get it, no one wants to BE Wonder Woman all the time. We all need rest and privacy. We need the glasses, but we also DESERVE to be Wonder Woman when we’re doing our thing. My client is ready to step into the light during those moments. Oh, and she can be a he. Men deserve their WW moments, too, but were in ideas, and that, for me, is female.
Profession:
The first time someone asked me this question, I thought of someone in publishing or education. What I really thought, though, was working in my comfort zone. I also believed I’d be writing the content. That idea, along with many other things, has shifted. An important lesson, shifting is a reality of small business life. I realized that if I wanted to have a successful long-term business, the comfort zone needed to be left in the dust. So, I looked at other possible niches, and hit on project managers.
Why a project manager? Because that job requires a balance of the tangible (budgets & deadlines) and intangible (communication & people skills) to get things done. The variety of requirements needed to achieve excellence in this field also provides a rich mine of writing/blog topics. More, as skills are added the topics pool expands.
When do I enter the picture?
We meet after she’s been running her business for 3-5 years. Oh, and she’s kicking ass, thank you very much. So much so that she’s in a scaling frame of mind and the blog we create is part of that process. What that scaling journey looks like is different for everybody. Perhaps it’s about high ticket stages or a book or some other plan. What she does not say is something like, ‘All the books and advice columns say I need a blog, so I want to start one.’ This blog serves a higher purpose, as does their business, and I’m there to help my clients climb.
Do you see her? I do and I’m excited to meet her (even if she's not Linda Carter). What about you? Is it time to take off the glasses? If so, set up a CCP discovery call.