Discovering Your Ideal Client
Have you given thought to the type of clients you want to serve in your business? When starting a business or creating your brand, it is critical that you know who your ideal/dream client is. Before you do any marketing, logo design, menu design - anything; you need to know who you’re creating your business and brand for.
Estheticians can operate for years without truly knowing who their ideal audience is, questioning why the growth process always remains so hard and why it never seems to happen. It’s common to hear estheticians say, “everyone is my ideal client”. I know why they say it - they don’t want to exclude anyone. I get it, but everyone won’t be your client. When you know who you’re trying to target, you’ll know what to say and how to present yourself. For example, using slang or a lot of trends with an older market may not translate well. If you know who you’re talking to, you’ll know what will appeal to them. If you speak to everyone, you speak to no one.
I know what you’re thinking. “Ashley, won’t this narrow down my market?” Yes, but that’s what you want. What it actually does is enable you to appeal to an audience that truly values what you do. The more you come to know your ideal client, the easier it will be for you to create content that speaks directly to them. When a potential client feels like you “get them,” you become so much more appealing. You will do one of two things: attract or repel. In order to attract, you need content, services and branding that your ideal client wants to see! What if you repel, instead of attract? Good! Those people aren’t your client and they will make room for those that are!
I want to stop and explain one thing - anyone can develop into your ideal client. Exposure is good, period. But, the point is to know whom you’re trying to attract so you aren’t all over the place. Again, you won’t appeal to everyone. You may have a current follower that isn’t your ideal client, but a potential client could see a post they shared. You’re still building trust and creating value - the right person will appreciate that.
So, how do you do it? First, be specific. Look at your current client base. Take some time to think about the people you currently enjoy working with. If there are people you don’t enjoy working with, exclude them. When I was thinking of my ideal client for the rebranding of Lumi Beauty Studio, I used the characteristics of my favorite clients. Ask yourself this: If you could work with one person every day, who would that be?
Once you’ve given thought to who your ideal client is, you need to identify their concerns and how you can help them. They have a problem that YOU can uniquely solve. Knowing their pain points gives you key information for putting together suitable content. If your ideal client is concerned with skincare, they are probably less interested in your Friday night. Now, that’s not to say you can’t mix up your content. You can and should! No one wants to be sold to all the time. The key is to bring it back to how you can help.
For example, let’s say you want to post about your Friday night and your target client is concerned with acne. You could post your night out pic, but use the caption to talk about how you remove your makeup at night to prevent breakouts. If you can identify a challenge your ideal client currently faces and “bridge the gap” from their problem to a solution, it’s likely you will find yourself in high demand. What problems does your ideal client have and how can you help them?
To determine exactly who your ideal client is, ask yourself the following questions:
What’s their name?
What’s their age?
Where do they live?
Are they married/single/divorced?
Do they have kids?
What’s their career or income?
What problem do they have (and how will you solve it?)
Where do they hang out online? What media do they prefer?
So how can you identify them and get to know them better?
What do they Google?
What are their habits?
Does race/ethnicity matter? (It’s okay to target a specific group)
What is their gender?
How do they research service providers?
Why did they choose you?
How do they find you?
Why do they keep coming back to you?
What are they getting from your business that others don’t offer?
Once you’ve answered these questions, guess what? You have your ideal client! Congratulations! This is just the beginning. Keep in mind it’s okay to add questions to this list. It’s also okay to have multiple ideal clients. Take all of this information and write a description of your ideal client (referred to as a client persona or client avatar). Once you have this done, you can take the next steps in creating your brand or business. Your service menu will be easier to create, your marketing will have a purpose. Everything will flow and become less overwhelming.