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You've Got to Know WHO Your Ideal Client or Customer IS!

by Mark Pescetti
9 replies
It's ridiculous.

Business owners drive tons and tons of traffic onto their website and they consistently fail to make any real, long-term profits.

That can be the case even when they have crazy-good copy.

All because they didn't take the time to become aware of and target their ideal customer or client.

Sad too...

People get so jacked up about opening up their online-based business...

...but when they don't receive the kind of ROI that got them so excited and eager to get their brand message out there, they get scared, angry, jealous, negative and just plain burnt out.

You should be taking the hint and learn from other people's costly mistakes.

That means...

You've absolutely got to know EXACTLY who you're talk with, what their challenges are, what emotions are haunting them, what they want and how you can HELP them.

Even more...

You've got to decide if they're male, female, shemale...

You've got to know what age demographics they fall into...

You've got to know what their values are (and if you're a match...)

You've got to communicate what qualifications they need to buy from you or work with you.

You've got to know what they're searching for that gets them looking at your solution!

Yes...

Knowing who your ideal customer or client just might be one of the most vital aspects of positioning your product or service in the marketplace.

In fact...

Your entire band message/identity relies on knowing exactly who you're talking WITH (because sales copy is a conversation) and how you benefit them...

...all in one fell swoop.

And trust me...

You'll save a ridiculous amount of money driving traffic onto your website when you've got a perfectly outlined archetype of who you're trying to reach.

You'll also make the kind of money worthy of devoting yourself to your online business.

That's a promise.

Mark Pescetti

P.S. I went into a little more depth in my latest website blog. Check it out.

P.P.S. Start writing all the aspects about your ideal customer or client you're aware of RIGHT NOW! Your livelihood depends on taking action and making sure your marketing copy is positioned to resonate in front of the right eyes!

P.P.S. Remember, it's not what you say, but how you say it. Different people respond to different ways of articulating the same basic idea. You've got to decide if your audience will respond to a hard sell... or if a softer, more inviting approach is key to make more conversions. Again, it all begins with knowing who you're talking with and imagining yourself having a real-life conversation together. Imagine someone specific sitting across from you at a diner... and write like you're talking with them.
#client #customer #ideal
  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Originally Posted by Mark Pescetti View Post

    You've got to decide if they're male, female, shemale...
    Nice turn of phrase Mark!

    Best,
    Ewen

    P.S. You've said what I see here when members show us their ad for critique.

    One short-cut way to nail the ideal person in your ad is to say it in the headline.

    Here's an example...

    ------------------------------------------
    To The Lady Of The House Who Is ALMOST,
    But Not Quite Satisfied With Her Bathroom...
    -------------------------------------------

    What this has done is given the target reader a reason to read on.

    It's like the first sale of many before you get the desired action.

    She knows it's about her and her feelings towards her bathroom.

    Now back to squeezing more money out of a sign up page
    for a monster traffic site for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author RickDuris
    I do a fair amount of work in the financial markets.

    To the uninitiated, it would seem the market as a whole is driven by one thing. Money. i.e. Greed.

    Yes, that's definitely true, but... closer interaction with the market reveals there are sub-markets.

    A colleague in the business, Lawrence Bernstein put it best recently:

    There's the:

    * Biz-op, get-rich-quick-like mentality of the penny stock chaser

    * "Safety first" mindset of the Treasuries investor

    * Colossal greed of the trader wishing to turn $25 thousand into $25 million

    * Gold bug-survivalist preparing for the “post-apocalypse”

    * Retiree with money who can’t resist the allure of something that’s free

    * Dividend investor dreaming of a bigger mailbox to hold her growing number of distribution checks

    * Options trader scouting for the latest advisory to guide him to successful
    trades

    * Investment newsletter subscriber waiting for the discovery of "the next Google"

    The list goes on (at that level.)

    But, upon even further study, there are sub-sub-markets. Based on a commitment to a certain strategy, method or style of investing.

    So now you have an overall market-->split into the mindsets or personalities--->split into methods, styles and strategies of investing-->split into ???

    I could go on again, in terms of further definition and distinction.

    Pretty soon it starts turning into a 3D Myers-Briggs personality test.

    Here's the takeaway: This is why copywriters focus.

    And this is why knowing/understanding the specific source of traffic is so important.

    If a copywriter's success is largely based upon understanding their market, trying to be a generalist (unless you're at genius copywriting levels) practically guarantees mediocrity.

    ----

    Notice I said "practically."

    Because sometimes you can hit a home run by having "a fresh eye"--knowing little about the market.

    Sometimes market dedicated copywriters get (unintentionally) lazy. When they get lazy, they make assumptions. When they make assumptions, they write tired same old, same old copy. When they write same old, same old copy, they create a dud.

    A winning promotion by a fresh eye will unsettle everything. And cause massive reevaluation and self-examination by marketers in the market.

    And a race to who can knock-off the piece first.

    ----

    So market dedication or the fresh eye approach. It's your choice.


    - Rick Duris
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    • Profile picture of the author fated82
      Originally Posted by RickDuris View Post

      I do a fair amount of work in the financial markets.

      To the uninitiated, it would seem the market as a whole is driven by one thing. Money. i.e. Greed.

      Yes, that's definitely true, but... closer interaction with the market reveals there are sub-markets.

      A colleague in the business, Lawrence Bernstein put it best recently:

      There's the:

      * Biz-op, get-rich-quick-like mentality of the penny stock chaser

      * "Safety first" mindset of the Treasuries investor

      * Colossal greed of the trader wishing to turn $25 thousand into $25 million

      * Gold bug-survivalist preparing for the "post-apocalypse"

      * Retiree with money who can't resist the allure of something that's free

      * Dividend investor dreaming of a bigger mailbox to hold her growing number of distribution checks

      * Options trader scouting for the latest advisory to guide him to successful
      trades

      * Investment newsletter subscriber waiting for the discovery of "the next Google"

      The list goes on (at that level.)

      But, upon even further study, there are sub-sub-markets. Based a commitment to a certain strategy, method or style of investing.

      So now you have an overall market-->split into the mindsets or personalities--->split into methods, styles and strategies of investing-->split into ???

      I could go on again, in terms of further definition and distinction.

      Pretty soon it starts turning into a damn 3D Myers-Briggs personality test.

      Here's the takeaway: This is why copywriters focus.

      And this is why knowing/understanding the specific source of traffic is so important.

      If a copywriter's success is largely based upon understanding their market, trying to be a generalist (unless you're at genius copywriting levels) practically guarantees mediocrity.

      ----

      Notice I said "practically."

      Because sometimes you can hit a home run by having "a fresh eye"--knowing little about the market.

      Sometimes market dedicated copywriters get (unintentionally) lazy. When they get lazy, they make assumptions. When they make assumptions, they write tired same old, same old copy. When they they write same old, same old copy, they create a dud.

      A winning promotion by a fresh eye will unsettle everything. And cause massive reevaluation and self-examination by marketers in the market.

      And a race to who can knock-off the piece first.

      ----

      So market dedication or the fresh eye approach. It's your choice.


      - Rick Duris
      Thanks for the reminder, both from the OP and Rick. It gives me a better understanding of how we can increase the response rate without really increasing the cost - by laser targeting your message.
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  • Profile picture of the author infinityplr
    Couldn't agree more. it is one of the requirement you are coming up with a business plan, to know who are your target clients and what do they like, dislikes and needs so that it will help you to market your products effectively for them.

    Maybe those burnt out marketers should try and review their business plan again to see if they are targeting the right customers with their contents and ads.
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    GO. MOVE. Keep GOING! Even with the smallest steps and slower paces, the important thing is you are NOT STOPPING! You'll get there!
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    • Profile picture of the author videolover7
      If a copywriter's success is largely based upon understanding their market, trying to be a generalist (unless you're at genius copywriting levels) practically guarantees mediocrity.

      Notice I said "practically."
      A memorable example of your exception is Gary Halbert's Coat-Of-Arms Letter.

      The only targeting he did in his mailings was by last name. Beyond that, his prospects were simply names from the phone book.

      And as we know, it was one of the most successful promotions of all time.

      VL
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
        Originally Posted by videolover7 View Post

        A memorable example of your exception is Gary Halbert's Coat-Of-Arms Letter.

        The only targeting he did in his mailings was by last name. Beyond that, his prospects were simply names from the phone book.

        And as we know, it was one of the most successful promotions of all time.

        VL
        I hadn't heard of this campaign before.

        So I Googled it and found an old interview with Gary about the campaign.

        Very interesting story.

        I especially loved how the bank had to keep adjusting to serve Gary.

        Great stuff.

        Thanks for putting this on my radar!

        Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author eugenedm
    I couldn't agree more, Mark. We can drive a lot of traffic to our websites, blog etc. but if there's no profit then everything is useless. One can have the best copy but fail to generate sales just because the target market wasn't really determined to begin with.
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    Just today, I spoke to one of my client on how he is targeting his marketing towards. Initially, he said that he is targeting women age 25-35, without kids, employed and trendy.

    When I went down to his outlet (he runs a hair salon in the neighborhood) I realize that most people around the area are middle aged above 35. That means, all along he is targeting his marketing to the wrong crowd.

    I think our job is more than just writing good compelling copy. We are also responsible for helping them to rethink their marketing strategies, identify their shortcomings so that it is easy for us to improve their conversion rates.
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  • Profile picture of the author echelon
    I completely agree on the idea that it is important to focus on prospects that may match your services better.

    It actually reminds me of a service I offered before. At the beginning, while I was going after a large (but still targeted) group of prospects, my conversion was not as high as it became after. What I changed in my search for potential clients was that I focused on a smaller group of people who was, in my opinion, more likely to have funds to spend.
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