Create Content that Appeals to your Best Customers
The field of dreams quote is terribly outdated, and I’m probably not the first to tell you. “If you build it, they will come” might still relate to ball players needing a place to work their craft, but it could not be more different from the landscape facing most businesses today.
As someone who works on developing effective marketing strategies, especially when it comes to the web, I see too many businesses with amazing products or services who have built it, yet new leads aren’t coming.
Every company is different in what they are looking for in an ideal customer, and with the growing number of searches online for anything and everything, its increasingly important to have a strong web presence AND a way to generate and convert leads.
Although more businesses have websites, there’s a quantity vs quality problem. Google reports that the amount of visitors who take a look and leave (bounce rate) in less than 10 seconds is increasing year by year.
The formula is different for each business, but the general rule applies: give them what they came for.
How to give customers what they came for:
In order to follow through on the principle, a few things are required.
1) Build a Target Profile
Do the research to find your ideal client by building a target profile. Take a serious look at your business and see which clients are most valuable to you. These are the people you need to find more of. This could be measured in scope of work, profitability, duration of projects, frequency of purchase. These clients meet your target profile.
2) How Many Potential Clients are out There?
Is there enough of them? Find out how many potential clients might be out there that meet your target profile above. If the number is limited, what would be a variation of that target profile, or a second profile might be needed to accurately scale your sales and marketing efforts. Don’t be afraid of having a niche offering. That can help you get customers quicker and often develop a better product/market fit.
3) What are your Ideal Clients Looking For?
If you were to be in their shoes, what are your ideal clients looking for? What about your offering is something that they would be attracted to and gain value from? What resonates about your company that may be a big advantage over the competition. Everything counts, don’t forget the smallest detail. Over the course of our careers, finding the smallest connection can be the difference maker in closing business. A common neighbourhood, industry understanding, your perspective, how you run your business, etc. Truly dive into this exercise and find out more about your target profile because it comes in handy on the next step.
4) How can you Reach your Ideal Clients?
This question that can be answered in two ways. First way is to start a very wide spread campaign and filter to more specific targets as conversion starts to happen. However, if you did your homework in step 3, there is a short cut. By using geographic, demographic, topic of interest, and buying habits, the profile will make your marketing campaign much more effective. We all respond to offers that are accurately targeted. More emails are titled “just for you” or “exclusive offer” because the data backs it up. Let’s use this to your advantage. The more individualized offering the potential for better results — be the concierge.
5) Qualifying These Potential Clients
Getting the conversation going is fantastic, but there is something else you want from these ideal clients; their business! Doubling back to step 3, its important to have an offer that makes sense for your business and that is attractive for your ideal customers. Qualifying these potential ideal clients and getting them into your sales funnel is important. Depending on the type of business, a free quote might be appropriate, a resource that you’ve produced, possibly a sample, or it could just be a sale because of your value proposition. You now have a solid new lead to work with and adding value.
For most businesses, this is where you shine. We’re now back into comfortable territory. Converting leads to sales.
Take the First Step
Building it is the start. Having a purpose for your website is required for the “WHY” to make sense to your best clients. Leave the guess work out and start moving with the these steps to help optimize your marketing funnel.
This was written by Chris Milton; a marketing nerd who’s always in beta — learning new things and sharing experiences along the way. Your funnel will get him excited.
