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Personal Branding- How to Attract Your Ideal Client, Customer or Patient

Are You Dreaming About Your Dream Client? You Should Be.

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Target audience. Ideal client. Target market. Niche. You’ve heard the terms, and if you’ve been in business for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve given a lot of thought about whom you should be marketing to. My background is in public relations, and in PR school it was all about defining your primary audience, your secondary audience and your tertiary audience, then speaking to those audiences through the appropriate medium with the right messaging.

But the way we do business has changed, which means our marketing has changed. Unless you’re a giant conglomerate or a mega movie studio, you’re target probably isn’t that large. If you’re a small business owner, your target audience is probably very narrow, and most likely you’d get better results if you narrowed it even further.

In the Sizzle System of Personal Branding, I have my clients describe their Dream Client. They define demographics and psychographics, and characteristics down to hair and eye color, and even the car they drive. This can be a real live client or a conglomerate of several different people.

Why just one Dream Client? Because our marketing copy needs to be directed at a real live person who needs what we have to offer.

My dream client is a forward-thinking, opportunity-seeking entrepreneur with brown hair and blue eyes. She drives a Lexus and buys her clothes at Nordstrom. She’s kind of edgy.

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When I write my marketing copy I speak directly to her. I know she can afford to pay me for my services because she’s been in business for a while and knows how to bring in money. I know she cares about how she shows up for the world – for God’s sake, she drives a Lexus! She believes in quality and her clothes reflect that. I know her type, so when I write copy that speaks to her, it’s going to speak to others like her.

And yes, maybe some guy with a ponytail and beard who drives a Harley and wears leather will hear my message and resonate with it, and that’s fine, but those types are far and few between. It’s the 80/20 rule — again.

Then there’s the second part of the formula and the most important: Be the answer to your Dream Client’s dreams. What does your Dream Client need that you can provide — easily? That is the real key to defining your Dream Client.

My Dream Client is one smart cookie, but she’s not getting the clients she needs. Something is falling flat and she can’t figure out what that is. She’s gone through some changes and she’s starting to question her why. She’s feeling the need to reinvent herself or give her business a facelift, but she doesn’t know where to start. She’s tossing and turning at night wondering how she’s going to get these issues resolved.

Meanwhile I’m miles away tucked snuggly in my bed, sound asleep, with visions of my Dream Client frolicking in my subconscious like a sheep leaping over clouds. I’m smiling, because I know that she’s just waiting for me to come along and solve her problems. All I have to do is make sure she hears my message and make it easy for her to find me.

Once that happens, she’ll be happy to pay me for my services because I’m saving her time and money in the long run, and she knows that, pretty soon, she’ll be back to business stronger than ever. The clients will start rolling in, so whatever she paid for my services she’ll earn many times over.

My Dream Client is now sleeping soundly thanks to me, and I’m sleeping sounder than usual, satisfied that I could help her.

The moral of this story: Defining your Dream Client is based on the problems you solve, not the problems they have. Make sure you communicate the value that you bring to others so your Dream Client can find you. You’ll sleep sounder at night knowing you’re putting yourself out there, and she will too, knowing she can find the answer to her prayers.

by Carol Ann DeSimine, TheSizzleSystem.com

Carol Ann DeSimine is a Visibility Strategist and Branding Expert and the creator of The Sizzle System of Personal Branding. To learn how you can have a brand that is RED HOT click here.