In this post: Does your Ideal Client know you’re talking to them in your content right now? Or, are you being a little too vague?
Let’s find out...
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Avoid This Mistake That Could Be Chasing Clients Away!
Did your ideal client know that you're actually talking to them in your content right now, or are you perhaps being a little too vague? I’ll share today about why being vague could be chasing away your clients and how to know if you're personalizing. But first, I want to share a brief example from my own life.
A while ago, I got a text message from my beautiful chiropractor. But honestly, the marketing message made me cringe. It was a text message that said, “Hi, Amanda, how's your health and vitality this week?” That might not seem like a cringe-worthy question to you. It's pretty benign on the surface, isn't it?
It wouldn't really be a big deal if I didn't get that exact same message every month that's obviously scheduled at the same time, whether or not I had an appointment, whether or not I'd been anything that was going on for me, not personalized to me at all.
In other words, this is a pre-scheduled message that goes out to every client – very vague and just didn't hit me, it doesn't resonate. You see, these types of automated messages are what we get from a lot of brands. It's not just one business.
Why is this so icky to me though? Because it feels impersonal and non-specific, and maybe you can relate to this. It's not even really a problem that the message was pre-scheduled. I preschedule a lot of my marketing too. That's often a necessary way to be able to run a business. We can't just be there all the time, in the present moment, of course. But the issue was that I didn't feel the message was actually for me or about me. I didn't feel connected to it in any way. And I definitely didn't feel that they would genuinely check in on me.
How does someone actually answer a vague question like that? How would I actually respond? I don't know that I've got up and thought about my vitality today. How many people even actually know what that means and think about that term?
Reading my chiropractor's well-meaning but very generic text message reminded me of how crucial it is when you were picking a niche, really understanding your ideal clients, speaking so authentically and specifically to them, even before you know who they are.
We want our clients feeling that this is personal and potential clients feeling it's personalized, even if we don't yet know them. And there's an art to this. I say this all the time, and it's so important to internalize this. If you are building a coaching business remember this phrase:
When you try to talk to everyone, you are in fact talking to no one.
What does this mean? In your content, imagine that you are talking to ONE person, this dream ideal client of yours, a real person and ask:
What are their pain points?
What are their desired outcomes?
What keeps them up at night?
What gets them out of bed in the morning?
When they read what you've said or what you're speaking about, they feel seen. They feel understood because you do understand them.
Your content includes, therefore, anything that you post online, emails, messages, newsletters, workshops, content advertising, but also what you say on calls, what you put in video content, even what you say to someone in the street when they ask you what you do. Basically, any time you are communicating about what you do and how you help others, you need to be talking to this ONE ideal client.
You need to know that client better than they know themselves.
And I know for many of you, the idea of narrowing down to one ideal client gives you the heebie-jeebies right? It's totally normal, it happens all the time. But trust me and get this – I know that you have a lot of skills and you want to help a lot of people. I know your offer for your future coaching clients goes beyond just one or two pain points for one person. I know that you don't want to do your work to be a disservice by being too limited, but it's important that we are clear and specific.
Many people are afraid of choosing the wrong niche or choosing a target market and changing their minds. What if you don't know, right? Maybe you don't want to lock yourself into focusing on a certain area and then no longer feeling aligned with it.
So instead of being scared of that, I'm just going to say, “That happens! It's okay.” In the beginning, you were still figuring out your voice as a coach, who you're a great fit for.
So yes… you are going to change as you go, but you need to refine your ideal client straight away and understand how to pivot and shift as you go through set parameters.
It's still really important that you do start somewhere as opposed to waiting for the day that everything's clear and perfect before you stop.
Here's a key question to ask: What is a topic your ideal client cares about that leads into the deeper work of what you do? What actually gets your people in the door to work with you? This is about knowing what your ideal client really cares about right now.
Think of it this way: If you want a smoothie, for example, you’ll probably look for a smoothie bar, right? Once you get there, you might realize that they sell more than smoothies, but if you're craving a smoothie, that's what you're Googling, what got you in the door. You might change your mind when you get there. There's ice cream or a nice vegan cake or something.
So what's going to get your ideal client in the door? How are you feeling about writing content for just one client based on this thought? When I say you are making your content for one ideal client only, is there resistance? What comes up for you? I'd love to know. I have this conversation with health coaches in our UPswing Mastermind and our Healthy Wealthy Society Facebook group all the time.
Once you deeply define your ideal client and centre all of your social media posts, marketing videos, in-person communications around that one client, you are going to become a total client magnet. Who doesn't want that?
Let me just give you one little helpful example. So let's say that you help people overcome stress. Your ideal client's name is Sarah…
She is a busy mom in her 40s.
She can't sleep.
She's waking up groggy
She's missing deadlines
She’s chugging coffee all day to try and get through.
You then make videos and social posts talking specifically to Sarah all day long. Sarah becomes like your new best friend. You attract, as a result, a lot of Sarah's!
And because you're very magnetic and very clear, then along comes John, he's a single dude. He's in his thirties. He's also stressed. He's not Sarah, but your message has been so clear and specific speaking to powerful stress transformations that he wants your help too! And you know what? You're allowed to work with John as well.
By casting a more specific tight net, the magnetism in that is actually going to attract more clients and just imagine all the real value and education that you'll be providing for these people in the process. And that's marketing that you can feel good about, which is what we want to do. We don't want to feel like we're being salesy or marketing. We want to feel like we're serving. And if we're doing this well, we are.
Love,
Amanda xx
PS. If you’re ready to get consistent clients & earn a consistent income from your health coaching or wellness business, then you’ll love my FREE Masterclass where I teach you the three-part framework to consistent clients and cash flow as a health coach without overwhelm and burnout. Click HERE for Instant Access!
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