How to know exactly what your ideal clients want, is probably the question most asked by business owners, marketers and sales people. And rightly so!
And it must always be the starting place and the very first question you ask, when you're thinking of how to get your services or products into the hands of your clients.
Why?
Because of these three fundamental reasons...
One...Your product or service is not for everyone ... Although you may be able to position it to solve a range of different problems for a lot of different people!
Two... Your ideal client is "ideal" because he or she is the most suitable for the solution or product you offer. And because your product or service offers the best solution to the problems he or she is experiencing.
Three...if you don't know exactly what your ideal clients want - then you won't know if your services or products is ideal for that client.
And you won't know how to position your offer in a way that's appealing enough, to demonstrate that it's a good fit for your "ideal client"...that it fulfils their desires and that it will alleviate their fears.
And four...the issue of "trust". Always be mindful that your ideal clients are just like you and they'll only buy from you, when they feel like they can trust you.
They must be able to trust that the service or product that you're offering them will solve the problems or challenges that they're having...before they'll say yes to you!
And the only way for you to be compelling and to convince them enough to trust what you're saying...is by showing then, in your copy, that you understand their problems and know their deepest desires
But you can only do that, when you take the time, to get to know exactly what your ideal clients want.
So that's why you must always know exactly what your ideal clients want, before you begin writing the copy for your website, or your sales copy
Because it's only by knowing exactly what your ideal clients want, can you give them what they really want because it's only then, that you will achieve the conversions that you want
How to know exactly what your ideal clients want in these 8 steps...
2. What is the goal that your ideal client wants to achieve
3. Why is this goal or desire so important to your prospect
4. What problems and challenges are your prospect experiencing right now?
5. How is your prospect "feeling" and how does he want to feel?
6. What's your prospect's greatest fear?
7. How does your prospect wants to be "seen" or thought about?
Step 1. Who is your ideal client?
In order to know exactly what your ideal clients want, you must first know - "who is your ideal client".
Why?
For a number of reasons, but the most important reason is, that it allows you to have a very clear focus on who you will target in your website copy.
And from that starting position, you can then expand your thinking and research to understand more about the person who you are targeting.
Start by giving your ideal client a name and a physical image. Choose a gender and a demographic group that your ideal client fits into.
Always ensure your focus is on a specific individual -even if you're targeting the B2B market. If you are targeting the B2B market, then make your ideal client the buyer
Then take time to research their challenges, pain points and their deepest desires
Doing this will help you to personalise your ideal client and create a picture in your mind of what he or she looks like.
So whenever you're writing your copy, you'll write the copy as if your ideal client is in a direct conversation with you, and you're discussing the challenges and solutions to the problem he or she is experiencing.
This will make your copy more relatable...
It will also make your copy feels more empathetic, so that when your ideal clients are reading the copy on your website, your emails or your paid Ads, they'll feel a connection with you.
And when your ideal client feels that you really understand them and they're not just "another customer" that you're trying to sell to...that will begin to build trust, which is a pre-requisite for conversions.
So when you start by knowing who your ideal client is, then you'll know exactly what your ideal clients want.
Step 2. What is the goal that your ideal client wants to achieve?
What exactly is your ideal client aiming to achieve?
What's his or her aspiration?
Answering these fundamental questions will help you to understand what your ideal client is shooting for.
And it will help you to create the right offer, and write meaningful website copy that will demonstrate to your ideal client, that what you're offering him or her is the best solution for them.
Your ideal client will find your messaging compelling and cannot help but to pay attention to your offer...making it a lot easier for him or her to say yes to your offer!
When you know exactly what your ideal clients want to achieve, you will be able to write your web copy that's relevant and relatable to your ideal prospect
And compel them to take the action you specifically want them to take.
And here's another reason why you must know exactly what your ideal clients want...
You'll gain a competitive edge, because your competitors are not taking enough time to explore in detail, to get to know, exactly what your ideal clients want!
But a very expensive mistake is, not taking the time to do the research, that will inform you of what your prospect is aiming to achieve,
And when you take that approach, your web copy will be based on just assumptions and guess-work and will not address the goals of your ideal clients...
So they'll not convert.
And that's why it's crucial for you to know exactly what your ideal clients want, before you begin writing your website copy.
Step 3. Why is this desire or goal important to your prospect?
So we all know how important it is to ask the right questions...because when we ask the right questions, we'll get the right answers -Right?
Or to put it another way...
The quality of the answers we get, has a lot to do with the quality of the questions we're asking.
And we all know the depth in asking a simple question like "Why?"...
Here's the thing...
Asking "why" repeatedly, allows for more deeper exploration and bypasses the surface and superficial answers and eventually gets to the real answers...the reason reasons ...
The real motivation that's driving your ideal clients need, to achieve his or her goals.
And that's what's most important, so that you'll really know exactly what your ideal clients want.
Knowing the “why” behind your prospect’s goal, will tell you what’s really important to him or her.
Frank Kern refers to two separate desires that we all have...
the surface desire and the core desire.
He argues that the surface desire, is the obvious desire and generally not the real driving force behind us wanting the goal
But the core desire is the deep and most times unspoken desires that your prospect has and that's what they really really want.
That the "why" behind the goal...
But to get to that depth, you must first ask "why is this goal important to them" and keep exploring and researching, until you understand the motivation that's driving the goal.
Because when you truly understand their "why"...and you explicitly articulate it empathetically within your web copy...
And demonstrate how your service or product will help them to achieve their "why"...they will be hooked and say yes to you.
Here's another great reason why you must know exactly what your ideal client wants...
You can create powerful headlines , which will
immediately grab the attention of your ideal clients
And they'll be more receptive to your offer.
Here's an example ;
Your ideal prospect may have a goal of growing his business.
But his real motivations or core desires for wanting to grow his business is, that he doesn't want to let his family down and he wants them to see him as successful. He also wants to have a successful business so that he can employ staffs, which will allow him to spend more time with his young family, be a more hands on dad and create great memories for his children- unlike his experience with his father.
So knowing this level of detail about your ideal clients, gives you a great deal of leverage and powerful ammunition within your copy to really connect and increases your chances of him accepting your offer.
Step 4. What problems & Challenges are your prospect experiencing now?
If you want to know exactly what your ideal clients want...you must first know the problems and challenges that they're experiencing right now.
Why?
Because it's impossible to offer a real meaning and relevant solution, if you don't know exactly what your ideal clients want.
When you take time to understand the problems that your ideal client is facing and the challenges they're experiencing, your marketing will be "on target"
And your website copy will be irresistible to you ideal clients.
You'll gain a huge advantage and be able to "call out" the specific problems and challenges within your headlines and throughout the copy... making your website magnetic to your ideal clients.
Which will ultimately help you to acquire new customers... a lot faster and much easier.
Conversely, when you don't know the problems or challenges that your ideal clients are experiencing, then you'll be offering "solutions" that not fit for purpose.
And naturally, your ideal client will not be able to identify him or herself in your website copy, so they will not be engaged and they won't convert.
So that's why if you want to know exactly what your ideal clients want, you must first know the problem they're trying to solve and the challenges they're experience that's stopping them from solving that problem.
Step 5. How is your prospect FEELING & how does he want to feel?
Now...this question here...is a game changer!
And when you know the answer...
When you know how your prospect is feeling about themselves and how they're feeling about their day-to-day life and their business
And how they feel about their ability to achieve their desires...it gives you super power ammunition that you can include within your copy and make great headlines
Which will make your copy super powerful!
So that's why it's crucial to take the time and do the research, so that you'll get to know exactly what your ideal clients want!
Here's the thing...
Your clients emotions and feelings will influence their buying decision and when you know their core emotions, it will help you to know exactly what your ideal clients want...
When you know how your prospect is feeling and how he wants to feel, you can create a powerful and compelling copy by painting a vivid picture of his current emotional state of mind or the emotional state of mind that he would like to be experiencing
And articulate within your copy how your product or service will help him to achieve his or her desired emotional state of mind.
Doing this will immediately hook your prospect into your copy, because your copy will show that you understand exactly how your ideal prospect is feeling and how he wants to feel...and therefore you have the solution that will help him to achieve that desire.
You can also explicitly call out these emotions in the headline or the lead of your copy and your ideal client will self-identify and be compelled to engage with your copy, increasing the chance of a conversion for you.
Example:
Your prospect may be feeling frustrated, fed-up and overwhelmed with all the work involved in getting business online, the learning curve is too great for him. He feels like he’s getting nowhere fast! He just wants to get cooking and delivering dinners, but instead he’s feeling stuck and uncertain with where is customers are going to come from.
He would like to feel successful, accomplished and in control.
Step 6. What is your prospect greatest FEAR right now?
What is your prospect afraid will happen if they don't achieve their desires or goals?
Understanding what your prospect is running "away" from... The thing or things he's afraid will happen if he or she doesn't achieve their goals or desires, is fundamental in helping you to know exactly what your ideal clients want...
So that you can write your web copy and paint a clear picture of how your solution or product will help to achieve their desire and avoid the things they fear the most from happening to them.
Here's the thing...
Fear is a huge motivator, and it may be the real driver behind your prospect's motivation for achieving his or her desires!.
So can you see how powerful your positioning can be?
When you know what your prospect wants to avoid happening and your product or service can genuinely and sincerely help him to achieve his desires and help him to avoid his fear from happening
It makes your copy super powerful and will get your clients saying yes!
There a number of things that your prospect might be fearful of.
It may be that, he or she is fearful that if their business isn't successful, they could lose their home and the respect of their friends, family or peers and be considered a failure. Being see as unsuccessful could compromise their status and their identity.
And those fears could be what's driving their goals of making their business successful.
So now that you know the fears that scares them the most, you can leverage that compassionately and honestly within your headlines and body copy, or use within your call to action.
Can you see how powerful this is?
And why when you understand their fears, it gives you a deep insight into knowing exactly what your ideal clients want.
Step 7. How does your prospect wants to be seen or thought of, by his family and peers?
If you want to know exactly what your ideal clients want...so that you can write web copy that gets leads and achieve conversions...
Then take the time to understand the importance of "status" for your ideal prospect and see how your product or service can help to elevate your prospect to the status he aspires for!
Why is this important?
Because
Unequivocally, most of us care about how or peer and family “see” us and what they really think about us.
It's important to most of us, that the people we care about, our family and especially our peers, see us in a favorable position. And if that's important to you, then it's important to your prospect...
And when you understand how your ideal prospect wants to be seen and you're able to leverage their aspirational status, by painting a picture of how your product or service will be the bridge that elevates their status, taking them from "unsuccessful business owner, to "an accomplished and successful business owner, then they'll say yes to you!
Status is another powerful driver for the decisions we make, because status is important!
And understanding how your prospect wants to be seen or thought about, will help you to know exactly what your ideal clients want.
You can explicitly address their aspirational status in your headline or body copy, and it will immediately grab your prospect's attention and hook them into your copy.
Example;
Your ideal prospect may wants his peers and his family to see him as a very astute and successful business man, so in your copy, demonstrate how your service or product will help him to achieve this status!
Step 8. What keyword is your prospect using?
Web writing is online copywriting or copywriting for the web.
And the main purpose of your web copy is to demonstrate to your prospect, that you have the solution to the problems, that they're seeking to solve... so that they take action and convert...immediately!
That conversion may be to purchase your product or service, subscribe to your free offer, schedule a call or register for an event.
However, in order for your prospect to convert, they must first see, read and engage with your copy.
But here's the challenge...
Your website is in competition with over a billions other websites.
So how can you gain an advantage over your online competitors and get your ideal clients to see your site and engage with your offer?
How will your ideal clients find you above your competitors?
The answer lies in having a keyword strategy.
Keywords, in it's simplest form, refers to a specific set of words or word that your ideal prospect is using when searching online...When they're looking for a solution to the problems they want to solve...The problems that your service or product solves!
And most importantly...
The keywords that you use, will help Google crawlers to understand when to choose your website and present it, within the search results page, to your ideal clients, so that they can choose to go to your website.
As you can see, keywords are absolutely crucial when writing website copy.
However, to understand the keyword that you ideal clients is most likely using when searching for the solution you offer, you must first understand what your ideal client wants to achieve and their intention or their motivation (as discussed earlier) for seeking the solution.
Then once you've decided on the keyword, you must assess it's level of competitiveness, by understanding how many people are searching online using that keyword or key-phrase before making the final decision whether to include it within your copy.
That's how your prospect will see it, read it and emotionally engage with your website copy and convert!
In Summary
If you're seeking to know exactly what your ideal clients want, so that you can create compelling and persuasive website copy, that gets conversion, then take the time to research and answer these eight questions below;
- Who is your ideal prospect
- What is the desire or goal that your ideal prospect wants to achieve?
- Why is this desire or goal so important to your prospect
- What problems and challenges are you prospect experiencing?
- How is your prospect feeling now. And how does he want to feel?
- What is your prospect fearful of?
- How does your prospect want to be seen or thought about by his /her peers and family?
- What keywords is your prospect most likely to use when searching online for a solution to the problems he’s having (in relation to your service or product)?
You may also find it really helpful to get the downloadable Ideal Client Workbook, click HERE. Get it and complete it today!
This is the best thing you could do for your business today.
