Creating your Ideal Client Profile and Buyer Personas" loading="lazy">
The sport known as Archery is all about shooting an arrow aimed at a specific target.
It is an interesting sport because it is both physical and mental, and it will be a fitting metaphor for what we are about to discuss in this article.
You see, in archery, you take an aim at a target, and then hit it. You don’t just shoot at any stationary object according to your pleasure, you win because there are prescribed targets and you earn points relative to the value that’s been given to the target you have successfully shot and hit. If you garner higher points compared to your opponents, you win.
In business, marketing, and sales, you also set goals and target them to be met within a specific timeframe. You don’t just spend your resources and your time without an aim. You have milestones and annual targets that indicate the growth and progress you’re making, if there is any.
In the context of business, marketing, and sales, targets can be likened to the specific set of audience that you wish to reach and eventually, turn into regular clients. Normally, these “targets” can be identified using an Ideal Client Profile, and what is an Ideal Client Profile exactly? Is that the same as buyer personas? And just to have no room for confusion, what is a buyer persona anyway?
Let us discuss all that in the next paragraphs. Keep scrolling!
What is an Ideal Client Profile?
An Ideal Client Profile defines your target market. Just like in archery, your ideal client profile serves as the target to aim your bow and arrow at– all your time and effort must now be focused on your ideal clients.
To explain this in a more profound way, let us tell you the story of a young boy who received from his grandfather a very old pocket-watch as a gift. After handing it to the young boy, the grandfather asked him to visit a nearby store and asked how much he could sell the pocket-watch for. The boy did as he was instructed, he sauntered into the store and he was told that he can sell the old pocket-watch for a meager $10.
He then went back to his grandfather and shared the disappointing piece of information. Hearing this, the old man then asked him to visit an antique store next. The boy did just that, and when he was there, he had the pocket-watch inspected and was surprised when he was told that he can sell it for an astounding amount of $10,000. Delighted by this new information, he went back to his grandfather who then sat him down and said, “In life, you will encounter so many people, may you always remember that you are worth so much more to those who can see your true value”.
Pretty sage-like, don’t you think? The point we are trying to get across is this: we go through the same thing when marketing and selling our products/services. Those who understand the worth of your trade, will be willing to spend exactly what you are worth, no matter how ridiculously expensive it may be.
Now, to be able to successfully reach these people who are most likely to understand the worth and value that you can provide, you must have at your disposal, an Ideal Client Profile.
An ideal client is someone who understands the value that your product or service provides, an ideal client will not be daunted by whatever your price may be, they won’t mind the cost, for they understand your worth. They will always be delighted by every purchase, and will always have respect for your brand.
Take note however, your ideal client profile represents an almost perfect-fit client that is a result of research, customer feedback, and other data you’ve culled from interactions with your most successful customer relations. It is not supposed to be construed as your ideal client, but rather as an individual who has needs and qualities that will make him/her respond to and appreciate your product better.
An Ideal Client Profile is a helpful tool because around it, you can develop your brand messaging, offers, campaigns, and various other efforts. It is just like in Archery, you don’t shoot and miss, you have a target you can aim at, which thereby grants your efforts a higher chance of success. Having an ideal client profile helps you reduce marketing costs while simultaneously increasing your conversions.
What is a Buyer Persona?
Now that we’re clear on what an ideal client profile is, you might be having a bit of confusion given that it seems to have a similar meaning as your buyer personas. But no, they are different things. To make it clearer, let us review what is a buyer persona, in theory.
Buyer personas can be under the umbrella of your ideal client profile. While an ideal client profile represents an almost perfect-fit client, your buyer personas are specific fictional representations of your ideal buyer.
While both your ideal client profile and buyer personas are created through extensive study and research, buyer personas differ from ideal client profiles because they are very specific and more fun as you get to give them names, mostly alliterative and memorable like “Management Margaret” or “Skeptical Suzy”, that way, people in your sales, marketing, and customer service teams can recall them easily.
If you are having a hard time distinguishing buyer personas from an ideal client profile, think of it this way.
If your most successful customers are people from companies with about 100 employees, that will be your ideal client profile– companies with a size of about 100 employees who have a need for the products/services that you sell. Your buyer personas, then, can be anyone who makes decisions for that company, say their general manager, marketing officer, etc.
Final Takeaway: Why are Ideal Client Profiles and Buyer Personas Important
By now we are clear on what is a buyer persona and how it differs from an Ideal Client Profile?
You now understand that Ideal client profiles and Buyer Personas are important because they give you someone to aim your marketing and sales efforts at. The world is big and chaotic, we need a bit of focus to achieve success in our endeavors.
If we are to make our shots without a specific aim, our chances of making one successful shot are slim. But once we are clear on our target, then we can take that bow and arrow, make our aim and hit the bull's eye.
