ADVERTISING STRATEGY | Find Your Ideal Client

This is a story for small and mid-size businesses; the ones who have been around for at least 2 years.

Why?

The strategy for startups is significantly different.  I’ll cover that area in a future series of articles.

And, as I claimed in the first part of this series:  “This story isn’t for Fortune 100 companies.”

Who Is Your Client?

Now that you’ve estimated who isn’t your client based on the steps in the first story, it’s time to estimate who is your client.

Same initial steps |

1. Storyboard on Pinterest
2. Client attributes
3. One-page biography on the composite person you described

Verifying Your Estimate

It’s time to gather some real data to see if you’re on the right track.

Facebook.

There, I said it.  For all the bad things that have been said about Facebook, one of the benefits of advertising on Facebook is the ability to target advertising to match your estimated client attributes and then see the results.

It’s inexpensive and fast.

In eight days for $10 per day ($80), you’ll find out if your estimate is in the ballpark or if it’s time to re-think it.

Note  |  If you have the budget, it’s worth running an eight-day campaign on Facebook using an A/B/C strategy.  The total cost will be in the range of $200 to $1,000.  The benefit:  Instead of having a ballpark, you’ll have a much more accurate picture of your client based on a statistically significant sample size.

How To

You’ll need two things |

1. An engaging photograph that represents your storyboard of your ideal client.
2. Copy for your ad.  “Copy” is an advertising industry word that means “text.”  You’ll need to write one sentence that describes your storyboard.  This will be the first line (headline) of your story.  Next, write one paragraph that describes something helpful, useful, or something about your business.

Tip |

With the advent of good cameras in our phones, everyone is a photographer.  But, if you’re still hesitant, check out Unsplash for beautiful, free photographs or Envato for purchase stock photography (We’re not affiliated with either).  Just type in a search term or two.  Select a photograph.  Then download it to your computer.

If you need help writing your story and your headline, you’re invited to subscribe to my List by clicking HERE.

Our next steps are all within Facebook, so you’ll need two things |

1. A personal Facebook account.  This account is needed to set up your Facebook business page and payment (credit card) information to pay for your ad.
2. A Facebook page for your business. This is where you’ll show your ad.

Tip |

It’s important to keep your business focused on your business and not on what’s going on in your personal life.

Here’s our example scenario |  $80 budget

• Gender |  All
• Age | 25 to 65+
• Locations | United States (or the country where you’re located)
• Socio-economic status | Leave blank for this scenario–it will make our ad too narrowly focused which doesn’t help us to find our ideal client yet.
• Work industries | Art, Entertainment, Sports and Media
• Hobbies they have | Leave blank for this scenario–it will make our ad too narrowly focused which doesn’t help us to find our ideal client yet.
• Things that they buy | Leave blank for this scenario–it will make our ad too narrowly focused which doesn’t help us to find our ideal client yet.
• How much they might spend on something special vs. how much they might spend on an everyday item | Leave blank for this scenario–it will make our ad too narrowly focused which doesn’t help us to find our ideal client yet.

Baseline |

1. On your Facebook business page, post your headline and story.  Then upload your photograph and publish your story to your page.
2. Next, let it sit for a week to get a baseline measurement on how many people view and interact with your story without any advertising.
3. Create a spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets) and track the number of people who have viewed your story and engaged with it each day.

Tip |

An engagement counts when someone has posted a comment on your story.  Regardless of what Facebook and other industry people say, a Like is not engagement because it’s too easy to do and also could be easily done by a ‘bot or someone who is simply trying to attract attention to their own account or page.

Next Steps

In Part 3, we’ll work on setting up your ad within Facebook.

 

This article is an excerpt from my upcoming book on Strategic Marketing & Advertising.  To learn more about my books and classes and to receive a discount, you’re invited to subscribe to my List by clicking HERE.