Who is your ideal client? Do you know for sure? I think knowing who your ideal client is, is critical. The more accurately you can define them, the easier marketing to them and finding them will become. 

But I’ve met quite a few services providers who are either unsure who their ideal client is, or, they fear naming them because they worry about losing business. Personally, I think it’s important to have a clearly defined ideal client. It doesn’t have to be a very specific type of person, like tall women with wavy purple hair in their 50s. I mean, if that works for you and you get a lot of these types of clients, great. But it’s a bit unlikely! 

However. Knowing who you want to serve - or perhaps who don’t want to serve - is important. 

I, for example, provide website design and marketing strategy services to coaches, consultants and other professional services providers like financial advisors and lawyers. While this might sound like a broad group of businesses I serve, it really isn’t. I just work with services providers. There are plenty of other designers and agencies who work with businesses outside of my niche, and that’s fine. But I’m a strong believer that you do your best work when you collaborate with people you really want, and that it’s important to let the world know that. 

Some business owners I’ve spoken to said they don’t want to get too specific about who they serve for fear they’ll miss out on opportunities to get more clients, expand their business and make more money. While this is a valid point, I still believe that the more you specialize the more your business will grow. You’ll eventually become the go-to expert in your field, and you won’t have to take on clients outside of your area of specialty. 

So, do you know who your ideal client is? Is it clear to people who visit your website? This is important because if you want to convert visitors into loyal clients, your website needs to define who your people are, how you help them and how they can reach you. 

And trust me: when your site carefully, clearly and confidently tells what you do, who you serve and the greatest results you achieve for your people, you will get more and more of the people you want to work with, and less of the tire-kickers.

Deciding and defining who your ideal client is, is no small task. If you’re just starting out, you might struggle a bit with this. And if you’ve been in business for a while and feel like you need to review what you’ve been doing, start by looking at your past clients. Who did you like the most? With whom did you do your best work? Who paid you the most? And more…of course. 

But I’m pretty sure that when you have this ideal client clearly defined, you’re going to feel like a lot of new opprtunities lie ahead.