Know Your Market Before You Waste Time in Social Media

I recently met with a client that wanted me to teach her how to use facebook, twitter, linkedin and wordpress in two hours. I usually don't do house calls since I work with most of my clients over the phone and mainly in interactive coaching groups. With our laptops open on the kitchen table, I knew right away I had my work cut out for me with my client's daughter just feet away on the living room couch loudly playing on the playstation and her teenage son also home on holiday gabbing non stop on the phone.

My IT business owner husband who gives talks at the local Chamber of Commerce and professional groups usually on one social network platform per talk was amazed I took on the challenge of addressing multiple platforms in a two hour visit. "I know," I sighed. it was for a single mom who wanted to learn social media to get her business off the ground.

The biggest thing I discovered about my client's social media challenges was that her marketing message was all over the place. Before we delved into her LinkedIn and WordPress blog, we took some time talking about her ideal clients: What problems did they have and how she could solve them? Then we narrowed down the services she offered. "What?!" I hear you saying. "Won't that limit the her number of clients?" Actually the clearer she gets about the one type of client she serves and their biggest problem the easier she can market to that! I told her to jot down her ideal clients' demographics: age, sex, profession, how it felt to work with her ideal client. Who were her pay anything, do anything to get their problem fixed clients? Tell me their family dynamics and life story. The more you know this, the easier it is to market your products and services to the right people who will seek you out to work with you. Everyday you'll know what to say to these people because you've clearly defined your marketing message.

Delving deeper I soon learned she had not made article writing, social media status updates and blogging a part of her weekly business routine. The second stumbling block was my client didn't have a consistent marketing message with a strong service advantage. That echoes what I said earlier. She had trouble answering, "Why would your prospects do business with you instead of your competitors (who were currently getting much more business?" It didn't matter what social media she used if she didn't know what services. She needed an irresistible offer, a strong call to action or incentive to work with her. The alternative was to be like every other business professional in her industry and continue to chase after the dead end leads and prospects or "suspects" as David Sandler of the Sandler Sales Institute calls them. The good news is once she knew her target audience, she could start writing her social media comments, articles and blogs to that avatar or ideal client profile.

How do you pick your ideal client? Well in her case I asked my client to tell me what her big mission was. Why she got into her business in the first place. Was this a passion of hers? Who was it she helping? Her eyes lit up and she told me how she had struggled with the same problems her ideal clients faced during her divorce and she could identify with their struggle. "Good!" I told her. Update your website to include that story. It creates an instant bond.

Even though the two hours flew by and she had a hazy, overwhelmed look on her face as I ran to my next appointment, I have every confidence that once she takes time to focus on the needs and struggle of her idea clients she'll be able to overhear them in check out lines, business networking groups, online chats and forms, in google searches and much more and say, "Hi, I know exactly how to help you!"

HOMEWORK

Answer these questions:

Make a list of your best clients.

What are the common elements about them?

What is the biggest problem you help them solve?

Does your personal story match theirs before you discovered the service you now offer?

Maybe it should.:-)

In the spirit of giving...

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I wish I had this before I started writing books and interviewing best selling authors.:-)

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-Ruth

Ruth Anne Wood works with best selling authors, Emmy award winning film makers and experts who help her create co-authored movies, books, plays, events using the passion and creativity of a group.

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