Finding the clients may sound like a simple process but it requires due diligence to ensure you get the right fit for your business. Picking any clients that come your way may result in poor clients satisfaction and ultimately bad reputation about your business. It's therefore important to position yourself to attract the right clients for the benefit of your business and the clients.
We asked entrepreneurs and business owners how they attract the right clients for their business and here are the responses;
#1- Vetting perspective clients
Our digital marketing agency has a questionnaire that perspective clients fill out. Just like in a job interview before hiring a candidate, you have to do your research and due diligence to make sure they're the right fit. You won't bat 100% but if you do research beforehand and ask the right questions, you can ensure you'll find the right clients for your business. If you don't have the luxury of vetting clients and you have to take on any new business, I recommend you enhance your sales strategy so you can have more leads and be more selective with who you bring onboard as a client.
Thanks to Jason Parks, The Media Captain!
#2- Delivering content on the subject matter
What is working for me is consistently delivering content around the subject matter I want clients to hire me for. I have had a non-linear career and while there could be a temptation to express opinions on a variety of subjects, I consciously choose not to. You can't be everything to everyone. There is a lot of marketing and client development strength is maintaining your focus and reliably delivering value in the format (or on the platforms) your clients prefer, as boring as that may sound!
Thanks to J. Kelly Hoey, Build Your Dream!
#3- Three ways
Firstly, I've niched down and optimised my website so that it ranks high for the main keyword my target clients would look for when searching for the services I offer. This has been really crucial, especially niching down. Secondly I've developed relationships with other service providers in my line of work. As a copywriter, I'm lucky to belong to a very supportive community, and we often refer business to each other when we're too busy or when we think someone else's skills are better suited for the job.. Some of my best clients are referrals from other copywriters. And, finally, I connect with companies I'd like to work with on social media. I'm not pushy and never go for the hard sell. I simply send a message saying hello and noting that I'm a fan of what they do and build the relationship from there. The trick is to do this all consistently. It's not a quick fix.
Thanks to André Spiteri, Maverick Words Ltd!
#4- I look at the pain my target has and how I solve it
It is impossible to be all things to all people, so to attract ideal clients to your business it is important to be crystal clear about who you serve. I have a process where I create a detailed demographic profile that includes gender, age, and income as well as hobbies and buying habits. Then I look at the pain my target has and how I solve it—it’s not about features, it’s about what isn’t working in some part of their life and how working with me will change that. Finally, I do market research to find the actual language they use to talk about their pain and desire so that my marketing resonates with them.
Thanks to Susan Rose, Gutsy Happiness!
#5- Profile who that client is
The most important step in attracting the right client to your business is to take some time to consider and profile who that client is. Literally make up a profile of the client including demographics such as gender, geographic location, marital status, income and lifestyle. Consider where they might socialize and what type of recreation they might engage in. Once you have a vivid picture of the client, it becomes easier to target your marketing and position your business effectively. This way, you avoid the pitfalls of scattering marketing where you waste resources marketing in forums which will not attract the type of client you desire.
Thanks to Antony Zagoritis, Lapigems Gem Company!
#6- Three step process
Firstly, you need to know who they are. Basic demographics (age, sex, geography, family, relationship status) have been used for decades and it’s a good starting point, however, we’re not living in the 60’s anymore. Secondly, think about whether they are the decision-maker (budget holder) or end-user. You may need to take a two-pronged Marketing Strategy talking to not only the budget holder, but end-user as well. Empower both to sell the benefits to the other (selling from the bottom-up and top-down will increase your chances of closing). Thirdly, you need to know where they hang out (online and offline) and what motivates them – this will inform which Marketing messages and Tactics to use.
Thanks to David Taylor, GROW: in London!
#7- Fish in the right pond
Attracting the right clients to your business starts with marketing to your prospects where they already are. You need to identify where your ideal prospects spend time online – it may be one platform such as Facebook, or it may be multiple platforms. This is where you need to focus your efforts. Then you need to speak directly to your ideal prospect. As writer Robert Collier said, “Always /*enter*/ the /*conversation already taking place*/ in the customer's /*mind.” */ Match your message specifically to your prospect. Speak in the same language as they use to describe themselves, their marketplace and their challenges. Use imagery that is relevant to them. Provide valuable content that helps solve their big problem. Don’t be afraid to take a strong and even contrary position; it will help attract the right clients and repel the wrong ones.
Thanks to Jane Tabachnick, Jane Tabachnick & Co
#8- Narrow Your Focus
One of the hardest things for an entrepreneur to do is to purposely limit who you are trying to sell to. Just because a product could be sold to a broad range of clients doesn't mean that you should try to position it broadly. As a small, growing business, you're much better off identifying the best possible customer, and tailoring your sales pitch, your marketing materials, and your product features to appeal specifically to them. You'll end up with happier and more profitable customers that provide referrals and don't drain company resources with extensive customer service issues.
Thanks to Dennis Kelly, Postalytics!
#9- Inbound marketing
Key to success for our type of business is to attract highly relevant traffic, without spending boatloads of Dollars, and which converts too. Instead of solely focusing on PPC advertisements, i.e. outbound marketing, and exhausting our already dire budget, we make use of inbound marketing to the fullest. Inbound is all about finding potential customers and helping them with their problems through highly curated content which educates them about their pain points and ultimately provides solution to their problems and gradually moves them to the next phase of sales funnel. By developing blog posts, white papers, guides, how-to videos and by giving lots of prime space to the user-generated content on our site we have managed to built a healthy audience which leads to good conversion rates and sets us apart from our competitors.
Thanks to Saud Ibrahim, The Jacket Maker!
#10- Write Metatags that appeal to your target audience
From an SEO perspective, your Meta Title, Meta Description and URL (web address) are the only information that a potential site visitor has before they click to visit your website. How you write these will determine who clicks to visit your website and who ignores it and opts to visit someone else’s site. To attract the right clients, not only do you need to include the right keywords, but also language these correctly. For example, if you sell a luxury product, mention ‘luxury’ in your Metatags and avoid works like ‘cheap’. If you’re only interested in a local audience, ensure that you include the town, city, or region in all your Metatags. Meta Descriptions can now be as long as ~300 characters, so you have plenty of room to include your unique selling points and location in there.
Thanks to Martin Woods, Indigoextra Ltd!
#11- Start with research
In order to attract the right clients to my business, first I research forums and groups to see what they want to know about the most. What questions are my ideal clients asking that I can help them with? Then I create content to answer those questions, such as blog posts, videos, free challenges and free webinars. I then share that content online and via social media so that it's available to my target market.
Thanks to Alicia Jay, New VA Advice, LLC!
#12- Create an ideal client avatar
Before we implement marketing tactics to attract random clients, we step back and look at our big picture strategy. We begin by first identifying the ideal client or target market for our clients' business. We create an ideal client avatar to help our clients visualize their ideal client. This ideal client avatar is a hypothetical person with a name, age, gender, profession, education, hobbies, lifestyle, etc. By creating an avatar of an ideal client, it helps us create an effective branding and communication strategy to attract more clients like them. Then we can position our clients' branding and marketing to resonate with their ideal client. This is an effective way to be strategic with our marketing strategy for attracting the right clients to their business.
Thanks to Sarkis Hakopdjanian, The Business Clinic!
#13- Use client testimonials
We work exclusively with tax and accounting professionals. We use outbound content marketing and webcasts to talk about the pain points we help solve. We are a marketing automation software developer so we tackle topics like easily attracting five-star reviews and how technology helps save time in onboarding clients. We always speak to the independent tax and accounting professional. We understand their fears, how they operate and what motivates them. We use our own client testimonials to do the selling for us, making it easier for our prospects to determine how our solution could benefit them.
Thanks to Lee Reams II, TaxBuzz!
#14- Develop a strong brand identity
Finding the right clients is particularly important for smaller businesses because they can be a stable source of ongoing revenue for you as you grow, and it takes a lot less time to manage them. In addition, the right clients allow you to solve problems and drive value, a proof-case and validation that makes every small business thrive. Also, with less-than-ideal clients, you're often putting out fires, and small businesses can't spare the resources to do that on a regular basis. We've found one of the best ways to attract ideal clients is by developing a strong brand identity that tells people who we are. If you can build a brand identity that boosts your reputation and embodies your values, like-minded companies and individuals will want to work with you. In fact, it should work both ways, with companies also evaluating a prospective client's brand and values to make sure there are no red flags. Pre-filtering this way can increase your chances for a long-term successful relationship.
Thanks to Carisa Miklusak, tilr!
#15- Using an app
Businesses attract the right clients/customers by knowing what they want and where to find them. In our retail business, we use print advertising to a degree but we're doing more digital nowadays. One of the most exciting ways is a relatively new app called WallaZoom. Customers connect with local businesses of their choice. When the business advertises their next sale, the customer will know about it in 8 seconds. The customer never misses out on a good deal and the business has a direct and inexpensive hotline to their customers.
Thanks to Andy Curry
#16- COI strategy (Circle of Influence)
We preach the birds of a feather strategy or COI strategy (Circle of Influence). First, simply determine a very tight and narrow profile of your ideal client with whom you wish to work. Write down and create this profile, similar to how an FBI agent does their profiling. Look at business age, size, revenue, type and even culture. The more narrow the better. Now, that you have the target defined, you have to make some simple type gesture to introduce yourself – so while it's important to have foundational things like a good social media presence and a website, your best tool is attending the right events, and saying hello to the right people. So, that five cent business card and your winning personality is still your best marketing weapon. Make a point to network with a purpose, introducing yourself, learning about an organization, and finding the pain points that you can uniquely solve. Follow up with a personal letter, so that stamp and that business card is the best 50 cent marketing investment ever.
Thanks to Rodger Roeser, The Eisen Agency!
#17- Using extra variables
One of the ways I attract the right clients to my business is by using extra variables when I created my audience in paid search. Behaviors: Facebook Payments users (90 days) We saw a huge increase in conversion when we added this single Behavior into our Facebook Ad Campaign. While lots of people might be interested you want people who are spending. Going after people who are currently spending money online was game-changing for us. Another way we attract the right clients is by looking for highly specialized blogs to sponsor/advertise on. For example – we are an Online Reputation Management company so we have paid advertisements on all throughout the website.
Thanks to Curtis Boyd, Future Solutions Media!
#18- A number of ways
One of my first pieces of advice is that business leaders need to know that they can pick and choose their clients. In addition, they can fire their clients. Second, I believe in the theory of Like attracts Like. What I mean by that is that owners need to first deeply understand their own culture. When you strongly establish your own values, it becomes more clear who the right clients are. If I host a dinner with all of my clients, I find that they get along well with each other. They share the same values of each other and with us. Finally, I think this also applies to vendors. When you pay your vendors on time and have clear expectations of them, they will become like partners to you in your growth and will refer you to other companies who do business the same way.
Thanks to John Crossman
#19- Develop connections into core relationships
It's as simple as building your Inner Circle for business. Would you refer business to someone you hardly know? It takes a real relationship to confidently refer a client. Now, imagine that we quickly surround you with professionals relevant to your business and we help you develop these connections into core relationships. It's beyond networking, it's about developing trusted relationships and learning how to maximize them. And quality customers will follow….
Thanks to Jonathan Kowit, CENTRICITY!
#20- Be the client you want to attract
Attracting the right clients is an important focus for business owners and besides the proper marketing and PR tactics and strategies, the additional piece of information I offer clients is this: Be the client you want to attract. Example: A client wants to create a six-figure coaching business but he himself does not spend money on his own business growth, his health, and wellness, or managing his finances. He wants clients to spend upwards of $16,000 per year on the luxury service of having a coach, but balks at investing $1,000 for marketing and PR. I live and work in a world full of abundance and I see that those who invest in themselves and others receive in a way that those who do not miss out on. Not in a hippie-dippie meditation chanting way, but in a real way that provides valuable business insight. Those who skimp on growing their own brand are often sending a signal to clients and customers that says I am not worth it. A miserable website, poor marketing materials, and a general lack of professional investment repels great clients.
Thanks to Julia Angelen Joy, Z Group PR!
#21- Take the time to reflect
One of the hardest thing in business isn't just finding clients but finding the right clients. I was lucky to receive lots of interest when I started offering online business management. I accepted all offers and while most clients are a pleasure to work with there were a few bad apples. Taking time to reflect on what wasn't a good fit helps you learn more about who you want to be attracting. For me, it's clients who need a certain skill set and not just ones who need to get stuff off their plate. Now, I ask the right questions during intake and create a system that fits my work values. I ask questions that make potential clients reflect on their business, if that's not for them then they're not right for me. Finally, networking and offering free value that's based on the approach of your business will also help attract clients. For instance, I spend time asking people to reflect on their business and whys online. It's part of what I continue to do when clients hire me. Put out what you want to get back.
Thanks to Hannah Taylor-Johnson, Taylor-Johnson Administration!
#22-Be yourself
You will only attract the right clients if you act like yourself. Too many business owners pose as someone they think they should be in order to appear more “professional.” There is no bigger turn-off to someone wanting to spend money on your things and stuff than a human being who wants to look like a corporation. Emails like info@ and signatures using company names and social media icons that use logos instead of photos, are not relatable at all. Relax the language you use in your emails and on your website. Wear clothes comfortably. Stand out and people will come out and buy from you.
Thanks to Jill Salzman, The Founding Moms!