Lately, I’ve been talking to community members, potential clients and others who are firmly in the “the more eyeballs the merrier camp”.  The idea is that if you can get your message in front of as many people as possible then someone is bound to purchase.  This used to be true – especially when the number of media outlets were limited and it was impossible to really target down your audience too much.

At that point, advertising was REALLY expensive… because we were paying for many. many eyeballs we didn’t need to attract.

I remember running a radio ad campaign to recruit people to join a local government business growth program.  Because the local TV station covered three states, we ended up paying for thousands of people to see our ads who never would be opening a business through our program.   It was nearly impossible for small businesses to compete because they couldn’t afford to get in front of enough people to make enough sales to grow.

Social media has changed all of that. You can now target the smallest possible slice of ideal clients for you.  Small businesses (and even solopreneurs) can 100% compete with large companies, they just need to be very clear on who that ideal client is.

And, in my experience, this is the part that people tend to skip.  It is very tempting to jump straight into setting up that lead magnet and running those ads.  The problem is that untargeted ads are expensive and ineffective.

You really need to create a Buyer Persona.  I could go on and on about how having a clear sense of who your ideal customer is will help your business.  But, I won’t.  Sharon Woodcock did a great job of doing that in a great post on the 8 Reasons Why You Need  A Buyer Persona.

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1. Determine motivators: goals, fears, desires, values, and needs
2. Know what their needs are at each stage of the customer journey
3. Create an effective marketing strategy that feels authentic to you
4. Get better and more qualified leads, who are a great fit for you
5. Communicate in language that connects, resonates and converts
6. Differentiate yourself from your competitors, and stand out in a crowded market
7. Create products and services that fulfill your ideal audience’s needs
8. Create content and stories that align with the customer journey(Check out her post for how to get started on diving into your dream clients)
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Have you created your ideal buyer persona?  Who are they?  Share them in our Solo Biz Hacker Facebook group 🙂