When you’re running your own online business, there’s one more thing you need to focus on besides having an excellent service or product and that is your target market.
In other words, your dream clients. You will probably start your online business journey by offering your service/product to pretty much anyone who comes your way; however, there is a chance that they might not be your ‘dream’ clients.
As a business owner, we will discuss 7 powerful suggestions for finding your dream client. Read on to find out what these powerful suggestions entail.
What is a Dream Client?
Before we get to talking about the suggestions on how to find your dream clients, it's probably a good idea to define what a dream client is. This is quite a subjective term because a dream client for one person will be something else for another.
For one person, a dream client may simply be somebody willing to pay top dollar without asking any questions. For another person, it may be someone who isn't too stressed in terms of deadlines. So, before you can plan for your dream clients, you need to define what your personal dream client looks like.
A dream client could be somebody who is always on time, doesn't ask any questions, trusts your judgment, pays the bills without question, or whatever else. A dream client is a client that makes your life as easy as possible, one that you can rely on to keep your business afloat.
Suggestions for Finding Your Dream Client
Now that we know what a dream client is let’s go over some of the most powerful suggestions and tips for bagging those top-tier clients.
1. Figure Out What Your Dream Client Looks Like
We partially covered this in the section above, but this first step is crucial. After all, you cannot possibly find your dream client if you do not know what they’re supposed to look like.
First, figure out what you need the most from your clients to make your life and your business as easy and as profitable as possible. Once you figure out what this is, you can then visualize someone who fits the profile.
2. Lock Down the Niche
To find your dream client, also decide what your niche or focus is. If you want a dream client for a specific service you provide, you must first identify what services you are providing.
Determine what you are good at doing, where your passions lay, and what services you can provide. Then figure out who the target audience is.
Knowing who you are, what you do well, and who will need your services will help you determine what kinds of people to target and where to target them.
3. Using Social Media to Your Advantage
Something else you can do to find your dream client is to use social media to your advantage. Social media is entirely free to use, at least most of it. First, create a comprehensive professional and great-looking company profile or page on social media.
You’re familiar with all the social media platforms, so we aren't going to start listing all of them. However, as far as business-to-customer services are concerned, Facebook is one of your best bets. This is very broad in terms of the people you are targeting by using social media, but with that being said, if you cast a wide net, the chances of finding your dream client increase.
Then, once people began contacting over social media, you can start weeding out the weak links. In other words, through some slick social media advertising, you can potentially have your dream client come to you.
4. Email Marketing Campaigns Can Work Too
Yet another way of potentially finding your dream client is to use email marketing. Email marketing campaigns often involve targeting hundreds or thousands of people at once. As with social media advertising, this will mean weeding out some of the less attractive clients for your business.
That said, by doing some market research, you can put together a pool of potential dream clients that you plan on targeting with your email campaign. However, first, you want to generate a pool of the best possible candidates to send emails to, as you don’t want to waste time on people who won’t qualify as dream clients.
To collect emails, you can try any of the following email marketing platforms:
5. Professional Networks and Associations
If you're looking for the best possible clients, you need to find the places where they congregate. One of the best places to do this is through professional networks and associations. Yes, LinkedIn is one of the first that comes to mind.
People looking for specific services will often search for them online, often in these professional networks.
You might find a post or thread on a professional network where somebody is looking for a specific service that you provide. For instance, if you run an auto-body shop and are looking for dream clients, the best place to look is within professional associations around that industry.
6. A Little Word of Mouth can Go a Long Way
Word of mouth still plays a significant role in advertising, maybe not as much as 10 or 20 years ago, but it still makes a difference. You might have a friend of a friend of a friend looking for the best web-hosting service around, a service that you provide. There is no harm in telling your friends to let their friends know about the services you provide.
Sometimes all you need is a good word from somebody who already knows how great the services are that you provide.
7. Direct Contact is Always an Option
Although some people aren’t fans of initiating direct contact with potential dream clients when it comes down to it, this is one of the fastest and easiest ways to secure those dream clients. Instead of going through a convoluted marketing scheme, directly contact somebody who could potentially need your services.
Check on various social media platforms and professional associations and find people who need the services you provide.
How you contact these people and what you say within your message warrants a whole article of its own. That said, if you know of somebody who qualifies as a dream client, you have nothing to lose by initiating contact with them.
FAQ
What is a Customer Avatar?
In marketing, a customer avatar is a fictional character that helps us understand who the ideal customers are.
How Many Customer Avatars Should I Have?
While some businesses may only have or need one customer avatar, you may have more than one idea of your ideal customer.
How Do You Attract More Customers?
Some of the best ways to attract new customers include discovering where those customers live, knowing the ins and outs of your own business, trying direct response marketing, positioning yourself as a resource, and always follow up with people.
Conclusion
If you follow the suggestions we have provided, you should have no problems finding your ideal dream customers to keep your business afloat. What your dream client is will depend on what your services are, as well as what their specific needs are. The most important thing is to first figure out what your particular dream client looks like.
