5 ways to get to know your ideal customer
The more you understand your ideal customers, the people who buy your stuff, who leave you rave reviews, who tell all their friends about you and light you up. The more you’re going to be able to talk to them in a way that gets their attention.
The more you know where they currently are, how they are feeling, and where they want to get to, the better your copy, your sales messages and your social media.
You want people to open your emails, see you on social and read your website and think ‘damn, that’s me, the know me, I’ve got to have that’.
Introducing STEAR statements.
S – Situation – what situation are they currently in. What’s true for them right now?
T – Thoughts – what thoughts are they having? What is their internal monologue?
E – Emotions – what emotions are they feeling?
A – Action – what actions are they taking to solve the situation?
R – Results – what are the results of the action they take?
So let’s do a few examples using customers from some of my current clients!
Situation – they are feeling frumpy, they don’t feel confident anymore, they’ve lost their way a little bit, they’re using notebooks that don’t have all the features they need, they’re missing drinking in a pub with their friends and bored of the boring beer on offer in the supermarkets, they’re not excited about life anymore, they know they want more, but they can’t access what that is, they’re tired of feeling tired, of having headaches all the time and are not happy with their expanding middle.
Ok, so I hope that gives you a few indications of the way to create those situations. If you can go deeper than I did. Really dig into that situation.
Thoughts – I just don’t look good in anything, this notebook just doesn’t quite cut it, I miss the variety and quality of the beer I can buy in a pub, there must be more to life than this!, I can’t keep feeling like this day in day out.
Again, dig deep into those thoughts. What are your ideal customers thinking about their situation?
Emotions – Frustrated, annoyed, sad, excited, fear, anticipation, sadness, guilt…
You know, those emotions we all have all the time! Which ones are your customers feeling?
Action – This is where it get really interesting. Your ideal customers can take all sorts of actions, from buying another book, course, searching on the internet, buying your products, doing nothing at all.
What actions do you think your customers has taken before they find you?
Results – And so what results do they get from the actions they take? It might be that they take no action and so things stay the same and they’re still frustrated. It might be that they buy another course, book and get more confused about they way forward?
What results do you think your ideal customers are getting from the actions they take?
The more of these you do, the more scenarios you create around your ideal customer, the more you’ll be able to really dig into who they are feeling, where they are at and what they’re doing to try and resolve their problem.
And then you can use this to create your messaging.
If you feel like x, but want to feel like x, and have tried x, y & z and feel x, come and try my x!
You get the idea!
And if you’re not sure how your customers are thinking and feeling ask them!
You can use google forms for free, or you may be able to have a form on your website. Send out a questionnaire to your email list. Ask your clients and customers how they found you. Ask people before they start working with you to tell you how they are feeling and where they want to get to.
All the information is there we just need to start looking for it!
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash