As a business owner and entrepreneur, understanding your ideal customers should be one of your constant priorities. The more clarity and focus you have about your ideal customers, the better you can serve them. Once you know who they are, where you find them and how you can connect with them, marketing and sales become a much easier process. The big question that I often get asked is how to find the ideal customer. I've collected five steps about the overall strategy of identifying your ideal customers, and I also created a guidebook to help you drill down to the exact details of who your ideal customers are. 

Beginner's Guide to Identifying your Ideal Customers

If you are here for the guidebook, you can download it here. For marketing beginners, I recommend reading on to understand more about the thinking and strategy behind identifying your IC (Ideal Customer). 

Five Steps of Identifying Your Ideal Customers

1. Have clarity about your product or service from your customer's point of view!

What problem are you solving for your customers? What pain points and needs does your product satisfy? How do you help and improve your customers' lives? Because the best scenario is always when you provide something that your customers need. Sometimes they are not even aware of your solution, they just simply face a problem. This is also another reason why you need to know who they are so well because you will have the power to make them aware of a solution that they might have not thought about before. 

2. Understand who are the ideal customers for the product or service you offer.

Know their age, interest, occupation, how they live, what they like. How much do they earn, what do they dream about, where are they located? Are they married? Divorced? A single mother? I student living at home? Who are their friends? Do they like to do sports or arts and crafts, read a book or meet friends? Do they have pets, like to cook or rather choose to take out? There are many different questions you can ask, and the most important part is to ask the questions that are relevant to your IC. 

3. Know what are the key benefits to your customers when buying your product!

Get clear on what is most important to your ideal customers when purchasing your product. What are their pressing needs where you offer a solution? Why should they buy from you instead of buying from someone else? 

4. What are the critical decisions your ideal customer faces when buying your product?

Exactly when they buy your product? Understand what has to happen in their lives to buy your services and products? Find the pattern and understand how they decide on the purchase. How exactly do they make their purchasing decision? 

5. Get clear on what is your customers buying strategy.

How does your ideal customer buy your product or services? What are the essential qualities that your ideal customer would have? 

Your Goal In Identifying Your Ideal Customer

The goal is to be crystal clear on who you're serving and what you can do for them. You have to consider this type of person or community in your mind's eye every time you create a piece of content because you are creating it specifically for them. This exercise is guaranteed to be 100% worth your time and effort, and the deeper you drill down and the more detailed your work is, the better you will understand your ideal customers. All the valuable information you learn will help you better understand and serve your customers.

Your Ideal Customer Workbook 

I've created this detailed Ideal Customer Workbook to guide you through the exact process and learn as much as you can about who your ideal customers are. Once you have all the details, you can move on to learning more about How To Create Your Content with Impact.