I’m assuming that the savvy businessperson you are has identified your target market. Great start! But are you attracting the ‘right’ people with your messaging?

This is not about more analytics, SEO,  media channels. direct mail, etc.

It’s about laser-beam focus on your marketing communication – person by person, message by message, channel by channel.

What marketing specialists know is how specific and interactive today’s online (and offline, for that matter) marketing is. We are able to track in real-time our ‘likers’ (and haters), responders, followers, sharers, engagers, and prospective as well as repeat clients.

We can (virtually) have a personal conversation to find out our ideal client’s specific needs and desires, and then adjust our offerings and expertise to meet those needs. By the way, isn’t this the personal touch we as consumers are looking for?

This means that the conversation becomes very intimate and directed. 

Solution? Break down your target market into what I like to call “personas” (because it has ‘person’ in it, which is, well, more personal), and create a communications strategy to reach out to each one.

Sounds like a lot of work! I know – deer-in-the-headlights potential! Blink, please, and read on…

What does a client persona look like?

Let’s say you are a coach in organization and time management. Your target market is busy, goal-driven professional women who want to leverage their lives by being more organized and efficient. You have important messages, tips, and techniques that will help everyone in that general bucket. AND YET…

What you’re doing is writing for EVERYONE you have in mind who might fit your target market description. It’s too general, it’s not touching heartstrings, it’s not intimate. And you’re not getting the response you want.

Within this target market, you’ll want to search for more specific types of people and needs – AKA client personas – to speak to specifically: moms, single moms, empty-nesters, executive women nearing retirement, frequent business travelers, perfectionists who obsess over organization, office managers for fast-growth fast-paced companies, and so on.

What your single mom wants to hear about organizing and time-management is going to be different from what your empty-nester wants to hear because their day-to-day lives are very different, right? Your frequent traveler will want to know tips on systems to secure her home while she’s away, how to pack efficiently, how to handle flight changes calmly, practices that ease travel and minimize jet lag, etc. Your obsessive perfectionist may need some particular messages to help with mindset and behavioral shifts.

Get the idea? OK, back to YOUR business…

How to create your personas

1. Make your own list of personas, as many as you can think of and get as specific as you can.
2. From this large list of potential personas, choose 3 which hit that sweet spot of people who need you, people you love to work with, and people who pay well. Take your time with this piece! (You’re choosing up to 3, maybe 4, to ensure your capacity to reach each of them effectively.)
3. Now take each persona and describe the particular needs of each as thoroughly as you can.
4. Create a set of topics to meet those needs for each persona (there may be some overlap among them, which is fine!).
5. Now, you can craft message streams – conversations – for each of these personas. You know them well and can think of important things to tell them, to meet them where they are so they will ‘feel’ you and want to engage.

Bottom line? Don’t try to be all things to all people.

By attempting to please everyone, we often please no one. Same for content marketing: attempting to write for everyone ends up not reaching anyone, at least not on a personal, compelling level.

Do you feel like you’re leaving people out, leaving money on the table?

Au contraire!

The good news is that you will in fact also attract people outside your personas, because you are now writing with such clarity and power that your message stands out. So no fears of missing opportunities by not attempting to reach EVERYONE – the ‘right’ people will appear!

To learn why adding SPICE to your content marketing plan will bring you delicious results, read this.