Understanding your client is essential for selling the right services to the perfect customers and achieving market success as a startup. Who are they, what do they want, and what are their expectations?
In today’s article, we show you how to correctly define your startup clients and find out who is a perfect match for your product or services.
Preparation
Today’s article has a different format than usual. Treat it more like a task, exercise, or instruction to help you understand your clients better. Defining your clients is not a one-time task. It requires time, ongoing development of your knowledge about customer behavior, and adjusting your product to changing consumer needs. The best solution is to prepare a folder, document, or sheet of paper, and step by step write down all information about your startup and clients.
Understand Your Product
When you’re ready to define your clients, start with a thorough analysis of your company. A detailed examination of your service or product can provide a clear picture of problems you want to avoid, aspects that stand out from the competition, and weaknesses that need improvement.
Note all information, from the most general to the specific. Focus on people who would naturally be interested in your offerings. This analysis will form the basis of all marketing and sales actions, so you need to know how your service can solve clients’ problems.
Set Goals
Your startup’s goals can change over time. As a small startup, your objectives may be different from what they will be in a few years. What you aim to achieve as a founder/CEO/CTO should align with your clients’ needs. It may turn out that your goals will be adjusted during development, requiring you to change them along the way.
Analyze Clients You Already Have
To identify your target market, start with the clients you already have. Analyze who they are, their age, occupation, and interests. Create profiles with information that helps you promote your company to them. This may seem challenging at first, but there are plenty of online tools to help gather and present client information in an accessible form.
Websites that can help you define your target:
- HubSpot’s Make My Persona: A free persona generator that helps create detailed buyer personas based on your target audience. It guides you through a series of questions to build a profile that includes demographic, behavioral, and psychographic information. More details can be found on their Make My Persona page.
- UXPressia: Provides an online persona builder with various templates and customization options, enabling you to highlight different aspects such as text, graphs, and images. It supports real-time collaboration for easy sharing and editing with your team. Learn more on the UXPressia website.
- Maze: Offers a detailed guide on creating user personas, emphasizing qualitative research and rich questions to gather in-depth insights. The platform supports various user testing and feedback collection methods to refine your personas based on real data. Check out their resources on the Maze website.
Find Out Why They Chose You
One of the most important questions to answer is why your clients chose you. What was the deciding factor? There are many ways to approach this question. A simple opening question in a feedback form might be, “Why did you choose our product?” You can dig deeper by asking, “What business problem did you need to solve?” or “Why did you choose us over our competitors?” This helps gather detailed information about customer motivations that will inform your marketing strategies and sales offers.
Perfect Client – Who They Are
A perfect client is a person or company that wants and needs exactly what you offer. Identify their needs by asking about their pain points and goals. Talk with them and gather as much feedback as you can.
Meet Your Perfect Client
As trends and customer bases evolve, so must your techniques for identifying your ideal customer. If you believe you already have the customers you need and there’s no reason to invest further in understanding them, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise.
With competitors constantly advancing and the industry always changing, you need to continuously optimize your approach to stay ahead. One simple and cost-effective way to do this is by writing credible articles related to your industry. Observing your followers’ reactions to these articles provides valuable insights into the challenges they face in their daily lives. You can use this information to refine your offerings and update customer profiles, keeping you ahead of the competition.
Social media posts offer a quicker method to achieve the same goal. Instant feedback through likes, shares, and comments provides immediate insights. Take it a step further by A/B testing your social media posts and ads to determine what resonates best with your audience.
By following these steps, defining your target audience should be much easier. Remember, well-defined clients can significantly boost your startup’s growth.
Our mission is to support startups in achieving success. Feel free to reach out with any inquiries, and visit our blog for additional tips. Tune in to our podcast to glean insights from successful startup CEOs navigating their ventures.