What’s the most important thing to do when you start setting up your own business?
Would you guess that it’s writing a business plan? Developing or procuring products? Setting up a website? Securing funding? Starting a blog?
Although those are things are important and certainly should find a place in the processes you are setting up, I would argue that they aren’t the most important thing you can spend your time on.
The first thing you need to think about, (after you’ve decided the basic premise of your business… are you selling products or providing a specific service) is who you are trying to sell to. Specifically. I don’t mean a vague idea of “business owners” or “women.” I mean that it’s really important for you to create the character you will be selling to. Another word for this would be you need to create a persona, or an avatar, of your ideal customer or client.
Why you should stop now and develop your ICA
Your “ICA,” or “Ideal Client Avatar” will give you all the details you need and give you someone to focus on when you are creating your materials and your offers.
I know that you have a lot to do, and this might not seem like it’s the most important thing for you to spend your time on. But trust me, if you don’t have a specific person in mind, then it’s really really hard to find a way to connect with them. It’s really hard to find where they hang out on-line. And it’s really hard to connect to the “pain points” of everyone on the planet.
Taking the time to develop the detailed specifics of who you’re trying to reach will give you tons of ideas for different places to find them and lots of ideas for content you can create just for them. When you begin the journey of creating content, you will find it much easier to create what will resonate with your audience if you have an idea of who your audience is and what problems or challenges they may have that you can solve.
Also, as much as you’d love to help the whole world, if you are trying to appeal to “everybody,” you actually end up appealing to “nobody.”
So, let’s get to work on developing your ICA so you can get down to business helping the exact person you are meant to help.
What is an ICA
In developing your Ideal Client Avatar, you will be going deep into who your target audience is. Your finished product will be a little data sheet with all the details you need to know to reach your people.
If you already have an email list or a facebook group, you probably already know a bit about them. You can take a peek into the background of your facebook group using the basic demographic information you can glean from facebook to start building your avatar.
If you don’t already have these assets, that’s ok too. A lot of times you might already have a feel for who you are trying to reach. Even if you feel like you’re making up this data, it’s ok. Many business owners find that the help they’re offering is exactly the help they themselves needed a few years ago. Trying to connect with people in your past circumstances is a legit way to reach people. You just need to take some time to hash out those details.
What information should be in my ICA
The demographic details are a great place to start. It’s helpful to know those basic pieces of information. The heart of who your ideal client is will become apparent to you as you go deeper into the problems and challenges they are facing. This is exactly where you will come in as you will be their guide in helping them to solve these problems.
Demographics:
Gender
Age
Marital Status
Education Level
Children / number and ages
Occupation
Annual Household Income
Interests
Hobbies
What media / blogs / websites / podcasts do they refer to?
What Social Media Channels are they on?
Where do they shop?
What is the most important thing in their life?
Are they religious?
What do they worry about?
What keeps them up at night?
What are their hopes and dreams?
What do they need to learn from you to make their hopes and dreams become reality?
How do they spend their time each day?
How do they spend their money?
What other special considerations about them will help you know them more?
Can you think of a name for your ideal reader?
(download my free worksheet to help guide you in writing out your own ICA!)
What are pain points
Isn’t there enough pain and drama in the world? You might be wondering why I’m telling you to focus so much on your reader’s pain and struggles. Pain points are another way to describe their struggles, their worries, their concerns, their problems.
The thought process you need to go through to delve really deeply into what challenges your ideal reader has will help you connect with them authentically. It’s really important to go deep here. Think of what keeps them up at night, what are their worries or their deepest fears and struggles.
Which one are you trying to help them with?
How does developing an ICA help with my business?
The more you can understand your ideal client and their challenges, the better positioned you are to provide a solution to their problems. You are the one who is the most uniquely prepared to solve their problem. The better you understand their problem the better you can communicate in their language that you have the solution to their unique problem.
Especially if you are working with an ideal client that represents your past struggles, you will effortlessly be able to speak in their language and understand their challenges from the inside out. Your job is to communicate your understanding of their struggles in a way that resonates deeply with them.
How can I use my ICA to grow my business?
Don’t worry, this is not in any way manipulative or spammy. You are in a unique position to help your client solve their problem. You understand their pain and struggles, and it is your mission to help them.
By understanding their struggles deeply, you now have many ideas for how to develop your content strategy to help your ideal customer. Be transparent in sharing your own past struggles and what you have done to overcome them. Share about how crippling the struggle was for you so that your journey will resonate with them. Inspire them to see that they can and will overcome these struggles and will one day be looking back from “the other side” of them… stronger, full of wisdom in having conquering that problem.
Developing a time investment that will pay off
Be creative in thinking of content ideas that will resonate with your ICA… blog posts, lead magnets, videos, social media posts, etc. All of these will help your ideal customer know, like and trust you. As you build your following, you will be able to ask them directly additional questions so you can understand them even better.
You will be able to create content and products that are perfect for them and designed specifically to help them. In learning exactly what your ideal client is going through and exactly what you need, you will be able to provide for them that thing they need. You will attract more and more of your ideal customer as you learn where to find them and what you need to do to help them overcome those deep struggles they have.
If you think going back and trying to understand your ideal client will help you come up with ideas for content and products to help them, or if you are just starting out and think this is a great idea, I have developed a worksheet to help you gather your thoughts and guide you in developing your ICA. Click the link to download it here! (coming soon!)