Don’t you just hate ideal client exercises?
Every marketer talks about the importance of identifying your ideal client. But creating a vision of this fictitious person can feel less like a productive marketing activity and more like a homework assignment.
While ideal client exercises are hard, the information that you can draw from them is golden.
However, if you are struggling to gel with the concept of an ideal client, there is another way to approach the issue…
Instead of focusing on your perfect dream client, flip your perspective and start thinking about your anti ideal client!
By focusing on what you don’t want, you’ll find it easier to determine what you do want.
Sound intriguing? Let’s take a closer look at the anti ideal client concept.
Who Is Your Anti Ideal Client?
Why You Need To Know Your Audience
In marketing, narrowing your focus is vital. If you try to market to everyone, you will fail to be relevant to anyone.
The old scattergun approach to marketing is ineffective and expensive! We need to work smarter and cut through the noise so that we are relevant to the right people and stand out from the crowd.
The purpose of building your ideal customer profile is to help you better understand who is most likely to vibe with your business and benefit from what you offer.
Once you have a detailed profile, you’re equipped to create content that strongly appeals to – and connects with – those people. You’ll also know where to find them so you can focus your marketing efforts on the right channels at the right time.
What Is An Anti Ideal Client?
So, the end goal is to have a pretty detailed profile of the kind of people you want to reach with your marketing.
But there are different ways to reach that goal. As human beings, it’s sometimes easier for us to figure out what we don’t want rather than what we do want.
That’s why I prefer to start the process by identifying my anti ideal client.
Anti ideal clients are the people you absolutely do not want to work with.
They have specific undesirable characteristics, such as not paying you on time (or at all), wanting everything for free, or constantly arguing with you and trying to negotiate your pricing.
Your values don’t align with theirs, and connecting with them would be a big waste of their time – and yours.
Knowing Your Anti Ideal Client
From the descriptions above, I’m guessing you can already picture the person I’m talking about. You’ve probably dealt with them more often than you care to admit!
Knowing this person allows you to recognise them when they turn up. It makes saying no to them so much easier because you know what it’s like to work with them, and it’s just not worth it.
By identifying and avoiding your anti ideal client, you save your resources to share with the right people who know the value of what you offer.
Getting To Know Your Anti Ideal Client
We already know that marketing to someone who doesn’t resonate with your product or service will be a waste of time and money – as will marketing to people who don’t have a need that can be fulfilled by what you offer.
But we can add to that profile by diving a little deeper. Think about the demographics of the customers that most likely wouldn’t be interested in your business. Are they of a certain age, gender, or marital status?
How about the brands they don’t support, the hobbies and interests they don’t have, and the platforms they don’t use to engage with the world.
Imagine what your anti ideal client likes and dislikes – from political attitudes to consumer items and more.
Putting it All Together
Once you know who you don’t want to work with, it becomes so much easier to figure out who the opposite of that is.
Hello ideal client, and hello smart, effective marketing.
Sign up below, and I will send you my anti ideal client worksheet right to your inbox so you can get this sorted in your business TODAY!
It’s quick, it’s effective – and you will be well on your way to better marketing once you’ve got.