Episode 020: How to Identify Your Ideal Customer as a Creative Entrepreneur with Nate Dale of New Adventure Productions
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To grow and thrive in your business, you have to know who your ideal customer is and make your ideal customer the central focus of your business. Full stop.
As a creative entrepreneur, once you know who you’re actually trying to reach, you can strategically and directly speak to the ideal customers you want to attract—the people who make you love what you do day after day.
In this episode of Priority Pursuit, I’m joined by Nate Dale of New Adventure Productions (a destination wedding and elopement photographer based in Lafayette, Indiana who previously joined us to discuss how to start working with your dream clients) to talk about how to identify your ideal customer.
Nate has strategically and intentionally created his dream business in the wedding photography industry. But, guess what? His approach is almost an exact 180° from my own. While Nate and I work in the same industry, our ideal clients are nearly polar opposites. As a result, we have different messaging, processes, and ways that we approach our work and client experience. But, despite having very different ideal customer profiles, knowing who our ideal customers are has allowed both of us to build successful businesses doing what we love.
And, friend, by the end of this episode of Priority Pursuit, you’ll be able to do the same! So, let’s break down how to identify your ideal customer as a creative entrepreneur and why it’s critical to take the time to do so.
First of all, what is an “ideal customer”?
Your ideal customer is the perfect person you would like to work with, and your ideal customer avatar is a detailed description of this dream client that you can—and should—refer to in all business and marketing decisions. Marketing guru Amy Porterfield defines your ideal customer as both someone you are meant to serve and a person you enjoy serving in return.
Now, these descriptions go deeper than surface level (for example, more than simply identifying someone who would like to have their picture taken) and focus on defining specific demographics, education, and even personal values so that your ideal customer feels like a real person.
We’ll discuss exactly what you need to know about your ideal customer in a moment, but before we do, there is one caveat. This does not mean you literally only have one person to work with. Identifying your ideal customer simply helps set up a framework to drive your business and marketing decisions.
Why is it critical to know your ideal customer?
To be blunt, if you don’t know who your ideal customer is, your current marketing efforts are a waste. In order for your business to succeed, you need to be able to make wise marketing and business decisions. And, in order to make wise decisions, you have to know your ideal customer.
There are three primary reasons why it’s critical to identify your ideal customer. Knowing who your ideal customer is:
- Enables you to better identify your client’s needs and how you can solve their problems through your products or services.
- Allows you to better serve your customers with valuable content.
- Empowers you to find customers whom you genuinely enjoy working with.
When you know how to identify your ideal customer, this helps you as a business owner adjust your services to better serve those ideal customers and strategically change your marketing tactics to find and attract them.
Plus, referrals remain a critical source of business, especially since referrals usually lead to similar customer types. On top of that, referred friends and family know exactly what to expect because they have been exposed to your work previously. In other words, once you start attracting your dream customers, referrals will keep more dream clients coming!
Let’s break it down: How to identify your ideal customer as a creative entrepreneur.
There are two ways to identify your ideal customer:
- Imagine your dream client
- Base your ideal client off of an all-time favorite client
For me, I had an amazing experience with a VRP bride (shoutout to Andrea!) that set the foundation for my ideal client avatar, while Nate shared how he built an avatar around someone he’d love to book. If you don’t think you’ve worked with your ideal customer yet, then simply start imagining who it would be and build your profile from there!
When identifying your ideal customer make sure to keep notes and write it down. Think about what brings you joy in your work and how that might translate to an ideal customer profile. The more you know about your ideal customer, the better you can target and resonate with them (and repel those who aren’t).
According to DigitalMarketer, you need to identify your ideal customer’s:
- Demographic information
- Age
- Gender
- Relationship status
- Number of children
- Children’s ages
- Location
- Occupation
- Job title
- Annual income
- Education
- Goals and values
- General
- In relation to your product/service
- Possible objections (in relation to your product/service)
- Problems and pain points (in relation to your product/service)
- Sources of Information (media they regularly consume)
- Role in the purchase process
Why are you serving this ideal customer?
In addition to defining who your ideal customer is, it’s important to determine why you want to serve this particular person. Why is your ideal client avatar your ideal client? Why do you love working with them? What makes you want to work with this person again and again?
Identifying your ideal customer is a powerful way to build and refine your marketing strategy, but it’s also key in building a business you love and enjoy, while simultaneously avoiding burnout.
In case this helps, here’s a summary of why Nate and I serve the clients that we do:
Nate feels called to help his clients live out their travel dreams.
Nate wants his clients to have an experience that makes their travel dreams come true, so he focuses on curating content that helps show clients how they can take steps to get there. This means educating clients on how to travel to different locations and ways to appropriately budget. He strives to differentiate that while smartphones can take great pictures, that isn’t a replacement for a professional photographer.
One example he shared was how budget can be a big pain point for people. He recently booked a client to go to Alaska in 2022, and Nate shared how he helped them plan accordingly so they can make the trip attainable.
This “why” for Nate grew out of his desire on what he wished his wedding day could have been. With elopements, he’s found the day to be far less stressful and much more chill. So, as a result, his clients are able to have great memories but without working so hard to throw a big party.
Victoria wants to remind couples that their marriage is worth fighting for & for brides to know someone else cares about the little details as much as they do.
For me, I firmly believe wedding photos can be used as a tool to help couples fight for their marriages. These images provide memories that share the promises two people made to each other and are important on harder days when a couple may need that reminder.
Now, I particularly target detail-oriented brides because I’m detail-oriented myself and know what it’s like to feel frustration when others don’t care about the little things as much as I do. When a bride chooses me, she can relax and enjoy her wedding while trusting my attention to detail and being confident that she’s going to love her wedding photos.
On top of that, when I work with detail-oriented brides, I can better enjoy what I do because there’s a plan in place and expectations are clear.
How can you adjust your business and marketing practices to find your ideal customer?
Okay, so now that an ideal customer has been defined and you know why you are serving that ideal customer, what happens next? Once you’ve defined who your ideal customer is, it’s important to take action and make sure your marketing efforts are reaching out to that person.
And, here are a few ways you can do exactly that:
- Bluntly share who you’re made to work with: Update your social media messaging and website content to identify your ideal customer and how you plan to serve them well. (E.g. I specifically state that I’m a wedding photographer for “detail-oriented” brides.)
- Reflect your ideal customer: Share photos that reflect the ideal customer you want to work with and would want to photograph again. For example, I share a lot of detail photos in my social media posts to emphasize my focus on capturing those details from a couple’s big day.
- Educate your customers: Answer important questions and explain how your product or service will provide the solution your ideal customer is looking for. Build a strategic plan to share content that speaks to your ideal customer. This can include video content, photo content, blogs, social media, and resource guides.
- Build a cohesive brand: Knowing how to identify your ideal customer allows you to establish brand values that help define your business and provide consistency in your messaging. This can provide a ton of value, which leads to building trust, and eventual investment in your business.
So what are you waiting for? Get the ideas flowing, outline your own ideal customer, and begin adjusting your business and marketing efforts accordingly!
Need help defining your brand? Tune into “Episode 007: How to Develop & Communicate Your Brand as a Creative Entrepreneur”!
Learn more about The New Adventure Workshop in Hawaii!
Earlier this year, Nate launched the New Adventure Workshop in Salt Lake City. He’s thrilled to announce the next workshop will take place on the Big Island of Hawaii January 27-31, 2022.
This is an education first workshop for photographers and filmmakers that is focused on providing resources to help better market your business. While this is primarily for destination or elopement-minded entrepreneurs, all are invited to attend!
I’m excited to announce I’ll be in Hawaii in January as an educator at this workshop! I’ll be speaking on SEO and building an excellent client experience. Workshops like these are a great way to get outside of your normal work environment and intentionally focus on your business as a priority!
As of July 30th, only two spots remain.
The New Adventure Workshop includes:
- Amazing marketing content that brings value to your business
- Ways to approach payroll and taxes
- Client education tactics
- Styled shoots at awesome locations: hardened black lava flows, volcano, black and white sand beaches, and a sunrise session are on the agenda for 2022
- Time to implement what you’ve learned!
If the workshop sells out be sure to join The New Adventure Workshop email list for future updates. There are currently four workshops planned in 2022!
Want to hear more from Nate?
If you’d like to connect and hear more from Nate you can find him on Instagram at @newadventureproductions, @thenewadventureworkshop on Facebook, on Pinterest, and at newadventureproductions.com.
Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Episode 007: How to Develop & Communicate Your Brand as a Creative Entrepreneur
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
Join the Priority Pursuit Podcast Facebook Community
Receive 50% Off Your First Order with Photographer’s Edit
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