Strategic Foundations for Female Entrepreneurs: Focused Audience and Clear Marketing

Many service-based women entrepreneurs I speak to, who are transitioning from corporate life to starting a service-based business, often face significant marketing challenges. Despite their efforts, they struggle to gain traction and feel frustrated when their marketing strategies don’t yield results.

I often hear them say:

• I post content offering my services (even for free) and there are no takers.
• I have tons of skills and various services I offer but can't get traction with my marketing.
• My prospects like my service offer but don't seem to have the urgency to invest.
• I send direct emails/messages with work proposals and get ignored.

When we delve deeper into the root of the problem, it often comes down to a couple of reasons:

1. Lack of Clarity on Target Audience: When you're unsure yourself who your service is specifically for, how is the person on the receiving end supposed to know it's directed at them? Equally, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. Even if your services are broadly useful, your message can get lost in the overwhelming amount of information people are bombarded with daily.
2. Unclear Value Proposition: If your message doesn’t clearly address a specific problem or offer a compelling solution, there’s no incentive for prospects to engage with you, invest in your offer or even take advantage of an initial free call.

As a new entrepreneur, it is essential to understand and articulate in what way your solution is useful and to whom, to the point that they are willing to invest. According to NatWest 42% of businesses fail due to lack of demand / market need and 14% due to poor marketing and ignoring the customer.

Here is what you can do to set yourself up for success from the outset by positioning as a pro from the get-go as a female entrepreneur in your start-up business.

1. Identify and Commit to a Specific Target Audience.

• Specialising is The Key to Attracting High-Paying Clients

Narrowing your focus to a single key target audience can help you attract more and better-quality clients by being seen as an expert in the field. This doesn’t mean you have to find a super-specialised micro-niche, but there should be a common characteristic that identifies your audience linking to why you are best placed to serve them.

• A deep Understanding of Their Needs is Your Competitive Advantage.

When you clearly understand whom you are targeting, you can get very deep and specific about their problems and needs, allowing you to show empathy, build trust, and create content that resonates. This deeper connection and understanding lead to better engagement and higher conversion rates.

• Reduce Overwhelm Whilst Remaining Creative and Fulfilled

When you go deep into your niche, it opens up a well of opportunities that are creative, exciting, and full of possibilities. It allows you to become greatly knowledgeable and sought after. It also gives you clear direction and keeps you focused, preventing you from getting overwhelmed with decisions and avoiding the distraction of bright shiny objects.

2. Articulate a Clear Benefit and Value Proposition.

• What’s In It For Them?

Clearly communicate the benefits and value they will receive by engaging with your services. What is the compelling reason for them to book a call with you? Your message should be so laser-focused that it evokes a clear 'yes, that’s me - I need this' or 'no, I don’t have that problem' response.

• Laser-Focused Messaging.

Rather than saying, "Book a call to learn how I can help you with your marketing," you could say, "Book a call to learn how to double your traffic and sales through targeted marketing." Similarly, instead of offering a free leadership coaching call, you could say, "Book a call to learn how to build a high-performing team and lead with confidence."

• Address Daily Frustrations.

Focus on solving a problem that causes your clients daily frustration or keeps them up at night that the client wants to address right now, rather than a nice-to-have or something they can look into in a few months' time.

Addressing issues is more effective than simply highlighting desires because people are generally more motivated to solve problems than to pursue higher ambitions. Connecting with the emotions around the pain point, such as frustration, confusion, overwhelm, or confidence can 1.5 x increase the likelihood of conversion and customer loyalty.

3. Provide an Opportunity for Your Prospects to Get to Know You

• Content is Queen

It is as much about helping your prospects build trust in your expertise as it is about developing familiarity. Your potential clients consume an average of 13 pieces of content from various sources and can spend over 10 hours sorting through your social media posts, blogs, videos, webinars, or calls before they decide to sign up or invest in a service from you.

• Build Trust and Familiarity

Regularly publishing high-quality content helps you build trust and establish your authority in your field. The more valuable information you share, the more your audience will begin to trust and like you, making them more likely to engage with your services. You can create multiple assets for each element of your expertise or concepts that you utilise with your work and you'll probably find that many are already in place and can be already be published or with some minor tweaks.

Narrowing your focus to one key audience, one solution and one marketing message has the potential to greatly skyrocket the return on your marketing efforts and also make it easier for you to stay focused and avoid distraction by bright shiny objects. And, if you are looking to attract high-paying clients, positioning yourself as an expert with a deep understanding of their problems and clear solutions is crucial.

This approach will help you build trust, establish authority, and ultimately attract clients who value and are willing to pay for your specialised services. It will also give you clear direction and focus for your marketing helping you avoid costly distractions!

I am Maria - Money Mindset & Business Strategy Coach and specialise in helping women shift out of corporate into entrepreneurship and turn their skills and passions into high-paying clients by implementing solid business foundations that position them as pros from the get-go.

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