Want to save money? Know your customers!

I don’t know about you, but I sure can’t stand wasting resources.?

Any resource—time, money, food, energy, all of those currencies—seems like a precious gift, and my job is to be wise about how I invest them.?

That said, the one I struggle with the most is the resource of clarity. The lack of clarity as a leader can create a leaky bucket of time and money flowing right out of my grasp.?

A few years ago, my team and I tracked time that was ‘revise work due to lack of clear direction at the beginning of a project or request.' The result was sobering. We found that sometimes we’d have to do up to 50% of the work again because the leadership of the project (the strategist and the client combined) weren’t CLEAR about what they were asking to be created.?

This happens a lot in digital businesses. It’s easy to just start without going through some logical design steps like those required in a project that involves hard assets, such as real estate or clothing.?

In the digital business and creative world, time is your most valuable asset. It’s the thing you don’t get back and the thing people investing time in your project need to get paid. So whenever a change order is created, that costs money.?

Imagine if you were designing a house. You couldn’t just change the direction of the kitchen halfway through the project without incurring a massive bill. The same is the case in digital businesses. Changing direction halfway through a build can cost you a fortune. Yikes!

So, now you might be wondering, how do you avoid this?

Working your strategy from the ground up is the short answer. One of the foundational decisions you’ll make is whom you are building your product, service, or program for.

Who is your buyer, your customer, your avatar, your ideal client, your right-fit buyer, whatever you want to call that person. WHO is your customer. You get my drift, right? This is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your journey to creating an aligned business and life that lights you up.?

Of course, if you have an unlimited number of dollars to spend on marketing and you don’t really need an ROI anytime soon, you can afford to fool around, not figure this out, and throw money out the window.?

Here’s a simple truth:

The wider your target market, the more money it is going to take to find your sweet spot customers, to build trust with them, and to convert them. Period.

If you’re like most of us and you are both resourceful and have an expectation of reasonable ROI, fear not, because it actually isn’t that hard to get clear and focused about who you want to help with your product or service.

Here’s how to get started with the process of really knowing your best-fit-customer…

Step 1??: Start with the basics and do an Avatar exercise that includes who are they, how old, what kind of education do they have, married or not, kids or not, where do they live, how much money do they make, how much disposable income do they have, are you selling a necessity or a luxury. You know, the basics.?

Step 2??: GO DEEPER…and by deeper, I mean way deeper. This means getting specific about all of those things I just mentioned above. How old are those kids, how long have they been married (or single or divorced), what have they already bought, like what you are selling, what else is going on in their life, what keeps them up at night, what wakes them up with excitement or dread in the morning.?

Here's the deal: if you can GET SPECIFIC about who you are talking to, creating for, and marketing to your business gets a whole lot more fun and profitable.

If you want a detailed example of this and specifics, check out this video on YouTube:

Look, I know this stuff takes a bit more time and energy from you and those you work with. Trust me, it’s worth the effort to get clear. You’ll save time and money today and a year from now if you do this work upfront.?

Until next time,

Make it a great day!

If you're new here, WELCOME! My name is Andrea Reindl, and since 2010, I've been working with authors, leaders, and coaches, helping them build successful businesses.

Today I help others grow their brand or help others do the same with free training on YouTube and a weekly publication Brandable Bites with exclusive inspiration in it, you can sign up here if that floats your boat.

For the right clients, we create Brand Blueprints & offer Done-For-You Packages to make your digital business clear and real. (that means we'll help you get clear on your WHO) If you would like to book a discovery call and see if I can help you, here is a link to my schedule.

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