If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you will notice that I keep talking about figuring out your ideal client avatar. I preach about this religiously!
You might be thinking you want all the brides and grooms who come your way, don’t you? You are afraid to miss any opportunities and income, and you don’t want to end up with no weddings if you turn anyone away.
Ok, I had your (incorrect!) mindset too, so hear me out on this.
You Don’t Want All Clients
You actually don’t want to work with all the brides and grooms out there. Not all of them are a good fit for you and also vice versa, you might not be a good fit for them depending on their needs:
- You cannot possibly serve all couples the same way and give your 101%
- You cannot possibly market to all of them and do a good job at speaking to them directly
- You cannot possibly be profitable and sustainable if you’re too general
What Getting All Clients Gave Me
Trust me, I’ve been there and what this mindset gave me was:
- Constantly trying to market to “no one” because it’s trust what they say, “If you market to everyone, you’re marketing to no one.”
- Working long hours with little to show for in my bank account
- I had a lot of weddings alright… but that didn’t mean I was profitable!
- Not able to focus on one specialty to call myself an expert in that
- Not able to charge a premium for that specialty
Why You Want to Narrow Down to Ideal Couples
Having an ideal client avatar, knowing clearly who you want to work with and not want to work with is the first best thing you want to do for your business. Whether you’re just starting out or if you’re struggling to get your business off the ground, figure this out first and foremost! When you have that person in mind:
- You can use language and words on your website, social media, and marketing materials that speak and resonate with them
- You can address their pain points directly
- They will feel that you actually understand them and what they need
- With all this, it’s easier for your ideal couples to find you
- Couples will say yes to you faster
- Saves you so much time not having to deal with those who aren’t a good fit
- You can charge a premium for being specific on the problems you solve
- Think about it, do you pay a handyman more or do you pay a higher price for a fridge repairman if your floral fridge breaks down? Well, the handyman probably doesn’t even know how to fix your fridge!
Questions to Ask About Your Ideal Clients
Here are some questions to ask yourself and you’d want to be very specific, down to giving your ideal bride/groom a name so you can really picture her in your mind when you’re trying to market to this group of people.
- What is his/her name (I will address “her/she” from hereon as that’s my ideal client since usually, it’s the bride who inquires)
- Where does she live?
- In the city, in the suburbs, in a house, in a condo, at her parents, owns her own place
- What does she do?
- What is her job?
- Is she a busy professional or is she in between jobs?
- What is the style of wedding she loves?
- Where will her wedding take place?
- Backyard
- Local wedding venue
- Destination wedding
- What specific pain points does she have when it comes to planning her wedding?
Recap
These questions are just scratching the surface but if you look at each question carefully, you’ll realize that each question helps you narrow down your ideal bride. For example, when you know that she’s a busy professional and not someone in between jobs, she will probably have a bigger budget to have her dream wedding and actually want the help executing her vision because she’s so busy and time is valuable. On the other hand, if you know that she’s in between jobs, she will probably watch every penny she spends.
I know wedding florists who do big luxury weddings and I also know wedding floral designers who just love doing small weddings with a small budget. My point is that not all florists necessarily want big weddings with big budgets! As you can imagine, these two florists will have different wording and language on their websites. They will have different images on their social media. They will market themselves differently. They will or will not participate in wedding shows. They will certainly market themselves in different places and avenues.
Can you begin to understand why it’s super important to have an ideal client in mind? So that you can craft all your marketing materials and drive all your marketing efforts in the right direction instead of just throwing out your fishing net hoping to catch some fish!
Narrowing down your ideal clients is the first thing to a profitable and sustainable business. If you want to take this further, don’t forget to download the 5-step Blueprint to a Profitable & Sustainable Business I put together for you HERE.
As always, cheering you on!
