Guest post by licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitator and Associate Coach Kiala Givehand Photo credit: Patrícia Almeida

Have you ever created an offering or a product that you just knew was going to be a big hit with your audience but it bombed? Maybe you’ve written multiple blog posts but felt like you were talking to yourself. Well, you aren’t alone. Many creative business owners find themselves working, sharing, tweeting, posting and creating with no interaction from their customers (or potential customers). There are many reasons why this happens, but one of the most recurring reasons is that the business owner hasn’t figured out the real, nitty-gritty details about their perfect customer.

Yes! Most right-brained entrepreneurs have an idea of who they want to work with, but the beauty is in the details. For example, what does it really mean to say you want to work with women who haven’t figured out they are creative? That only tells me two things about your perfect customers – they are women and they don’t know they are creative. Or what about listing your perfect customers as “women in transition”? What woman isn’t in transition in some area of her life? You get my point right? These are much too general and will have the business owner spending too much time, energy, and money trying to reach an audience that they know very little about.

To get more specific you can start to think about what age group these women are in, as well as where they live, work, and play. You might consider what has kept them from knowing they are creative. It helps to think about where they shop and what they spend their money on. How much money do they make in a year? How much of that is disposable income? Do they have kids? Grandkids? What kind of jobs do they have? What do they currently do in their spare time? What do they read? Where do they get recommendations about products they are considering? What problem are you solving for them? And on and on and on.

Really getting to know your perfect customer helps you in multiple areas of your business. Here are a few…

1) Knowing the details about your perfect customer gives you a more specific target audience so that you aren’t trying to be all things to all people.

2) When you know as much about your perfect customer as you can, you are more able to market directly to their pain (and pleasure) points.

3) Understanding the habits, beliefs, fears, and strengths of your perfect customer can help you develop the kinds of offers they need and want. It keeps you from creating a product that only a few people will find useful.

4) As you blog, write, and create materials to educate your audience, knowing their behaviors can give you a special kind of insight into what will speak directly to them. You will learn to use the right language to excite them, motivate them, and encourage them to work with you.

5) You can save time by knowing where and when to focus your social media efforts, your marketing dollars, and your energies around trying to build a community of people who are eager to experience the work you do.

As you build your tribe of perfect customers – the ones who are right now, out there waiting for the gifts, talents, and passions that only you can share with them – remember to go deep into the details of who they are and what problems you are solving for them. This will make a major difference in the way you show up in the world as a business owner and will help you find your right people, establish a relationship with them, and nurture the ones who want to be in community with you.

Of course it is possible to have so many details about your perfect customer that you end up only having about 20 people on the planet who fit the description. I’ll talk about this in part two of this series next month. Until then, tell me…who are your perfect customers and what problem are you solving for them?

Kiala Givehand, EdS, MFA, MA is the founder of Giving Hands Creative, Generations Literary Press, and HowToArtJournal.com. She has a unique perspective on what it means to be a multi-passionate business owner. As an empowerment & accountability coach for creative female entrepreneurs, introverts, writers, & artists, Kiala uses her fierce energy to help her clients identify and embrace their gifts so they can empower their lives with passion and intentional success. You can visit her on her Website. Kiala is one of our licensed Right-Brain Business Plan® Facilitators and a Right Brain Business Plan Associate Coach.