Market Research Tips: Getting to Know Your Perfect Ideal Client

image of blonde haired woman sitting at desk with coffee and laptop and title Struggling to get clarity on your offer? Use these market research tips to get to know your ideal client! thecontentmarketingmompreneur.com/blog

How well do you know your ideal client? There are always ways and market research tips to get to know your ideal client a little better. Market research isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing. Your ideal client is constantly evolving with new struggles and needs, so it’s so important to research every so often – kind of like catching up with an old friend.

As an entrepreneur, we think we have the BEST solution to someone’s problem. But we struggle to identify who. And offering a solution that you don’t know is needed might turn out to be wasted time and effort. I’m going to give you the top main market research tips and questions you should be asking your ideal audience.

4 Market research tips to get clarity from your ideal client audience

As a beginner entrepreneur, you might think, “I don’t need to do market research. I know what is needed. I have a perfect idea!” or, “This is such a waste of time!” I told myself this when I started! But trust me when I tell you, you will save yourself tons of time if you do market research instead of just “winging” putting your product out there.

Here are 4 ways to get your market research answered.

The first thing you need to do is identify who your ideal client is.

You have to know who you are serving. If you don’t know who, you won’t know what questions to ask. An ideal client is like a close friend. You have to know their struggles, weaknesses, passions, victories, and what they need. Want and need are two different things. Your ideal client knows what solution they want, they may not necessarily know what it is they actually need.

Light blue background and bright pink scribble and quote An ideal client is like a close friend. -Katie Flores

There are layers to this step. It’s not enough to just say, “Well, my ideal client is someone who desires to have a home business.”. You have to go more “niche”. Remove layers and get very detailed. So, you know your ideal client might be someone who wants a business from home. Let’s say this person is a mom. Now we need to remove another layer. There has to have a connection piece. Does she work? Does she stay home? So let’s say she’s a stay-at-home mom. How many kids does this SAHM mom have? We’ll say she has three kids. Now you know that your ideal client is a stay-at-home mom with three kids. That’s pretty “niche”.

Once you’ve gotten through all of those layers, then you can work on the “what”. So, we know our ideal client is SAHM. So SAHM with 3 kids that ______? Your solution needs to be framed the same way. It can’t be vague. Let’s say this SAHM with three kids is struggling with stress and wants to eliminate it. It would help to know what kind of stress. Does she have mom stress, work stress, marital stress, or stress of housework? There are a lot of stressors. You have to nail down which one. These demographics can be learned by going to the source.

Ask your audience. Use your profile on social media or take your questions to Facebook groups

This may sound simple, but you’re not just asking any audience. You’re asking your ideal client. Wherever you are going to ask these specific questions, make sure that your audience is there. If you ask just any group or anyone, you’re going to get unhelpful and conflicting data that won’t help you.

A lot of admins might not allow these kinds of questions in their group anymore and let you post targeted questions. But I care that you get your questions answered by the right people, so if you are not a part of my group yet, you should join and get your q’s answered there.

Another thing you could do is if you have an idea you can ask in a group where your ideal audience is hanging out. You can create a post or poll saying something like “Hey, if [insert your solution here] were offered as a product, course, or coaching (however your planning on selling it), would you use it? CTA’s are usually frowned upon including them in a post, but CTAs in posts in Facebook groups might be the only reason why your post gets declined. So don’t include the CTA.

Some groups might allow this if you did a value post first, then wait a couple of days, then post your question. Doing this even this way ends up kind of working in your favor because if you just went ahead and posted in a group that you’re not really active in, your post is going to get pushed to the bottom of people who regularly post in that group.

Market research tips to get to know your ideal client

1. Find out what their number 1 struggle is.

It’s your job to find out your ideal client’s biggest challenge is to [insert the problem you solve]. Their struggle is your expertise.

2. What’s keeping them stuck where they are?

What problem are they currently experiencing? Are they confused? Do they feel all over the place? Do they lack motivation? Consistency? What currently has your ideal client stuck to the point they can’t move forward?

3. Research Google

Type certain phrases in and see what pops up. Pay attention to the ‘suggested’ or ‘people also ask’ on Google pages.

4. What was your struggle when you started your online business?

Think about the questions you had when you were where your ideal clients are now. What did you need then? How did you solve your problem? This may give you some insight as to where they are stuck, and what they need help with.

Example market research tips & questions to ask your ideal client

What is your #1 current struggle for your business right now? Where are you stuck that you can’t move past?
Have you tried things that have worked?
What do you think would remove the struggle you have?
Ask if they think your solution would benefit them. Say “Do you think [my solution] would help you solve your problem”?

Aim to get your questions answered by at least 8 people that are your ideal client. If you’re able to get more than that, that’s even better, because that means more data for you to go off of.

To help keep things simple, remember the 3 ones. One problem, one solution, and one ideal audience. You can’t serve more than one audience and offer more than one solution at the same time. The whole focus is to get known for that one main solution that you are good at solving. Start small, and over time you can build on it and evolve it.