How To Attract Your Dream Clients
You've probably seen people posting on Instagram, saying they've landed their dream clients, and whilst you're super thrilled for them, you're wondering why you're not attracting yours.
Well my friends, I'm going to share with you my secrets on how I've managed to secure work with dream clients consistently over the last four years working as the Creative Director for my website design studio, Studio 77.
The first step is really simple...
Believe that you can attract your dream client
The first step to attracting your dream clients is to believe that you can work with your dream client. Stop living with a scarcity mindset. There are enough dream clients out there for everybody (yes everybody) to be working with their dream clients!
I'll say it again for dramatic effect - there are enough dream clients out there for everybody to be working with their dream clients. And even more, those dream clients can and will pay their invoices on time without being chased. It is possible.
(If you want clients to pay their invoices on time, then it's all down to you setting boundaries and communicating when the payment is due, but that's another blog post altogether, we'll get to that another day.)
Stop pretending that it's impossible to attract your dream client, because babe, it is 100% going to happen and here are some practical steps you can take towards landing your first one...
You need to know who your dream client is
In order to attract your dream client, you need to be able to clearly envision who your dream client actually is. Knowing your ideal client is absolutely essential for your business no matter what you're trying to achieve. What do they do? Who are they? What are their struggles and pain points, and how are you going to help them overcome these issues?
We start every single branding and website design project with customer personas for our clients to fill out.
What are customer personas?
Personas are fictional characters created based upon research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service or product. They typically consist of the demographics, media consumption, fears, emotions and dreams and everything in between of an imagined individual who represents your ideal customer.
This process allows you to take a step back, and design your ideal client. The first rule of attracting your dream clients, is knowing exactly what you want to attract, and this is the perfect exercise for this.
Go even further in attracting your dream client
On top of the personas, actually sit down and write out the dream brands that you want to work with. They don't have to be big brands, it could your sister's friends vegan bakery, or small businesses that you've been swooning over - or it could be Apple, or Cadbury!
I'd invite you to pop the kettle on this weekend, make a cup of tea, and write out a list of 30 brands that you want to work with. It might take around 30 minutes, you can do some research on Google or search through Instagram for brands that you'd be keen to take on.
After doing both of these exercises, you'll have a clear idea of who you're trying to attract, and now you can move onto the next steps to securing your dream clients.
p.s. You can download our free persona workbook from this blog!
Make sure your website is speaking to your dream client
So now you've managed to create a persona of the perfect client - now what? You need to make sure that your website is speaking in their language! And I don't just mean in terms of words and your tone of voice, but everything from image choices to case studies to testimonials.
Your website is a window into your business, and you want your window to be enticing, well dressed, well light and clearly displaying what you have to offer, otherwise you run the risk of your dream client just walking right on by!
The biggest downfall that I see on websites, is a mish-mash of portfolio items. If you're wanting to attract high-end fashion brands to work with, and you've currently got a portfolio piece for an auto-motive company, a food brand, and an events brand on your website, your dream client is going to struggle to see how they could potentially work with you and your business.
Pick a style or a type of client that you want to work with, and run with it, and make sure every portfolio piece will speak to them in one way or another. For example with Studio 77, we specialise in feel-good brands, brands that spark moments on joy in peoples days, such as health, wellness, fitness, mindfulness etc. so we make sure that every project on our website fits into one of those categories.
This is not to say that we don't get enquiries for other types of businesses, we do! But we position ourselves to be specialists in these areas, so that when a holistic yoga brand comes to us, they see us an expert in their field, and are therefore they're more likely to book in with us, than if we had the aforementioned portfolio trio of an automotive company, a food brand, and an events brand.
Ask for work from your dream clients
Ever heard of the phrase, don't ask, don't get? Let's take a moment to think about whether you've ever sent an email, or DM, or picked up the phone to actually contact your dream client.
Your dream clients might come to your through word of mouth or some form of marketing, but you can't just sit around waiting for that to happen. If you're serious about attracting your dream clients, you need to take some action.
I know it can be scary to pick up the phone or send a cold email, but the worst thing that will happen is that whoever answers will say 'no' and then you'll be in exactly the same position you were before you asked!
I try and send out three cold emails a week to dream clients, sometimes I hear nothing back, sometimes I get a response saying we're not looking right now but we'll keep you in mind for future projects, other times I've booked in big jobs, all from taking this relatively small action.
Tip: create a 'dream client' email template
Write an email template, introducing yourself and linking out to your portfolio, and then leave space for you to write something specific to the brand. I even tell these brands that they are my dream clients, and that's why I'm writing to them. When you share your passion for their business, it can build an emotional connection with those potential clients, that others getting in touch, might not be doing!
It takes maybe 30 minutes a week for me to do this. If you've made the list above of dream clients, then use this as your to-do list. I have a list of all the people that I've contacted, and whether they've replied so I can see who's interested and whether there's any potential room for work.
And there we have it, four tips on how you can master the art of attracting your dream client.
Let's have a final recap:
Believe that you can attract your dream client
Know who your dream clients are through using personas and writing a list of brands you'd love to work with
Make sure your website is speaking to your dream clients
Ask for work from your dream clients via email or phone call
If you're serious about attracting your dream clients, then I urge you to take action after reading this post, go and download our persona workbook and do the exercises above. If you have any questions about anything in this post then please feel free to pop me an email, my inbox is always open!
By implementing all four of these tips in your biz, then I can be pretty certain you'll be able to land some work from one of your ideal clients quicker than you thought!
Happy attracting!
