Ep. 52 Ideal Client vs Audience: How They’re Different & Why Both Matter
We talk constantly in the online business world (and especially in the branding world) about your ideal client. Everything is created for your ideal client. And I stand by that 100%. I do.
But there's some nuance needed here that I'm not seeing many people talk about, so I'm going to address it today.
Your entire audience is not your ideal client. And you should not write off the members of your audience who don't fall exactly into your ideal client avatar.
When we do that, we really do ourselves a disservice. Honestly, you could be losing business you don't even know about because you're not approaching your audience with an open mind.
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The Problem with Traditional Ideal Client Avatars
This is a complicated and nuanced topic. There are coaches and brand strategists out there who will vehemently disagree with me about this. They'll say everything is for your ideal client. You need to develop a person who is your ideal client avatar and you need to speak directly to them and only to them.
I don't disagree with that entirely. But I do disagree with it a little bit.
This is something I've struggled with because my ideal client is pretty broad. If you have a very narrow ideal client, this could be even more of a struggle for you.
I think that extreme focus on the ideal client has:
Created a lot of unnecessary pressure
Caused us to filter out people who maybe could have been good clients, good referral partners, or could have benefited us in some way
We get so laser-focused on "I have five boxes to check for my ideal client and this person only checks four, so I'm not going to give them any energy or attention."
I am not here for that. I think that's frankly not a good idea.
Ideal Client vs. Audience: Understanding the Difference
Your Audience
Your audience is a larger pool. It's everyone who:
Subscribes to your email list
Follows you on Instagram
Attends an event where you're speaking (the literal audience)
Is listening to you, watching you, paying attention to you
Resonates with your content
Your audience is probably people who are at various stages of business, with different budgets and readiness levels to hire in your industry.
And here's the key: some of them will never hire you.
That's normal and that's fine. Just because they're never going to hire you does not mean you should write them off or ignore them.
Your Ideal Client
Your ideal client is the client who you work with and think, "Oh my gosh, I wish I had 100 of these people."
They are:
Super aligned with you
Ready to work with you
Check all of those boxes (whatever they are for you)
Those boxes are different for everyone. For some people, it's the industry they're in. For some people, it's the stage of business. For some people, it's their personal values and beliefs.
Whatever those criteria are for you, your ideal clients check all of those boxes and you wish every single client was just like them.
Why the "Everything for Your Ideal Client" Approach Falls Short
The common advice is that everything you do should speak directly to your ideal client. And I agree with that.
Your content should be speaking to your ideal client.
But here's what's important to remember: it's naturally going to still be heard and consumed by your entire audience.
People who are:
Close to your ideal client but maybe check four out of five boxes
Adjacent to your ideal client (maybe they themselves are not your ideal client, but they have people in their world who are)
On their way to becoming your ideal client
Not every single person in your audience is meant to convert, and not every single person in your audience is going to be an ideal client. But that does not mean they're not still valuable and that you should not still be here to serve them.
How to Define Your Ideal Client Profile (The Right Way)
I've talked about this on the podcast before, and I think as an industry we've gotten better about this over the last few years.
But when I first started out, it was very much a situation where the common advice was: "Okay, imagine who you would really love to work with. How old are they? Where do they live? Where do they shop? What are their hobbies? What podcast do they listen to?"
It was very much about creating this made-up person in your mind who you think might be great to work with.
That is not how I approach ideal client with my brand strategy clients. And honestly, I think you're setting yourself up for a hard time if that's how you do it.
How I Actually Define Ideal Client
Instead, I like to look back at real data and real clients.
I ask: "You worked with 10 clients last year. Three of them were ones you would love to have more of. What do all those people have in common?"
Use actual people and actual data to define your ideal client, not just your imagination.
What I Really Care About
Things I care about when it comes to ideal client:
What stage of business are they in?
What industry? (If that matters to you. To me it doesn't really.)
Service-based or product-based business?
What platforms do they use? (I only work in Squarespace and Kajabi, so if someone has WordPress and isn't willing to move, they're not an ideal client.)
Size of their team
How recently they've rebranded
What type of clients they work with
Investment levels of their packages
What I don't care about:
What their Starbucks order is
What type of jeans they wear
What podcast they listen to
The Risks of Being Too Rigid with Your Ideal Client Persona
Yes, your audience hopefully includes a good portion of your ideal clients. Maybe 50% would be awesome.
But there are the other 50% of your audience who are not ideal clients. And like I said, maybe they will be someday, maybe they never will be. But I can almost guarantee that they probably do know somebody who is an ideal client.
When we cling too tightly to that perfectly defined ideal client avatar, we put our blinders on.
We turn away those 90%-fit clients who might actually be incredible. Who might be so incredible that you realize, "Hey, I thought my ideal client was X, but it's actually Y."
If you're not open to that possibility, you're going to stay stuck working with the same person you think is an ideal client. Maybe they're great, but maybe there's somebody out there who's even better.
You Also Turn Off Opportunities
I also think you turn yourself off to the possibility of referrals and visibility opportunities.
For example, I've had people come speak in the Six Figure Brand Society who I am not their ideal client and maybe they're not my ideal client. But our audiences are full of each other's ideal clients, and that's why it's still a mutually beneficial relationship.
I get that once you find your person, you find the people you love working with, you don't really want to stray outside of that. You're worried you're going to get too busy and burn yourself out, or you've had bad experiences with past clients who weren't super ideal and you're worried about breaking what's working.
I totally get that. That's totally legitimate.
But I still think we need to be careful about not rejecting everyone who's not a perfect fit.
This is where we get to practice discernment and say, "Okay, yeah, you do only check four out of the five boxes, but I still would love to work with you because of this. Or I still would love to collaborate or connect with you because I think our audiences might have some overlap or be aligned."
I would encourage you to reframe your mindset a little bit: This person might not be an ideal client, but they might be a great referral partner, or they might be just a great friend to have in the online business space, even though they're never going to hire me.
Non-Negotiables When Defining Your Ideal Client
There are some non-negotiables when it comes to deciding who to work with and who to create your content for.
Budget
If your services cost $2,000 and they're coming to you saying their budget is $300, that's not going to work and there's really no way around that. And that's okay.
Values Alignment
If you have things that are very important to you personally in your business and somebody else has different values, I think that's a situation where it's okay to say, "Hey, I don't think we're a good fit."
Ideally you can do it respectfully and maybe refer them to someone who could be a better fit.
I think those are the two things where I would say: yes, do stand your ground on those. Everything else to me can be a little flexible.
Both of these protect both you and the client. Both are about profitability first and foremost, but also integrity, and that's something super important to me in the way I run my business.
Where to Be Flexible in Your Ideal Client Profile
Some specific areas where I would encourage you to be a little bit flexible:
Different Industry
I just did a VIP day for a client who's a business consultant for people who own elevator businesses. That is not the typical industry I work in, but that client and his entire team were a joy to work with and I would love to work with 10 more of them.
Product-Based vs. Service-Based
This is a big one for me personally. I tend to work only with service-based businesses, but I've worked with product-based businesses in the past. I just do a little bit of extra vetting to make sure we're going to be a good fit.
Different Business Model
If you say you typically work with women-led businesses, there could be a scenario where there's a non-women-led business who is still a fit in every other area and you might want to try working with them.
Different Stage of Business
Maybe a slightly earlier or later stage in business than your usual client. This is a good one to just keep an open mind about.
These differences don't automatically make somebody a bad fit. Instead of looking at them as qualifiers where you have to check all these boxes, look at them as: "Okay, if they don't check these boxes, then it warrants a little closer look before I decide to work with them or not."
Why Online Business Loves Clarity (Maybe Too Much)
I get why the online business industry has encouraged us to define our ideal clients so rigidly.
In online business, there's so much that feels frankly not real about what we do. I joke with my friends about how I have this "fake brand design business" because there's not a building, there's not an office, there are not all these things that typically make up a brick-and-mortar business.
For that reason, the online business space really loves clarity and certainty. It feels good to be able to say, "I'm a Squarespace web designer for health and wellness professionals. The end."
But I can tell you from experience: I do not want to work only with health and wellness professionals. I need more variety in my life than that. And someone being a health and wellness professional does not automatically make them an ideal client for me.
Somewhere along the line, the ideal client avatar kind of became a crutch because it feels safe and controllable.
But the problem is that nobody fits into a box like that. When you expect that from people, clients, your audience, and leads, you really turn yourself off to a lot of opportunities. You don't give yourself as a service provider and an expert in your craft the opportunity to evolve.
Strategy Is a Tool, Not a Box
When I talk so much about brand strategy, I want to reaffirm: strategy is a tool. It is not meant to be a box that you put yourself in and never stray out of.
Your ideal client is part of that strategy. The same thing goes. It's helpful to have some guidelines on who is ideal to work with, but it can start to feel like a cage.
You are allowed to adapt and make exceptions without feeling like you're breaking the rules or breaking your business.
Trust Yourself
The implicit key here is trusting yourself.
You know when you talk to somebody whether they're an ideal client or not. I don't think we need to be lining people up against our ideal client checklist and making sure they meet every single criterion.
Having those guidelines is good. It helps us know:
What content to create
Who to speak to
Who we want to connect with
How to ask for referrals
But trust your gut. You know when you meet somebody whether they're going to be an ideal client or not.
This has been a big theme for me these last six months or so: just getting back to trusting myself. I would encourage you to try and do that also.
First, because I know from experience that your business grows more when you lean into trusting yourself.
But also because you have an audience of people who want to support you. If you're icing out half of them because they don't check every single box in your ideal client checklist, you're really stifling your own growth.
You're closing yourself off from opportunities and basically shutting the door on really cool and interesting ways that your business could grow and evolve because, frankly, you're being too close-minded.
Do You Really Need a Perfect Ideal Client Avatar?
I don't think you need the perfect ideal client avatar to build a successful business.
I think the correct balance is somewhere in between. You should speak to your ideal client, but you also need to acknowledge the fact that you have a larger audience and much of that audience might not be your ideal client.
They can still be valuable relationships. And it's really important that we nurture those.
Some of your next best opportunities probably don't look how you expect. If you're so laser-focused on that ideal client, you will miss out on them entirely.
Brand Strategy Is A Guide
This is my loving encouragement to let brand strategy and let your ideal client guide you. Don't let it box you in.
Serve your ideal client with your content and your messaging, but remain open to the rest of your audience. They might:
Become ideal clients in the future
Refer ideal clients to you
Become valuable referral partners
Open doors to opportunities you haven't even considered
The most successful online businesses I see are the ones that have clarity about their ideal client but flexibility about their audience.
They know who they're speaking to, but they're not so rigid that they miss out on incredible opportunities standing right in front of them.
So yes, define your ideal client. Use real data and real clients, not an imaginary avatar. Create content that speaks to them. But keep your mind and your options open to the rest of your audience.
Because in the end, your business will grow not just from the clients who check every box, but from the entire ecosystem of people who resonate with what you do and want to support you in various ways.
🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned In The Episode:
➡️ Follow me on Instagram @spechtand.co
➡️ Book Your Stand Out Brand Strategy Session (use code SFBPOD for $100 off)
➡️ Book A Brand Chat
🎧 Listen to episode 52 of The Six Figure Brand Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube
