If you’re just starting out your copywriting business, it’s a good idea to write an ideal customer profile which helps you define whose business you want to attract.
Copywriters usually offer a b2b service. Since that ideal ‘customer’ is actually another business, your profile should be built around your perfect imaginary business client.
There’s no special formula to writing your ideal customer profile, but here are some questions you can ask yourself to get started.
- Describe what you are selling as though to a child.
- Do you have any USPs?
- Who might benefit from your particular skills? Think about businesses in a certain industry you might have expertise in, your local area, or perhaps even certain members of the public such as educational providers, academics or students.
- Can you define a single ideal client? Do you have any conflictions between businesses? If so, write up the pros and cons of each and think about which business would benefit you most. Narrow down your profile to suit them.
- What are the benefits for them of using your product?
- What do they sell?
- Is their product considered a luxury or a necessity?
- If a luxury, how would you encourage their potential customers to part with their money? If a necessity, how can you make their product exciting, new and tempting?
- Does this business overlap a couple of industries – could it lead to more contacts?
- What scale is this business? How many people do they employ? Do they make a modest or a healthy profit?
- Does this business need you? Or do they likely already have a marketing department or not realistically have a budget to accommodate hiring a copywriter? How could you tailor your services to their needs and budget?
- What are their potential content needs?
- What problems does this business face now and in the future? Consider issues such as the economy, skills shortages, changes to the law, environmental pressures, an aging customer base.
- How can your skills help them overcome these problems?
- What are the benefits for you of working with this business?
- Where are they located (what area of the country and are the in the town centre or on the outskirts)?
- Describe that business’ ideal customer (remember, your income depends on appealing to their customers’ needs). Are they male/female, what is their age, why do they use this product, where do they live, what is their income?
- Think of people you know that might buy from this business.
- How long has this company been in business? Are they new and fresh or do they have heritage you can play on?
- Are they selling a contemporary service which appeals to a younger audience or a traditional product with an older demographic?
- How do they promote themselves and communicate with their customers?
- What kind of language do they use?
- What are the business’ values? Is it being cutting edge, is it providing a service no one else can, is it providing quality for money?
- Can your content help them reach new audiences?
- Is there an angle to this business that interests you? Such as its ethical policy, its affiliations, its work in the community. These all make great narratives for copy and press releases.
There are plenty more questions you can ask yourself, and if you wish you can begin another thread relating directly to that business’ customers.
However, you don’t want to get in too deep, but the more you begin to narrow down your ideal customer, the closer you will be to spotting the companies that could use your skills. Once you can show you are close in tone of voice and ideals, you will be in a firm position when you begin approaching these businesses for work.
Wendy Woodhead 