Read the following excerpt from my book ‘The NZ Small Business Superhero’s Marketing Handbook’ and discover how understanding your perfect prospect’s “persuasion requirements” can help increase traffic to your website…
Your perfect prospect is someone who:
- has the money to buy your product;
- has the biggest problems your product solves;
- has the pain that goes with them;
- is actively looking for a cure for that pain;
- is a persona, not an impersonal demographic profile;
- is a “typical” rather than an “average”.
Developing a perfect prospect profile for your website is not unlike what the famous novelist John Steinbeck was talking about in this quote: “Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person – a real person you know, or an imagined person – and write to that one.” Too many websites seem frightened to draw a line in the sand and speak directly to their perfect prospect because they may risk alienating someone who doesn’t fit that profile.
The thinking goes like this: “If I can make my website appeal to as broad a range of people as possible I’ll end up with more valid prospects, and therefore eventually more customers.” The problem with this thinking is that the more you try to be all things to all people, the more you end up being nothing in particular to no-one in particular. As the old Russian proverb goes: “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” You are far better off narrowing the focus and targeting those for whom you solve their burning problems.
Developing a perfect prospect profile is just like John Steinbeck described in his quote: “pick out one person – a real person you know, or an imagined person”. Give your perfect prospect a name, describe where they live and who they live with, what they do for a living, what they do in their spare time, what’s important to them, and what makes them tick. Then use this perfect prospect profile as a touchstone throughout the development of your website. Every piece of content should be assessed in terms of how your perfect prospect will relate to it, and what information will be necessary to persuade him that you are the right company to choose.
Now that you have some insight into what makes your perfect prospect tick, you need to identify all the issues that may stop them making an enquiry or buying a product. Once you have identified all these issues, you can then create content that addresses each of these potential obstacles.
Here are some things you need to consider:
- What is your perfect prospect’s ultimate goal in visiting your website – what are they trying to achieve?
- What are the five questions they are most likely to have in mind?
- What is the main problem they want solved?
- What is their biggest frustration in dealing with companies in your industry?
- What is the biggest objection they have to doing business with you?
Once you have answers to all these questions, you are ready to start thinking about your website’s content.
To read more, you can purchase my book ‘The NZ Small Business Superhero’s Internet Marketing Handbook’ by clicking here.
