Your ideal customer is waiting, but do you even know them?
Make a killer offer and eliminate the competition.
There are several ways to compete with other creative businesses in your segment, most of which are wrong.
When you compete by offering variations of what everyone else is doing, you commoditize yourself, and the customer's choice will often come down to who gave them the best value (e.g., the lowest price).
Competing on price is a flawed strategy that leads to a profitless race to the bottom. Instead of competing with others where the only differentiation is your creative expression, find a way to make such a killer off to your audience that they'd be stupid not to buy from you.
What does it take to make that killer offer? I'm glad you asked because I have a lot to say about it.
Do you know who you're talking to?
Someone out there is looking for you but can't find you. Instead of focusing on them, you're trying to appeal to a massive, general audience that ignores you because they're spending time with people who understand their specific needs and wants.
Your perfect customer is out there with their specific needs and wants, yet they won't ever see you until you figure out how to find them. The thing is, you probably know them better than you think, and all it takes is answering a few critical questions about who they are, what they do, and how they spend their money.
This process is commonly known as identifying your ideal customer avatar (ICA), which personifies who you believe is the perfect individual to become a loyal customer for years.
Next week's deep dive will be about identifying your ICA and how to use that identity as the basis for every message you put out going forward. I'll also break down my ICAs (yes, you can have more than one).
If you're interested, stay tuned next week, and if you know someone else who might enjoy it, forward this message to them.
Small Bites
📚 - I know you read The Hungry and think, "Dave is having so much fun with his newsletter. I must start mine, but it seems too difficult and scary." Don't worry; I've got you covered in Five Day News, my free email-based course that makes starting a newsletter easy, peasy, bacon cheesy.
📣 - Lately, I've preferred the company of Threads more than Instagram because words are my jam right now, and the app seems to be picking up momentum. It's a good place to tell stories in short form; you know how I feel about that.
🖼️ - ...That said, I have dabbled in some art recently, too.
📹 - YouTube is now rolling out online courses to more accounts and promises to disrupt the online training space. Great, like I need another reason to spend all my waking hours on that website.
🥷 - Don't have a gallery space to showcase your work? How about using a public space instead... like the Metro?
My Open Tabs
If you’re looking to start your own newsletter but don’t know where to begin, I have a free training for you
5 Day News is a short email course that delivers short, daily lessons over a few days to help you go from having no email list to being a newsletter genius.
Ok, maybe genius is an overstatement, but it will make you more confident in your ability to talk to your audience on your terms in a more meaningful way.
