The best way to learn about your ideal clients and how you can serve them better is through research. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how I did my own research as a branding photographer when I first started out in Boise, ID.
Building a business from the ground up or restarting a business after a cross-country move is a serious effort, not for the faint of heart. In this four-part blog series, I am sharing the lessons I have learned and a playbook I have developed as I started in a new market as a Boise headshot photographer and brand strategist.
In my first post of this series, I shared our rough and eye-opening journey of closing my photography business in Dallas and relaunching in Boise, Idaho. It was a series of lessons in learning about the intricacies of a new market, researching what problems my prospective clients were facing in their business, and how I could help them. My zone of genius was branding, brand strategy, and business photography, but I needed to dive in and learn what my prospective clients were thinking, saying, feeling, and doing.
In the second post, I shared the steps I took to learn about my ideal audience and gain clarity on my ideal client in Boise, ID, as a branding photographer and to gain further clarity on who I would be helping; It was essential to learn as many details as possible. I continued my research with this three-step approach :
#1. Instagram Research.
Take the time to identify specific individuals who you think might be aligned with your ideal audience. Please spend some time looking at their IG feed and doing some discovery work. Could you pay attention to what they are saying? Are you sharing their struggles and pain points? This might take some reading between the lines and connecting the dots.
#2. Facebook Research.
The beauty of the internet and Facebook, in particular, is that there are specific online circles where your ideal client is actively spending their time. Realtors often have relocation Facebook groups, Facebook groups dedicated to helping local small business owners, women in business, online business groups, and brick-and-mortar business, groups. You name it; there’s a place for them to have a group and support online.
Join these groups and spend time observing what their members are saying. You will start to see similar questions being asked over and over again. Similar questions equal common pain points that your target audience or ideal client is facing. Pay attention to these because these are your golden nuggets as a newbie branding photographer in a new city.
#3. In-person Research.
Join at local networking events where your ideal client is hanging out. Also, look at professional associations that your perfect client is involved with or associated with. If you are not directly in the industry, you can often join as an affiliate member because your products or services align with that industry. Make friends, find someone that fits your ideal client, and take them to coffee. Spend some time getting to know them and their internal and external struggles and challenges.
These are some great ways to do some research and find out the hyper-specific pain points that your clients are working through. Once you have solid knowledge, it’s easy to start crafting offers and the right messaging to align with the needs of your new market.
This takes some time, but I promise the research will be valuable as you market and connect with your ideal client.
Let me know if you try any of these, and I would love to hear how they’ve worked for you.
