Let’s be honest: Business sometimes feels like a big ass guessing game.

We’re constantly asking (and being asked) burning questions about our target audience, like…
Who are they?
Where do they hang out?
What blogs do they read?
Where do they live?
Do they drink coffee or tea?
What problems do they have?
How do they talk about the industry?

…Am I stressing you out yet?

Lady, I get you. As a biz newbie, you might not even know exactly who your target market is, let alone how they speak! And since you’re not hanging out inside your dream client’s pretty little head, well, finding the answers can seem a downright daunting task.

Unfortch, it’s imperative you figure this shizz out – and lickety-split.

Every minute you waste NOT knowing your target market is another minute you’re NOT hearing the sweet ca-ching of money hitting your bank account.

Today, I’m going to reveal a few tried-and-true (yet not-so-well-known) methods for “reading minds” and how I apply this to writing copy that makes my clients serious cash.

Ready to become a master mind reader, too? Let’s dig in!

1. Read your own mind first.

I can’t lie: I resisted the idea that we are our own ideal clients for a grip. But after some profound inner digging, I finally accepted that often we’re creating products & services for people a lot like us – a few years ago .

Think about it. We’re all in the business of transformation, really. And the messages we’re spouting from our online soap boxes are often the exact missives we needed to hear or learn before we began our businesses. I’m willing to bet you went into business to teach something you’ve learned yourself, right?

So how do you use this to read your client’s minds? You read your own!

A few key questions to ask yourself to tap into your client’s deepest desires:

1. What made you decide to start your business? Think allll the way back to when your biz baby was just in diapers. Were you searching for information on a specific topic that proved fruitless? Did you solve a massive problem in your own life and wanted to share the wisdom?

2. What thoughts do you recall having about your situation before you went through your transformation/learned your life-changing lesson? Write down what you were feeling, thinking and doing at that time in your life (and specifically in regards to your pesky problem).

3. Now, fast forward. What benefits did you experience in your own life after learning what you now know? What changes did you make? How did you grow, change, shift?

Voila! You’ve just interviewed an ideal client without having to do a darn thing (and probably learned a bit about yourself, too.)

And speaking of interviewing…

2. Actually talk to your prospects (but take their insight with a grain of salt).

You can learn so much about your prospects by simply gifting them some of your precious time. Many online biz owners offer freebie consults to get their audience on the phone and chatting about their problems (I do this and I love it!)

Yep. Allowing your prospect to pour her wittle heart out over the phone isn’t just fascinating – it’s lucrative! First, get her on the horn. You can do this by setting up a simple sales page or simply adding a link to your calendar on your existing sales pages. Once you’ve got her on the line, ask her to describe her current situation, what she’s struggling with and what she wishes her life looked like instead.

Posing a few simple Qs ’bout her current sitch will give you invaluable information about her fears, frustrations & the shit that gives her heart palpitations at night. And if you listen closely, you’ll also get wind of any potential objections to working with you (even if she doesn’t bluntly tell you) so you can address them in your copy.

Even better? You’ll hear actual words your clients use to describe their problems. And those words, my darling, are priceless little money-makin’ nuggets. Sprinkle ’em throughout your sales copy & you’re golden! Mind: Read.

Now. Why should you take all this glorious feedback with a grain of salt (and perhaps a smooth shot of Jose)? Research shows humans are inherently terrible at predicting what will actually make us happy and are equally shitty at predicting what we’ll buy in the future. Apparently, we really have no fucking clue what we want, ever (as anybody who has ever lived through their 20s knows all too well!) So make sure you don’t base your entire business model on a few conversations. We humans are a flighty bunch.

BONUS! It’s also important to talk to clients after they’ve worked with you to hear the benefits of your work right from the ladies’ mouths. You can set up a simple survey at WuFoo.com to pick your clients’ brains about their experiences with you (and – bonus again! – the survey can also double as a testimonial creator)!

You can cull some serious pearls of wisdom by hopping back inside their brains with a post-work survey – and these pearls can later become the back bone of your sales copy.

3. Stalk ’em, HARD. (And I promise I mean this in the least creepy way possible.)

With the Internet, privacy has kinda-sorta become a thing of the past. And while this might suck as a regular Internet-perusing human, as a business owners, you can use the lack of confidentiality online to better provide for your terrific lil’ tribe.

Here are a few bennies for gettin’ all stalky on your prospects:
1. You can create solution-based content based on their problems. Here’s an example: If you’re a business coach & your clients are constantly tweeting about how they have no time to do anything ever, you can use that intel to compose a series of blog posts about time management or suggest tools to better track their hours. Ta-da! You’ve just read their minds, girl.

2. You’ll discover what they do in their free time – and subsequently, what references will resonate with them. I love plugging movies, books, guilty pleasure TV shows and other hobbies into the copy I’m writing. If you notice your ideal clients always commenting on how they share your Scandal obsession or constantly posting links to Rihanna music vids, find a fun way to work those items into your copy. You’ll have them squealing, “That’s so me!” and build even more trust.

BONUS! If you’re on Facebook, here’s a quick (but oh-so-useful) trick for discovering other interests of your customers.

In the search bar, you can do a couple fun things:
1. Type “Pages liked by people who like ________” into the search bar (replacing the ____ with your business name, an interest, a movie, a book, a blog, etc.)
2. Type “Interests liked by people who like __________” into the search bar

The results might just astound you. (Like, who knew my Facebook fans were so into the Dalai Lama? Okay, I actually could’ve guessed that one.)

4. Test Your Audience

Sometimes we just can’t choose between one juicy headline or another. There are so many dang amazing words in the English language and only so many we can stick on our websites. So what’s a word-lovin’ nerd to do?

Split test, baby!

A/B testing is an easy way to uncover what language is most captivating to our ideal clients.

I know, I know. A/B Testing kiiiiinda sounds like a terrible algebraic formula, but it’s actually a super simple process that involves pitting one copy element against another – and seeing which ‘performs’ better (read: makes more sales, gets more clicks, etc.).

The best online tool I’ve found for split-testing is Visual Website Optimizer. Go ahead & snag yourself a free trial. Then, you can enter different headlines on any & every page on your site and Visual Website Optimizer will let you know which headline spurred the most page interaction, therefore learning even more about the words your peeps respond to.

 

SO. COOL.

YOUR TURN! //

How do you lady geniuses learn about your ideal clients? Any tips, tricks or tools for uncovering what truly makes your tribe tick? Share in the comments!