Marketing is like fishing except you can’t eat your clients!
Posted by coachbranigan on June 24, 2010
Not only do I work with women on work/life balance, I also work with ladies who are starting (or growing) a business (as this is my background)…basically we work on getting more clients!
Recently while working on this topic with a client, I was thinking how similar trying to find clients is to fishing (except you can’t eat your clients!).
When a person goes fishing they have a particular fish they are targeting, or wanting to catch. Knowing in advance the particular fish they wish to catch helps the fisherman (or woman) know what bait or lure to buy and where to go to find that type of fish. For example sand whiting gather on white sand while herring live on rocky ground.
To go fishing without this knowledge would mean your fishing attempt would be “pot luck” and the success of catching a fish is limited. The world is not your oyster!
It’s that same with your marketing. You must define your target market…or the fish you want to catch.
When you define your target market, you know who your clients are, what needs they have and where to find them. You know exactly where to put all you marketing effort and budget to catch a client.
Who are your fish?
If you don’t know, get help to define your target market. If you don’t, you will get exhausted and waste time and money trying to market to everyone and anyone!
To help try answering these questions:
• What is the age bracket of my ideal client? E.g. child, teen, 30-40’s?
• What is the gender of my ideal client?
• What is the education level of my ideal client? E.g. high school, college,
TAFE, university
• What is the occupation of my ideal client? E.g. teacher, plumber, CEO.
• What is the income range of my ideal client? E.g. $20-30 000, $50-80 000,
over $100 000
• What is the ethnic and/or religious background of my ideal client?
• What are the hobbies or interests of my ideal client?
• What is the family life situation of my ideal client? E.g. short/long term
relationship, single, divorced, children.
What else do you feel you might like to know about your ideal client?
You could always conduct some market research to answer the above questions and find out other useful information to help with your marketing strategy.
Hope this helps 
Lisa Branigan
Business Coach
http://www.quantumcoaching.com.au
