The 3 Biggest Target Market Mistakes

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist Podcast. Today, we're talking about literally, like, the most important, most fundamental foundation in your business. I would argue that this is probably like, the most important part of your business.

I really do. I- I- I really think that for any person, any business, especially in the beginning or in the growth phases, or any part of your fricking business, this is the make or break. I, all too often, will see stylists who are so talented, have great work, take all the education, are super passionate, and they are doing everything in their power to grow their business, and they are not getting the results that they're looking for, and they're not getting the new client requests that they're looking for. And when we do a deeper dive, I realize it's because this has not been figured out yet, or it has been figured out, but it hasn't been figured out in an optimized way or in a way that really actually helps you grow and actually creates results for you.

So, today, we're gonna be talking about your target market, or as I like to call it myself, an ideal client profile. There's a million things that marketers and educators and businesses call this, okay? Target market, ideal client profile, uh, unicorn client, dream client, whatever- whatever you wanna call it. I don't care.

I'm calling it an ideal client profile, okay? It's all the same shit. Now, here's the tea. I'm gonna give you- e- whether you're familiar with target market or not, I am gonna give you a little bit of a review before we get into the three biggest target market mistakes that I see.

I'm gonna give you a review of what a target market actually is, what an ideal client profile actually is, and why it's important and all these good things, and then we're gonna get into the three biggest mistakes. So, if you're ready to get into it, let's go. What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty.

And I'm Caitlin, the CMO for Team Hunty, here to offer additional perspectives and kick-ass marketing advice. Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So, if you're ready to get into it, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Hey, Caitlin.

Hey, Hunty. Motherfucking tea, honey. Not much. I don't have any, like, witty comebacks for you today.

Just- just the casual- casual norm. What's- what's new with you? What's the tea with you, friend? You just ate a British, um, pudding, right?

I did . I did. Um, it's like, the equivalent of, like, an American Snack Pack. So, it's just like- it's the Aero brand, so you would get it in, like, England, and they have it in Canada as well.

I need to go to the UK. I have not been to the UK yet, and I need to experience this British, uh, pudding and all the other British things. Like, I mean, real British pudding is, like, a whole other situation. Like- Oh, for real.

pudding. They don't mess around with pudding. They don't mess around with pudding? sending me.

I love it. Okay, well, thank you so much for being here, Caitlin. My pleasure. Thank you for keeping us on track, and thank you for participating in the conversation.

We really appreciate it. Today, we're gonna be talking about the three biggest target market mistakes. And like I said in the intro, I'm gonna be talking to you about what an actual target market or ideal client profile actually is. The reason why I'm interchanging is because I know some- I know the majority of people call this a target market, right?

And so, I'm gonna be using these words interchangeably. So, I have a definition of what a target market is right here, pulled up in front of me, and it says, "A target market is a group of people that have been identified as the most likely potential customers for a product because of the shared characteristics, such as age, income, and lifestyle." I had a problem getting that charis- charac- characteristics out of my mouth, but we got there, okay? It's fine.

It's great. So, identifying the target market is a key part of the decision-making process when a company designs, packages, and advertises their product. This is a decades-old, you know, knowledgeable thing that you would learn if you went to a business school or if- if you took a business class in college, whatever it may be. But for us, it is only just starting to come to us as th- as- as our industry, as the beauty industry is starting to embrace modern day business and just, like, business education in general, right?

That is so fantastic and amazing and important, because I know damn well, for both the businesses that I created from scratch, if I didn't understand this, and if I didn't get it down from the very beginning, I would be nowhere near where I am today, and I would not have been able to explode them to what they were. And so, I wanna make sure that you, my friend, listening to this, that number one, you don't just have one. You don't just have one. But you have one that actually works and supports you in your growth and your daily operations and everything that you need to do to achieve the massive success that is possible for you within this industry.

Now, the reason why a target market or having somebody with specific characteristics that are similar to the solutions or relevant to the solutions that you offer in your business is so important is because, and- and effective, I should also say, is because people don't want somebody who kind of can solve their problem, or who solves their problem every now and then, or who does a little bit of everything, right? When you are looking to go to a doctor, you're wanting to see the specialist for whatever problem you are trying to solve, right? So, we're not gonna go to a heart surgeon if we're looking to get our s- I don't know, our feet worked on or something. We're not gonna- we're not gonna go to a heart surgeon for a broken bone and vice versa, right?

We're not gonna go to a general surgeon for a heart surgery, right? We're gonna be going to the heart surgeon. And this is the type of thinking, and the psychology of consumer behavior, that when you can tap into that, and when you can dive really deep into it and put yourself in that person's shoes, you are able to explode your business. And contrary to popular belief, the wider net that you cast, the less people you are going to catch.

It has been proven time and time and time again. And so what we often think is, is that we should cater to every single person, friends, family, kids, all the people that exist on this earth, right? But what ends up happening is, is your marketing gets really muddy and confusing and unfocused, and the moment that anybody lands on your website, anybody, when they land on your website, when they land on your marketing, when they see your posters, placed, placed anywhere, whatever it may be, they don't feel like they're being spoken to. They get distracted, they're unfocused, because you're not speaking to them, you're speaking to everybody.

So, that is why it's so important to have this in place. And ag- and again, this might be review for you, this might not be review for you, but again, I see people who say, like, "Oh, yeah, I have a target market." And then I'm like, "Okay, what is it?" And then they tell me completely irrelevant information that is not gonna be helping them in the success of their business.

So, whether this is a new concept to you or not, I'm really glad that you're listening to this episode, and I want you to keep an open mind, and I want you to be very self-aware and reflect so you can make sure that this is as optimized for you as possible. Okay? If we're down for that, then I'm down to give you the tea. So, these are the three biggest target market mistakes that I see, biggest, uh, the three biggest ideal client profile mistakes that I see when somebody goes about actually creating this profile for themselves and their business.

Number one, we're gonna start off with the fact that a lot of people want to just focus on the money. People chase the money. That is their first thought when they are deciding who this person is, right? So, they'll be like, okay, this is somebody who is rich as hell, um, they have all the money to spend, they tip really well, they are loyal to small businesses, they love self-care.

All of that shit, right? And I can, and I can guarantee you, I can guarantee you that every single stylist has, has done this, or every single business when they've started out learning business have, has done this, is they start to chase the money, because that's what we think is going to be most effective for us. And I'm not saying that this can't necessarily work for you, I'm just saying that it can very strongly and likely deter you from actually creating a business that you enjoy and that you make a shit ton of money doing. Because we need to start with the person, and then we need to understand why this person would want to spend money on you.

And I am a firm believer, I don't care how much money this person has, I know that if I am... if my marketing is strong enough, if my client experience is strong enough, and I have built an entire business and solutions speaking specifically to this person, the money will come. They will prioritize their budget around me, because I am the only bitch who speaks to them as strongly as I do. What happens is, is we focus way too much on these coins and these things that we maybe think that we should be focusing on if we really want to create a successful business, when in reality, it can actually be holding you back.

What ends up happening is, is we focus on the wrong people. We don't even know where to start when we look at that, that kind of profile, because, you know, people with a shit ton of money, they're, it very much varies, right? There's a lot of people with a lot of money, and they're all different types of people too. And so, we don't want to start with the money.

The money is a little important, but we want to start with the person first, the person that you enjoy serving. And this person should be somebody who has a problem that you enjoy and you are the expert at solving. You know, that goes into having kind of like a specialty, right? And that's kind of a different conversation, but also not a different conversation, because these two things go hand in hand.

If you love doing silk presses on people, right? If, like, you are the expert at it and you could do it day in and day out, right? That is where I want you to start, and I want you to think about the type of person that you love serving and the type of person who would want to be getting silk prices, uh, silk presses inside and out, and what problems that normally come up with in their life and in their hair and in their previous salon experiences that would make them want your specific solutions for how you go about doing silk presses. That is how you should be starting with your entire profile, is figuring out what are the solutions that you can provide and who is the person that you would like to serve, and how are you bridging the gap between that person, their problems, and your solutions?

That is where we start. We do not start with the money. The money will come later, period. Do you have anything to share, Caitlin?

Yeah, I can just share, like, a small story. So, I was trying to explain this to somebody recently as well, and I... The best way that I can describe it is like, uh, like Hunter was saying, like, something that we see so often is people saying, like, oh, they love self-care and they love getting, like, the services that I offer done, and, like, it's kind of implied already. Like, it's your target market, so obviously they want to get the services that you offer.

So, d- just stop paying attention to something that is so minute, and honestly, it, like, it really is implied, so, like, obviously they want the services that you have to offer. So, that's just my, like, little snippet there. Exactly. That's the thing.

It's like the money comes after. I love that you said it's implied. Like, I, I screamed yes. You guys couldn't see me, I was on mute.

But I was screaming yes when, when you said that, Caitlin, because it's implied. The money will follow because these are your p- people that you are specifically speaking to. Absolutely, yes. I love that point.

Thank you.Okay. So, the second, the second-biggest mistake that I see is we focus a whole lot on our branding colors and, yes, a personal brand, which is also a kind of a different conversation. We focus a lot on the colors that these people like, we focus a lot on their age, we focus, again, a lot on their money.

We focus a lot on very surface level things that literally, yes, it can help you get there. Right? It can help you get there. But it's not where it all ends, okay?

It's not where it all ends. Just because you know what colors this person likes, just because you know what their age is, just because you know what their lifestyle looks like, does not mean that you understand how to actually sell to this person, and what you need to say in your copy to be able to get them to pay attention and want what you're actually selling to them, that being your services and your solutions, right? We don't take into consideration what their pain points are. And my ideal client profile that I teach, and that I'll be teaching in Chief Marketing Hairstylist, our workshop that we have going on, it has three parts to the anatomy of an ideal client profile.

Number one, we have the attributes. And so the attributes are everything that I just said, it's like the demographic, the colors, the age, all that fun, frilly stuff. Like, if you create, like, a brand board, right? Like, something like that, right?

Like, that is your fun, frilly, surface level attributes, which are important to understand, yes. But our attributes are in place so that we then can understand what the pain points are and what their objections will be. It's important to have all three parts of this in your ideal client profile, or else you will literally only understand... You'll on- you'll only understand the type of person this is, and you're not gonna understand how to sell to them.

There's gonna be a disconnect. You're gonna have a really hard time coming up with what you should actually be posting on social. Or, you're gonna have a lot of people who always are gonna be lurkers and always just kind of consume your content or, like, look at your page and think it's really pretty, but they'll never actually click the book now button, because you're not focusing on anything psychologically that makes them actually want to go ahead and book with you. And the pain points and objections is where that comes in, and that comes from our attributes, right?

So, we have to figure that out first. But then, based upon real data and feedback, which we're gonna be talking about next, you'll be able to find out what their pain points are, so that way you can speak to them and bridge, like I said, bridge their pain to your solutions, and then sell using those things, right? So, we need to making- we need to be making sure that we're not just taking into consideration these pretty brand boards and- and what their- your colors are gonna be and, like, all that stuff. It's not all about the visuals.

Like, I will tell you, let me spill the tea here right now, everybody is so concerned about their visual brand. Like, it's their number one concern, especially for us as hairstylists because we are such visual people. O- we are literally in the beauty industry. I totally understand that.

I will tell you, I am honestly, quite honestly, I am not that crazy visually creative. I'm truly not. I got into this industry because I loved the theory, I loved the business, I loved the relationships that I created with people, the connections, the science. I loved all of that stuff.

I didn't love it because of, like, the art that I was creating. It's cool. It's not- I'm not mad about it, but I've never been, like, a visually, like, cool person. Like, I can make things work, I can throw a canvas, something or other together.

It's gotten me to where I am today. But what has really gotten me to where I am today has not been the fucking personal branding, because my personal branding from the very beginning of both of my businesses has not been cute, honey. Let me tell you that, girl. It has been inconsistent.

It is clunky. It has been not cute. It has not been the vibe. It is not the tea, okay?

But my saving grace this entire time, and it just proves to me so hard how much more important this is, and this is what you have to figure out first, is I understand my messaging. I understand the person I am speaking to, and I know what I have to say and do and how I need to package things to make them relate to and want to actually work with me. That is so much more important and so much more fundamental than your visual brand. You need that stuff first, or you cannot make those decisions anyway.

And I'm not saying a personal brand isn't important. Yes, being visually appealing and cohesive and- and consistent and all those things, it- it's important. Don't get it twisted. But honestly, quite honestly, it- none of it matters.

The, like, cute pictures and great work and all that stuff, none of it matters. It all goes to shit if you don't understand your messaging and how to actually speak to this person. Okay? So, that's number two, not understanding or taking into consideration what the person's pain points or objections are.

And we'll talk more about attributes and pain points in my workshop and probably on social and maybe in a different other podcast episode or anything like that. Let's go to number three. Number three is not using real data and feedback. I know that you've heard the term, like, dream client before, right?

Like, booking a dream client, right? Like, that's what we wanna do. We wanna come up with this dream client, and then we wanna book these dream clients. Let me tell you what a dream client is.

It's a dream, honey. They don't exist. They're a dream in your brain. They- they- it- when we- when we pull these- th- this dream out of our brain and we come up with this beautifully perfect ideal client unicorn person, and we decide, okay, that's the person that we're gonna target in my marketing, that is who we're gonna build our entire foundation of our business on , right?

We are literally-- we're not even validating that there's actually a market out there for that person, right? We're not even validating. We don't even know if that market actually even exists. And the thing about this is, is y- you are in a very different region, you live in a very different place of circumstances versus other people.

Circumstances change very viscerally when you take into consideration people's location and s- specific circumstances and life events and all these good things, right? So when we come up with "dream clients," quote, unquote, and that is-- and we just pull our ideal client profile out of thin air and just, like, decide who that person is gonna be without using actual real data, feedback, and research, and validate that that market actually exists, we end up coming up with content or s- marketing in a way where we're not even sure if we're really speaking to what this person actually really cares about or what they actually want, or we don't even know if they even exist. So, what I wanna make sure that you do when we-- when you are optimizing and you're coming up with a really strong ideal client profile, is that you are using real data and feedback, okay? And really understanding from that person's perspective, these real people's perspective, right, exactly what you need to say to them and what their past ex- based upon, their past experiences and their current pain points, so that way you can show up consistently and actually get them to book with you in the chair.

So we're gonna be showing you how to come up with an ideal client profile that actually works with getting new ideal clients through your door by making it so you understand how to speak to this person with real data and feedback, you're showing up in the right spaces, you understand this person's attributes, pain points, and objections, and so much more in Chief Marketing Hairstylist. And guess what? This is not gonna take you a whole freaking year. It's gonna take you four hours.

Imagine, imagine, you, in four hours, you are going to have a documented marketing system that you are able to follow step, by step, by step to get you to the goals that you are trying to achieve in your business and get you a flood of new ideal client requests, okay? That is what we're gonna be doing in Chief Marketing Hairstylist. And so you can go to hunterdonia.com/marketing, in which you can sign up and learn more about that there.

Or you can go to the show notes of this episode and get the link directly right there, and we will be so freaking happy to see you there. It is going to be a next level workshop. This is the first time that I'm gonna be, uh, opening it up to non-MSM members, and so everybody's freaking invited and I'm super excited to pop off and get this going with you, my friend. So if you enjoyed this episode of the Modern Hair Stylist podcast, I hope that you'll leave a five-star testimonial wherever you're listening to this.

I would really appreciate it, and I look forward to spilling the tea with you in the next episode. Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.