Lessons

Lesson Info

How To Engage With Your Dream Customer

We have to understand that we can't have a clear marketing strategy until we know Who are we actually communicating with? So then, when we know our purpose and when we know who we're talking to, we can now say, "Oh, this is what should be on our Facebook page, "this is what should be on our Instagram account." So, we have to come to know that people interact with things, and businesses, and people that resonate with them on a personal level. So, this just happened yesterday. We were flying here to Seattle and my husband randomly came across a Pisces Instagram account, like randomly in his feed, and he started laughing, and he's on the plane, and he's just like, "This one, this one right here." And he's like, "If you've ever wanted "to understand me as a Pisces, "let me just show you a few of these things." And I'm laughing, and I thought it was ridiculous, and I was like working on my keynote as we flew here, and I'm like, "Yes, this is exactly it." We interact with things that resonat...

e with us on a deeper level. Where his wife, a very strong Aries, is like, "I don't get you, bro." He's like, "I like love over money". "I like quality time over doing stuff." You know, and I'm like, "Oh my God!" And he's like, "Now do you understand me? "Read more!" So, we were interacting with an account that resonated with us on a deeper level. This happens every single day, if we're cognizant of it or not. So now my question then becomes to you, what are you doing with your content to get somebody on a plane to randomly say, "Ha ha ha, this is me!" I wanna introduce you to Elle. Now, Elle is an amazing entrepreneur. She lives in Manhattan Beach, California with her husband. He's a lawyer. They have two kids, ages three and five, two boys. She drives a white Range Rover, and throughout her childhood, her father had a goat farm in Ohai, California, which is just north of Los Angeles. And there she would drive with her dad in his old, beat-up truck. And when he would go out on his goat farm, she would hop out of the truck and start collecting lavender and poppies and stuff, flowers within the field. Years later, in Los Angeles, in a loft, she decided to start experimenting with creating goat's milk soap. And what she would do, she would start impressing the flowers on top of the soap itself. And she became rather successful at it. She got married, moved to Manhattan Beach, became a mom, became a wife, and started selling her soap at the Manhattan Beach Farmer's Market. It was there at the farmer's market, that a buyer from Anthropologie came across and said, "We want to test your soaps with a run in our stores," and Elle decided to say, "I'm going to make that happen." And the crazy thing about all of this is that Elle isn't real. Elle is my dream customer. I know that she's vacationed in Santorini, Greece, and she didn't stay at a hotel because one of her sorority sisters has a beautiful home in the area. I know what she searches for on YouTube, I know what magazines she subscribes to, I know what shows she binges on Netflix, and more than anything, I know what keeps her up at night. Her fears about her business, the story she's telling herself, if her husband believes in her or not, is she being a good mom by balancing her passion for her career and motherhood? Every time I put something out on Instagram, on Facebook, on YouTube, I ask myself, does this resonate with Elle? And if it does, then I know I've hit the mark. So, the question then becomes, have you taken the time to do this? What I want you to know is his or her name. Where do they live? Is it a big city, is it a small town? Do they have children? Are they married? What movies do they go and watch, what stores do they shop, how would they describe their style? Because when you know how they spend their time, you can't help but speak to them in such a real way that your account sticks out, not because it's the best, and not because it's the most awesome thing they've ever seen, but because they think it's tailor-made for them. Often times, I will get DMs on Instagram, they're like, "Jasmine, this post, you just" "you read my mind, how did you do it?" I speak to Elle. Now, quick raise of hands here. How many of you live in Manhattan Beach? How many of you drive a white Range Rover? How many of you are married to a lawyer? You're all visions and versions of Elle, male or female, soap maker, not soap maker, mom, married, single. The way I speak to her has clearly resonated with some of y'all in some deep way, but I couldn't resonate with you if I didn't know who I was talking to, because often times what we wanna do is just put stuff out there and be like, whoever has a credit card is going to buy. And that works, that works in the beginning. We know it works because there's always money on the internet. But then you get to a point where your business plateaus and you're like, I don't know what I'm doing, because you never had a plan and strategy to begin with. That changes now. First thing, who are you speaking to? And then, you have to know, why is he or she following your account. Like, legitimately, we don't give ourselves the permission to say, I'm kind of awesome in this thing. This person follows my account because I know this, I share this, I do this, I am interesting, I am smart. Like, that's like, what was that movie? Like, "You is beautiful, you is smart." You need to say that to yourself every morning, because when you start realizing why people are following your account, you then know how to create content, because people are often times stuck. I don't know what to post. Well, you don't know what to post because you don't know who you're speaking to and you don't know what your power is. Find out who you're speaking to, find out what your power is, then the content comes. Truth. So, you have to believe that your dream customer is a real person. When they become real, then you serve them from your gut. You don't serve them from ego, you don't serve them from your profitability, you serve them from your purpose. And when you serve from purpose, people smell that on the internet. I happen to think that, like, what was happening back in 2005, excuse me, what was happening back in with this whole start with me and CreativeLive, we didn't know what social media was. All of us were just trying out in the wild to show up and be like, we hope this works, we don't know how to behave. And then, all of a sudden, people got sick and tired of seeing all the same fake stuff, right? How many times are we gonna see a girl with her feet in the sand on a Boomerang wiggling her toes? Like, "Life's a beach!" How many times are we gonna see, like, the girl sitting at the edge of the table with her legs crossed and a little cappuccino? How many times are we gonna see the girl standing in front of the Coachella's Ferris wheel with her arms up in like a peace sign? We all see the same thing over, and over, and over again. Why? Because we as humans emulate what other people are doing and then we realize we got sick of seeing everybody else doing the same thing. When you know your purpose, when you know who you're speaking to, you create content that makes sense to nobody else except for your person. And when your person buys, he or she doesn't tell one person, they statistically tell seven. That is how we grow a business. So, people say, "Jasmine, I can't speak to one person." Yes you can, because what happens is you attract. I don't wanna get all scientific on you, but I like to think of Instagram, and my dream customer, and Facebook, and my dream customer as an atom. In the center of an atom, we have a nucleus. That's who I want you speaking to. This nucleus is Elle. I speak to her, I speak to her. And you wanna know what's floating around her? Electrons and neutrons. That is Chelsea, that is Monica, that is Trisha, that is Erin. Y'all are the neutrons and electrons. You guys were attracted to the way I spoke to the atom. I stand before you saying, doing this 13 years, it works. This is the hard stuff that nobody wants to do. What people want to do is say, "Jasmine, I want more followers." If you don't know who you're speaking to on Instagram, you're going to attract people who are in your industry, people who are just looky-loos, and people who are already talking back to you. Ain't that a dang thing? Did you know who you were speaking to? So, I wanna give an example. Why are we laughing? Talk back to me, 'cause you know I'm dying up here. I'm literally dying! You guys are looking at me like it's death, like. (audience laughing) I mean, y'all, hook a sister up. What's going on? Let's get a mic, let's get a mic. We're gonna get into this example. Is there a mic? I'm gonna pass it, yeah, if we can pass that mic right here. 'Cause I wanna know, like, people be laughing and I'm like, what, I got something in my teeth? No, that's like so true. Like, I only have like 400 and so followers, but literally half of them are people that are already in my industry that aren't gonna buy from me 'cause they're making the same thing, people that are just looking. Well, I took care of them, but bots, like, stuff like that. So, like, I'm not talking to one person so I'm just kinda randomly collecting people that aren't doing anything for me. So, today that changes? Yeah Good Yeah Good, thank you. So, we laugh out of truth, right? Like, oh, I'm speaking, like, she's speaking to me. Let's look at Shop Ban.do. This is an example that I use quite often because I just think that they just nail it. They just know who they're speaking to, and crazy enough, when I ask, we're gonna show this in a second, but when I asked our entrepreneurs, like, who inspires you, they named Ban.do. Like, Highway Three was inspired, so you will, and actually, the crazy thing is, I asked them independently, I'm gonna walk you guys through this exercise right now, but I asked them to list 10 inspirational accounts that they really liked, and funny enough, there was a crossover in different industries of different people doing different things. They were both mutually attracted to the same Instagram accounts. What does that say? That there are some people who get it. There are some people who know you speak to one and you win the game. So, this is a lifestyle brand. They sell gifts, accessories, clothing. It's a little silly, but they know who they're talking to and targeting, and they know how to curate their feed. You look through their account and you know who they are trying to attract. They are trying to attract girls between the ages of 18 and 28. These girls love big sunglasses, neon signs, pizza, they will probably be at Coachella. Everything they write, everything they share, is pointed to that one person. This person, like I said, goes to Coachella, vacations in Palm Springs, does yoga once a month, wears bright clothing. You know, they know who they are marketing to with such specificity. And I have to tell you, I buy their stuff. I'm not 28, I'm 29, but you know. (audience laughing) Not really 'cause people on the internet will be like, "She's lying!" Listen, listen, I'm forever 29, okay? We just celebrate the anniversary of my 29th birthday again and again. So, I am not their target demo, and yet I buy. Who am I? The electron? I am the neutron. They are not talking to me, yet I buy 'cause I'm so attracted to what they do. Friends, talk to the nucleus. Then you will attract the electrons and the neutrons. Let's get into some Q&A. We have 10 minutes here. We have questions who are out online. Kayla, we're gonna pass the mic to you first. Kayla's sitting in the back. And then who else has a question so we can get the next mic prepped? We'll bring it right here. So, Caitlin, can we pass that mic here? We'll start off with Kayla. Kayla, can you stand up, doll? Yes, Kayla coming out, queen! Hi, I have a question, 'cause you said that we should know who we're selling to. Yes. First we should know what we're selling. Yes. So, what if I'm selling two things that are marketed to two, like I have my full service I'm an interior designer. I have my full service, and then I have pre-designed rooms that I sell to moms on a budget who can't afford to hire me. So, I'm selling two separate things to two separate people, but it's on the same account 'cause it's both interior designs. Yes. So, who do I speak to? So, when you look at your income for the year, and you're being very purposeful about this, how much of your income do you want from your custom design clients, and how much of your income do you want from the pre-designed template rooms? Well, I want the rooms to be enough that I can pick and choose my clients and not work with people I don't like. So, because I don't know your business, percentage-wise how much do you want from your pre-designed rooms. 70% 70%, you knew your number. No, I thought of it. Good, perfect, 70%. Then my advice to you would be to use your Instagram account in the 80, 20 rule. 80% of your content should be focused on what it is you ultimately wanna sell, which is your full services. And then, the 20% could be anything you darn well please. It could be about, I know you, you talk about motherhood, you talk about your room templates, you talk about life, you talk about what it means to be a Jew, in America, in New York right? I know, I creep on all of y'all. I've creeped on all of y'all. I'm shocked. Okay, so, if you're saying I sell two things, but what are we really selling, we all know, we all know our biggest revenue generators. And yet, we're afraid to say that's where I wanna go. Because this is safe. More people will be able to afford the templated room, but if you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth, people don't know what side to listen to. 80% of your content should strongly position you as the Upstate New York interior designer, and oh hey, just in case you're in the city, or just in case you're vacationing home in Boca Raton, and you really don't wanna fly me down there, I have a template for you as well. 80% of the content should be going towards the thing you ultimately wanna sell. Okay, thank you. Thank you babe, thank you. We have a question online, but we're gonna take it right here first. 'Cause I said people in the audience are like my pearl. And then if there's another question, we'll pass that mic over to the next person. Is it okay if your ideal client is you? Yes. Like me, like I saw a need, it wasn't there for my specific personality and who I am, and so, that's why I'm creating it, cause I couldn't find what I needed online. Beautiful. So that's okay? It is totally okay. Is not narcissistic? No, not at all. In fact, in fact I actually think you have it easier. Okay, the next challenge would be, is as the business iterates, because we all start businesses, and we know that they change. So, as the business changes, you have to understand that you may or may not be your dream customer, and that's okay, we have to have the freedom. Every year we have an iteration eval, because Elle is growing up with my business. So she's not gonna be the same year after year, and I'm gonna invite you to do the same thing. Because, there was a time in my wedding photography business that I felt like I was targeting myself. And then all of a sudden, when I wanted to move squarely into the luxury market, I had no idea who they were, what they did, or how they spent their time. I did a little research, and then that person changed big time. So, I started off as me, quickly switched it and since then, it's always been a different iteration of somebody else. Thank you. Let's go to an online question. Do we change our dream customer per social media? Like Facebook being a person age 45, and Instagram being someone 27, Kayla asked that question. I don't, I don't. I think that what happens is when you try to serve so many different people on the platforms that they are, you end up attracting somebody who's not really your dream customer. So that question shows me, that the person who asked it didn't work through the dream customer profile. Because we don't have two customers, we have one customer the same age. Now, truth be told, where like, my loved platform right now is Instagram. I love being there, like Jasmine the business owner, and then Jasmine just the person loves that platform equally the same. But Jasmine the business owner leverages Facebook, big time. Because I know Elle is on Facebook for different reasons, she's there to be posting pictures of her kids, and happens to see my stuff come up. But on her Instagram, she's there for business, and I want her to see my stuff come up. So I'm serving the same person on two different platforms, and the ages don't change. Do we have another question? Yes. So I own a mobile tutoring services company for K through sixth grade students. I'm the only one right now. But I am confused about my target audience, because my, the person I admire is Bill Nye. So I like to make it fun for kids, so I don't know if I should target kids, or moms and dads just because they're the ones paying me and not the kids, but then yeah, I'm just confused, I don't know who to target. I love this question, so you're getting a little ahead of the game. We had hot seats, so one of the benefits. No, cause you asked three questions and I didn't answer this one. So you're out here eating the buffet at Caesar's Palace being like yes, and yes. And okay, so, I love the fact that you're inspired by Bill Nye. And I believe you create content for the child, but you position your messaging for the parent. Because the parent is the person who pays. There was a time in my career I loved this because when I had created my dream customer, early in my career very similar like you, I created a version of myself, 'cause I only knew how to sale for myself. And, so this was a person who was getting familiar support for her wedding. As my customer changed, she became an entirely different person, she was a doctor, she was a lawyer, and I no longer have to create content around the way that the parents are adding to considerations. I was creating content just for the person who happened at this point in my career, to both be the consumer, and the decision maker. There was a time in my business where I had two, I had a dad who was gonna pay, and I had a bride. And I had to appeal to them both. That's where you're at right now. And you will be there squarely because I can't think of a kindergartner who's gonna pay you for tutoring, right? So, we're gonna create content that, like, an eight year old on Instagram is gonna find interesting, and here's the thing, is an eight year old probably gonna follow your account? No. That's just truth. But the mom of the eight year old will look at that, and think like oh, I really think Billy is gonna like this. So then all of a sudden, when she sees this cool little project that you do, 'cause I know you said you go on Instagram live, and you do projects, and you know that you're creating the projects for basically a mom. You have to make it watchable by kids, but who you're creating it for, the mom. And I know your dream customer is Patty. Yes. Yes queen. I did, I did the work. I'm like a nerd, I like study y'all. I was actually talking to the make up artist for the show today, I was like girl, I loved that you did this on Instagram stories, I loved this post, and she was like "you really watched all of it?" Listen, my place of power is that my whole life I grew up obese. I was very big, I was always an introvert, I was always quiet, I spent my life against the walls. I always was on the outside looking in. So what did I understand? How to look at people, and how to read between the lines, and now in my business I get to look at people on social media, and there are people who just get it. Like, y'all know who I'm talking about, the people who just like effortlessly, like, oh the wind is blowing everywhere I go, all the time. It's like they can make like a really bad ugly restaurant look just so cool, and hipster. Like, they just get it, it resonates from them, and the rest of the 98% of us are like, how'd you do that? So what I do is, I watch, I synthesize, I disseminate, and then I turn back to the 98% and I was like yo, this how we do it. My skill set is to understand content, understand the consumer, and then talk to people, and say you have a mobile tutoring services, who are we creating content for? Children. Who are we selling to? The parent. We have to make the content match, the messaging goes to the parent. Cool. thank you. We'll do one more online question, and then we'll hop back in to the content. Question, this is from Megan. When is talking about our personal lives relevant on your business account? Guess what? My answer doesn't matter. You shouldn't give a rip what I have to say. Megan, who you should be caring about is your dream customer. I know that Elle cares about my personal life, not a lot, but she cares enough about my personal life to be a little bit of a creeper. That then, becomes the barometer. I measure this by, and we're gonna get to this in a second too, but I talk about this man on the airplane role. I only share content on social media that I would share with somebody sitting next to me on an airplane. That's my barometer. If I would not share it with a stranger sitting next to me, I do not put it out on social, because then it comes too close to home. So then, I have to think to myself, does Elle care that my husband and I are on the process of adopting a child? The answer is yes. But not too much. Elle wants to celebrate, Elle doesn't wanna think about all of the other ramifications, how difficult the adoption is in the United States, and internationally. She doesn't want that, and I know that. So, I share what she wants to know. Now, I am using my Instagram account for business, if I had a separate personal account, I would be posting anything I darn well please. Any time of the day. My account would be literally 99% memes, and funny videos. That's what my account would be. And then, when we have our, sweet baby Jesus hopefully she's coming, I want a girl, and I'm just gonna keep on saying I wanna adopt a girl, cause when you keep on saying it, then it just happens. Watch me get with like twin boys. Anyway, (audience laughing) I'll take whatever's healthy. So, I'ma keep on saying, when that time comes, if I had a personal Instagram account, it would be all pictures of her, and memes, and my dog, and JD. Not in that order. (audience laughing) I was like, he's back there like thanks. Okay, so, I'm using it for a business, it's the decision I made, and this is how I'm doing it, this is how encourage other people to do it. How much do people care about your, about your personal aspect on your account, who gives a rip about what anybody else says, you've to ask yourself, what does my dream customer wanna see, and then I create and adjust my content for that.