September 10, 2021

Career - Anatomy of a Target Client

Erica Mackay

Have you thought about what your ideal target client does for a living? 


We’ve all got to pay the bills and finding out how your target client covers theirs can provide a lot of intel.


We have mentioned before how important it is to decide who your ideal target client is, as there is no such thing as one-size-fits when it comes to marketing. 


By narrowing the playing field, really thinking about the customers you want to attract, and getting to know what makes them tick, you can develop marketing strategies that will actually resonate and build a loyal customer base. 


Put simply - if your strategy is reaching the right people, whilst saying the right things, it will start to generate sales.


And when we talk about getting to know your target client persona, we mean really, really getting to know them. This means thinking about a wide range of factors about their lifestyle, including... (you guessed it) their job. 


You need to consider what their profession is, their title, what their role entails and how senior they are.  


And once you have decided all of that, a little bit of research goes a long way. 


You need to make it your mission objective to find out anything and everything about that profession, as every little bit of information can help you in planning your marketing strategy.


You could start by thinking about...


  • What are the typical working hours for that job?
  • What does the role consist of? 
  • What is the typical location for that job? (e.g. working from home? Office based?) 
  • What is the average salary?


All of these details can build a bigger picture, which can help when making critical marketing strategy decisions. 


For example, the occupation of your ideal target client can play a huge role in deciding the messaging around your marketing campaign. 


If you know that your ideal target client is someone who is based in a profession with a typically lower salary (therefore, with less disposable income), focusing your messaging at golf clubs and spas would probably not be the best place to reach them through marketing.


Knowing their occupation can also tell you what their typical day looks like and how it is structured. 


And understanding your target clients’ schedule (we know, it sounds a bit like TMI, but we are talking about a hypothetical person here, so you can let us off!) can actually help you know when to strike with your marketing campaigns. 


For example, if your ideal target client is in a profession which typically works 9am till 5pm, they will inevitably be in work during those hours and, no matter how good your marketing strategy, they will probably have little time to actually check out your offerings. Especially if they work in an industry like insurance or call centres where typically social media at work is banned.


In order to make sure your campaigns are seen and heard, you need to be scheduling them for when they will get the most visibility with your ideal target audience. 


An occupation can also say a lot about what matters to a person.


By deciding what your ideal target client’s occupation is, you will also be building a picture of their wants, their needs, their values, what motivates them and their passions.


To sum up, an effective marketing strategy (as you might already suspect) is built on deciding, and gathering an in-depth understanding of, who exactly your ideal target client is, then tailoring your campaign to meet them where they are


More specifically, we hope this blog has convinced you that you can get a lot of the pertinent information you need by focusing on key lifestyle characteristics - like how your prospective clients make their hard-earned bucks!


Read our previous blog post ‘Families - Anatomy of a Target Client’.