I get so many inboxes of young entrepreneurs who ask me, “How do I get clients?” This is how I have grown my brand.
Rule No. 1 – Belief
I believed that it is not in my power to get clients. I stopped putting my belief in myself and my skills. I believe in a higher power and that everything is beyond my control. This has helped me overcome the seasons when my business was doing very badly. Christ has been my anchor.
Remember, “Knowledge puffs up!” Always learn that you are moving from grace to grace in your learning and business
Rule No. 2 – Know Who You Are Selling To
Most people sell for the mass market. They think that because they do good work, everyone is their client. You need to know who you are selling to.
Do audience research – Get to know their demographics, goals, lifestyle, and pain points so that you can address their needs with your product/service. This saves you the stress of having to deal with clients who just inquire but bargain on price. The Brait Brand Persona available at https://braitconsulting.com/resources will guide you in doing comprehensive audience research. This is a sample of a buyer persona for a business selling brand strategy.
Buyer Persona
Name: Jane
Age: 29 years
Gender: Female
Job Title: Personal Finance Coach
Income: KES 200,000 per month
Channels (Where are they?): Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok
Interests (What do they like to do, wear or prefer to eat?)
i) Love doing finance coaching
ii) Reading business articles
iii)Loves good dining experience
iv) Shopping for expensive clothing
Goals (What do they want? What is their desired result?)
i) Build their brand
ii) Increase revenue
iii) To be a top young woman entrepreneur
Pain Points (What are the barriers to what they want?)
i) Accessibility of Service – A big branding firm isn’t ideal for them as she is not their target
ii) They have to read through tons of resources to build their brand
iii) Don’t know where to start
How Will Your Product/Service Solve Their Problems? (How will your product/service change their lives?)
My product will position them as the most preferred personal finance coach by employing a good brand strategy and visual identity
Persona Story (Based on the above, describe your persona in one paragraph)
Jane is a newly married, go-getter entrepreneur lady living in Kilimani. She loves getting good things for herself but is also a careful spender. She loves reading financial newspapers, articles, and magazines and does some heavy research before committing to doing anything.
Rule No. 3 – Go To Your Clients Don’t Wait For Them Come To You
Most people think that so long as they have the skill, have a good portfolio, and have done a few gigs here and there, and their Instagram account is on point; clients will automatically come to them because they are good at what they do. That’s not the case. After researching your audience, go to where your clients are; they will not automatically come to you.
I came across this crazy statistic, “9 out of 10 startups fail in the first three years of operation,” and that has kept me thinking. It is shocking that only 10% of people get to build something solid that can stand the test of time. There are about 7 billion people on the planet; just imagine that only 10% of them get to build something firm.
How about the 90%? What do they build? Well, everyone is building something. Everybody is building a house; someone is building using dried grass, someone else is building using wood, another mud, another stone, and another, always called out for being too proud, a snob and extravagant, is using precious stones.
Since everything is refined by quakes, shakes, and fire, only 10% of those who decided to build using precious stones stood the test of time. You see, precious stones are rare; they are expensive and hard to acquire. Only a few are willing to go the extra mile to search and get their hands dirty to dig for it.
The overwhelming majority keep wishing because they do not want to get their hands dirty. Sadly, they don’t even know what they are building, and they keep wishing that they were like the 10% who did their best to gain knowledge and skills to understand their ‘WHY’. They get to understand why building using precious stones is more important than merely using other building materials.
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