Academy / Find your customer and your message
Lesson 1 of 5 · 5 min
Who you sell to
Ask a studio owner who their customer is and the answer is often "anyone who wants to feel better". That is true, and it is no help when you sit down to write a post. Write to one person instead.
Pick one real person
Think of your best customers from the last year: the ones you were glad to see, who came back and told friends, whatever they spent. Pick one of them. A real name in your head beats a made-up profile, because you know how they talk.
Some examples of what that sounds like:
- A yoga studio: "Maya, 38, a nurse on shifts. She comes to the 7 pm class twice a week because it is the only hour that is hers."
- A barber: "Dev, 29, works in an office downtown. He books every three weeks and hates waiting."
- A candle shop online: "Laura, 45, buys gifts for her sisters and wants them wrapped and sent for her."
- A business coach: "Sam, who left a salaried job last year and makes about $4,000 a month from design work. Wants to double it without working nights."
You still serve everyone who walks in. The person you pick is who you write to.
Five things to know about them
Write one line for each. Guess where you must, then check with a real customer this week.
- Their situation. Job, age range, where they live, what a normal week looks like.
- The problem that made them look for you. In their words, not yours. "My back hurts after a day at the desk", not "postural imbalance".
- What they tried before. An app they gave up on, a gym that felt too loud, a salon that never listened.
- What they want instead. The result they would tell a friend about.
- What almost stopped them. Price, time, fear of looking silly, not knowing where to park.
Lessons 3 and 4 use lines 4 and 5. Keep them.
One customer or two?
Some businesses have two different kinds of customer: a bakery sells to people walking by and to offices ordering lunch. Pick the one that brings more money or more joy, write for them first, and give the second their own posts later. Mixing both in one post is how posts end up talking to nobody.
Try it now
Write your person in two sentences, with a first name. If a friend who knows your business reads it and says "oh, like Maya", you have it.
Quick check · 3 questions
Check what stuck
Which description of a customer helps you write a post?
Show the answer
Maya, 38, a nurse on shifts, who comes to the 7 pm class because it is the only hour that is hers. Write to one person you can picture. The others like them will recognize themselves.
Where do the words for the customer's problem come from?
Show the answer
From the customer, the way they say it. "My back hurts after a day at the desk" reaches the person. "Postural imbalance" reaches other experts.
You have two different kinds of customer. What do you do?
Show the answer
Write for one first and give the other their own posts later. Mixing both in one post is how posts end up talking to nobody.
In this course
- 1Who you sell toWhy "everyone" is the hardest customer to write for, how to pick one real person, and the five things to know about them. · 5 min
- 2What they want, in their wordsWhere to find the words your customers use, the difference between what you sell and what they buy, and a list of phrases to reuse. · 5 min
- 3Your message in one sentenceA simple pattern for the sentence that says who you help, with what and why you, five worked examples, and a test to know it works. · 5 min
- 4Proof and the doubts people haveThe kinds of proof a small business already has, the five doubts that stop people from booking, and a post that answers one of them. · 6 min
- 5A voice that sounds like youDescribe how you sound in a few words and a few rules, then put the whole course into the brand voice in Postfjord so every draft starts from it. · 6 min