While getting started on brand strategy and design and website strategy with my clients, one of the first things I want to know is who the ideal client is. Who is the person the brand and website must resonate with and speak to. Who does it need to attract to my client?

How do you know who your ideal client is? Your Ideal Client is some one who:

• Has problems and challenges you can easily fix and solve with your eyes closed
• Sees you as a valuable necessity they treasure, instead of a necessary evil
• Likes you, appreciates your hard work, and will tell their friends, peers, and contacts about you
• Will pay you what you’re worth and will be happy to do so because they know you’re worth it

But how do you find out exactly who they are?

Grade Them.Look at all of your clients for a set time period and give each one a grade — A, B, C, D, F. Don’t think about it too much. Just go with your gut instinct and be honest — Don’t worry! No one will see this but you.

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I’ve been spending a lot of time lately reading business bios.

I’m reading up on the people who joined the same mastermind group I did this year and I’m reading a lot of bios on Facebook while I finish sorting all of my “friends” into Facebook lists.

I am AMAZED at how many bios I read that leave me totally confused.

I read the description of what they do, then read it again, and I am left thinking, “That sounds great, but what does that mean and what do you do?”

Over and over I am reading bios that, while they sound warm and fuzzy or creative, don’t really tell me anything… I just wish I could say, “Your business bio needs help!”

When I am reading a business bio, I am looking for a few key pieces of information:

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A study I recently read stated that an average person only gives a website 10 seconds before deciding if a site is worth their time, which means you have less than ten seconds to:

1. Attract the viewer
2. Declare your message
3. Get them to take action

With so much noise on the web today, and the natural ADD nature of most web surfers, your worst enemy is the browser back button. After someone lands on your website from a search engine, status update, marketing promotion, Tweet, or email link, you have a very short window of opportunity to keep them on your site, so let’s cover each step.

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When trying to grow a business, one the hardest things to do is say to no to any kind of new revenue. Cash flow is so important in the early stages of development that many people will accept any type of new business out of fear that the next lead may be a while. This thought pattern will actually lead to stagnation or worse, a decline in revenue.

In order to grow your business, and maintain your sanity, you must learn to say NO. Saying no to potential new clients is something they do not teach in business school, and in the real world of entrepreneurship, is very difficult.

At Bourn Creative, we have experienced growth year after year, and one element that continues to thrive is that we actually have become more selective on who we choose to work with. I know that seems a little backwards, as clients are also choosing to work with us, but let’s face it, clients shop around, so why shouldn’t you?

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If you are marketing with features, facts, and figures, you get an “F” and your sales probably reflect that. If you are marketing with benefits, results, and stories, you get a “B” and are probably doing fairly well.

But, if you are marketing with benefits, results, and stories, and you bring your audience to that do anything, pay anything point, you get an “A+” and you’re probably nodding your head because your sales reflect that and you’re kicking butt.

Let’s talk about the marketing debate Features vs. Benefits.

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When a consumer visits your website you only have a few seconds to capture attention and interest. If your website fails to hook them and they leave your website, they may never come back! This could potentially cause you to loose prospects, lose customers, and lose profits.

Here are five things to remember when creating or upgrading your business website to make sure you present your business professionally and credibly, and make a great first impression:

• Just as you need to dress appropriately for a business meeting and put your best foot forward, your business website needs to also put its best foot forward with a clean, polished, professional appearance.

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I have seen it over an over. One person creates a marketing piece, such as an advertisement that is really good. The ad is converting leads into sales and the marketing is seen as a success.

Unfortunately, the next thing that usually happens is that others try to copy the successful ad for their business.

Here is the problem, they don’t adjust the ad to fit their marketing or their focus and the ad fails to answer the three key questions every marketing piece must answer for its audience in order to be successful.

The result is failure and money and time wasted on a marketing piece that was copied instead of thought out and planned.

I don’t want to see you make the same mistake, so I am sharing with you the top three questions every successful marketing piece needs to answer to produce the results you want and attract the clients you want.

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Recently I was at an eWomenNetwork event and the chapter director asked the audience, “How many of you have all of the clients and customers you could ever need?”

Let’s just say I wasn’t very surprised when not a single person in the room raised their hand. These eWomenNetwork entrepreneurs understand that you don’t just market your business for the customers you have right now, but for the customers you want to attract in the future.

For example, the signed contracts that are coming in to my office almost daily are results from contacts made and relationships built over the last three to six months. Likewise, the marketing I am doing now will fill my business in the future.

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This past weekend we took a family trip out to Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm for some fall fun. I love the smell of fresh apple pies baking, the caramel apples, the miniature stream train that winds through the walnut orchard, and the 67 acres of pumpkins… I look forward to this outing every year!

We usually end up there at least two or three times before Halloween, so I guess you could say Bishop’s has become a yearly tradition. Each year, the Bishop’s Farm re-invests in the business, adding new attractions and improving old ones. And, each year, we come back excited for the traditional train ride, petting zoo, pig races, caramel apples, and to see what’s new!

This year I noticed something different.

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I know you’ve seen them; the homemade brochures, the flyers that use Microsoft word art, the business cards that were printed at home and cut crooked by hand, and the websites that look like a high school homework assignment.

If you’re anything like me, you pause just for a moment when a business person hands you something like that, and you wonder how they can represent themselves so poorly.

Investing in professionally designed marketing materials instantly gives your business an image upgrade.

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