Want to know what your clients value? Ask them!

My client interviews have given me some interesting insights into the psychographics of my ideal market, and how closely they fit my business model.

Of course, if I keep writing like that I'm just going to make big problems out of little ones - but I'm getting ahead of myself. The questions that I asked each of my best clients were designed to help me know my ideal market, and the answers I got fell into three general categories:

1. Strengths that my clients value;
2. Value I didn't realize I provide; and
3. Shortcomings that aren't really as bad as I had feared.

For me, the most valuable information fell into the third category. There's no doubt in my mind that my clients were candid with me about where I fall short, and areas that give me the greatest anxiety didn't come up. It doesn't mean that I don't really fall short in those areas, but now I know that they are weaknesses that don't hurt my brand.

I also found out that, even though I'm good at finding the right voice to reach my client's target audience, that occasionally I assume that the target audience is a bit more knowledgeable about the subject than it really is. Using "psychographics" in the opening line of a post targeting novice marketers and small business owners may not draw in the readers I'm looking for.

The creative insights inspired by these interviews have been surprising and exciting. Armed with the knowledge that my descriptive language is powerful and evocative, I've been coming up with ways to tie visuals into how I describe my writing. If a picture is worth a thousand words, doesn't that mean that words are currency? How much is your business worth? Is The Professional Wordsmith worth a thousand pictures? I'm not sure where this will take me, but I'm due to brainstorm about it with a bunch of creative business owners and my Duct Tape Marketing Coach in a couple of days, and I'm really looking forward to it!