Most businesses make the same mistake when they decide to improve their marketing.

They start building.

They decide they need a new website, more social content, a podcast or a polished video before clearly defining whom they’re trying to reach, what that person needs and how all those pieces should work together.

That’s how a business ends up with a collection of marketing assets instead of a strategy.

I didn’t want that to happen with Andrea.

Andrea is a health and fitness entrepreneur with years of experience, a growing social media following and plenty of ideas about what she could offer.

She wanted greater visibility. She wanted to establish herself as an expert. And ultimately, she wanted to turn that visibility into paying clients.

But before we could build anything, we needed to answer some much bigger questions:

Who was she really trying to help?

What did those women want?

What made Andrea the right person to help them?

How could we turn all of that into an actual business?

So I sent her my 40-question questionnaire, which I built specifically to draw these things out of my clients:

The questions explore a client’s background, experience, audience, goals, personality, offers, obstacles and long-term vision. They help people put words around ideas they may understand instinctively but have never fully articulated.

Once Andrea completed it, I went through all 40 answers looking for the themes and patterns that appeared repeatedly.

Here’s what emerged:

Andrea’s ideal client isn’t simply “a woman who wants to work out.”

She’s a woman entering a new chapter of her life after spending years focused on her children, her family and everyone else. She wants to feel strong and confident again, but she may not know where to begin - or believe she belongs in a traditional fitness environment.

Andrea wants to provide that woman with personal guidance, accountability and encouragement from someone who understands this stage of life.

Her goal is to help women build strength that changes how they feel, both physically and mentally.

Once we could articulate that clearly, the strategy began to take shape.

Andrea needed a personal story that would help the right woman recognize herself in Andrea’s experience. She needed a website that made her audience and offer immediately understandable. She needed a personalized coaching option for women who wanted hands-on support and an accessible starting point for women who weren’t ready for private coaching.

Now we could determine how the website, video and other content would each support the same strategy.

Complete these three sentences:

The person we most want to reach is…

They are currently struggling with…

After encountering our content, we want them to…

Be specific.

“Business owners” isn’t a useful answer. Neither is “people who want to get healthier.”

You should be able to picture the person, understand what is happening in their life and explain why your business is particularly equipped to help them.

If you can’t complete those three sentences clearly, pause before commissioning another video, rebuilding your website or filling next month’s content calendar.

First, get everything out of your head.

Then find the patterns, clarify the strategy and decide what each piece needs to accomplish.

That’s where my work with Andrea began.

Forty questions. Forty answers. One strategy we could finally execute.

That’s all for now, have a wonderful week!