What To Do About Your Not Quite Right People

In this post about why your right people aren’t falling all over you {yet}, we talked about two as yet undefined groups: your almost right people and your wrong people who think they’re your right people.

Today we’re going to describe hallmarks of each group. Then we’re going to talk about how to get them out of your head so you can connect with more of your right people.

Your almost right people are the people it’s easiest to default to creating content for because they breathe the same air as you.

They might be the people you talk to most often, like your peers and mentors. {This is especially true if you don’t have many clients at the moment.} They’re the people you’re used to exploring ideas with, the people who are right there with you in your brain. You want their opinions on stuff. You trust their judgment implicitly.

But — and this is the key distinction that makes them your almost right people — they are not the people who need to buy your goods or services.

They are people you may love and adore, but they’re not buyers.

You can create content for your almost right people all day long, be impossibly awesome to them, and have them sharing and spreading your stuff every which way from Sunday, and still not get one cent richer.

{And if you weren’t in business to earn a livelihood, then that’d be okay. But you are in business to earn a livelihood, so you need to adjust your content creation strategy accordingly.}

The fix?

Start intentionally creating the conversation your right buyers need to have with you.

What do they and don’t they understand about what it takes, from your perspective? What are they looking to you for? {This goes back to the old don’t-take-what-you-know-for-granted axiom. So true!}

Yes, you can and should hold onto your almost right people.

They’re often terrific brand evangelists for you, singing your praises and touting your strengths wherever they go. Sometimes you can refer people out to them. Often, they have complementary strengths to yours and can serve your right people in ways you cannot {maybe you’re a graphic designer and you have a copywriter friend who thinks like you’d think if you were a copywriter}. So please keep your eye on your almost right people and keep them in your life.

But creating content for — i.e. “talking to” — your almost right people will keep your business in the same place it is today.

Now on to the second group, which is wholly more nefarious: your wrong people who think they’re your right people.

Your wrong people who think they’re your right people are the human equivalent of car horns that go off in the middle of lunch with a friend you really love, and you can’t quite refocus on the conversation at hand because you’re worried it could be your car going off.

Your wrong people don’t necessarily have bad intentions, but they would like you better if you were something and someone other than who you are. They either aren’t paying close enough attention to realize that you’re not talking to them, or they’re desperate for solutions, have already identified you as someone with great content, and are hoping that you’ll magically deliver exactly what they need in your signature style.

The problem with that?

You don’t want to do the stuff they want you to do. And even if you did, you wouldn’t want to do it for them.

Snobby perspective? Nah. You’ve got limited bandwidth and limited hours in the day to do what you do. You have to be choosy.

Your wrong people who think they’re your right people want you to give them Facebook tips, but you’re a coach who specializes in self-care for entrepreneurs. Your wrong people want you to create $17 products for them, but your brand archetype dictates that you need to be selling high price point programs. Your wrong people try to engage you in bawdy jesting on Twitter {yep, I just said ‘bawdy jesting’ — live it, love it, own it}, and that type of humor horrifies you.

Your wrong people try to extend you in ways that are profoundly uncomfortable for you because they’re not fully seeing you. They’re focused on their needs and desires and how you could meet them, not your strangely powerful talent, which is, as we know, where your extreme goodness resides.

Your wrong people are a dime a dozen. Your right people are a very precious, very select few who want you just as you are when you’re standing in your best, deepest, and truest message.

Here are a collection of statements you might hear from your wrong people:

• “Have you ever thought about [insert some idea or activity you would never, ever dream of implementing because it’s so off-brand for you]? I would totally love that and I bet a lot of other people would, too.”
• “Can you blog about [insert topic that is not a focus within your suite of ideas]?”
• “Would you mind reading over this 5,000 word email and giving me your take on where I’m at and what I need to move forward?” [requests for free help are often indications of wrong people who think they’re your right people; your right people deeply get and respect the work you do and don’t ask you to deliver your livelihood-maker for free]

And don’t even get me started on whether you can convert your wrong people to being your right people. Or do get me started. We can talk about that some other time. But I’m pretty sure you already know which side of the fence I come down on that one.

So how do you get your almost right people and your wrong people out of your head when creating content?

Brand Editor’s note: Content includes site copy, blog posts, sales pages,
multimedia, products, services, Tweets, Facebook updates,
and all other social media marketing moves.

1. Develop an ideal client avatar {or two or three if that’s more appropriate for your biz model}. Be as curious about this person as you would be about a brilliant new friend or paramour. Spend time daily visualizing this right person and watching him move through his day. {I do this with my right client avatar all the time. Even though she’s imaginary, I’m pretty sure she follows me on Twitter.} Start evaluating your own digital consumption through his eyes, not just through yours.

2.  Figure out how where your ideal client is in relation to you, business or life journey-wise. Don’t make the mistake that your right person understands what you do about your subject area. Is your right person where you were last year at this time? Three years ago? Understanding where they are in relation to you allows you to position your content appropriately.

3. Deliver your offers to your right person with compassion and savvy. Talk to her in the way that’ll inspire her to respond. Her response might be leaving a comment on your blog, forwarding your e-newsletter to a friend, or {woot!} clicking your Buy It Now button. You know her. You know what gets her up off her sofa and into your world.

Questions? Observations? Let’s hash this out in the comments.