057 Who's Buying? Ask and Find Out
Dig into how asking the right questions helps uncover exactly who your ideal customers are and what makes them buy (or ghost you).
Quick Quiz Time 🥳
What are two key factors to ask your ideal customers about?
A) Their favourite colour and birth date
B) Their horoscope and star sign
C) Their risk tolerance and trend adoption
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Correct Answer: C Their risk tolerance and trend adoption - Knowing when and why they buy helps you be there for them when they need you 😁
057 Who's Buying? Ask and Find Out
Understanding your ideal customers doesn't have to be a wild guessing game. Discover how using questions around behaviours, risk tolerance and trend adoption can shape smarter marketing and business decisions.
Identifying your ideal customer isn’t about dreaming someone up. It’s about observing real behaviours, asking pointed questions, and making business decisions from those answers. Whether it’s figuring out who pays on time or who raves about you to their mates, customer traits give you more control over your brand's future.
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Understanding how your ideal people deal with risk and trends can change everything. Are they last-minute deciders, cautious planners, or trend-hungry impulse buyers? Knowing this helps you tweak your launch timelines, product offers and even when to hit “send” on your emails. It's not creepy; it’s strategic.
When you ask your customers the right things, you’re not just gathering data, you’re creating a brand that listens. And that makes people stick around. Want to dive deeper and build that customer-first marketing muscle? Work with Zoë at the Video Confidence Coach to finally stop guessing and start growing your brand with purpose.
What Was Discussed This Episode + Timecodes:
00:00 - Why knowing your customer matters more than the latest marketing trend.
06:00 - Traits of an ideal customer and how past experiences guide future choices.
12:00 - Understanding customer risk tolerance and its impact on your strategy.
18:00 - Trend adoption: the Apple fanboys and your grandma on Facebook.
19:46 - Creating personas and using insight to fine-tune your launch timing.
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Zoë Wood 00:00
Because at the end of the day, we are doing this for them. We are doing it for the customers who need to know more about you, because you are the solution to their problem. If you're tired of the old cookie cutter marketing advice and want to take your personal brand to the next level with bold, actionable strategies that truly reflect you. You're in the right place. Let's untangle your marketing mayhem with zo the video confidence coach on the unborn your brand podcast, unboring, your brand was recorded on what a rung land. What I mean by this? And there's a lot of buzz words today that I'm going to make sure, and I'm going to do my best to clarify, for those who are not in the marketing spaces, or any information for you who maybe have just stumbled upon this podcast today, essentially your ideal customers, as you can probably imagine by the title itself, is the customers. So these are people who are going to buy from you. And the people who are ideal customers are people who are either going to be raving fans. They love what you do, they love the message, they love the products, they love the services. And whenever they see an email from you, they're going to probably buy from you within the next you know, 24 to 48 hours, these the ideal customers. And of course, everyone that you work with or that you cater to in your small business or in your personal brand, again, these are what these customers for. Your ideal customers are just a small segment of a much larger group of people when it comes to marketing, but it also comes to business decisions as well. I work with plenty of clients and also customers. For me, they're both interchangeable. There is discernible difference, but again, clients, customers kind of the same thing for me and for today's discussion. And the reason that I bring this up is because when you understand who you are targeting, and why you are targeting these specific group of people. This help this then help in turn, my words are going bit weird. This will then help you do a number of factors. And I'm not just talking marketing here. I'm talking in regards, in to brand decisions to business decisions as a whole, because at the end of the day, the customers are the ones that pay you. These are the people who are going to put in the work to pay from you, to follow you, to listen to you, to leave comments and engage with you, and thank and I thank you, MD for your comments on our LinkedIn live stream today. These are the people who are going to engage with you and can continue to engage with you. So those are the type of people that you want to attract, which in turn impacts your marketing, which then in turn impacts your business direction and the decisions that you make. Because even though, for example, I work with a lot of sole traders or people who are building their personal brand, which in turn means that I'm dealing with a lot of people who are the who are also the face of their brand, or also the ones working behind the scenes, it's slightly easier to be able to focus on your ideal customer, because you haven't got multiple people trying to sway the conversation. So when it comes to identifying your ideal brand, I'm sorry, ideal brand identifying these customers, usually it comes in a couple of ways. First way is because you've worked with people like this in either the past or you're currently working with them in your business. You know, hey, this particular type of person, I love working with them. They are easy to work with. They pay on time, they listen to what I have to say, they do their best to follow my advice, or they take the products, or they rave about us online. These are the type of people that I want to bring on, and I know this because I have worked with them, I have engaged with them, I have spoken with them, and I have asked questions. You see where we're going with today's podcast and these things. And of course, I'm going to get into the types of questions you will ask your customers. And of course this will require you to reach out to them, to talk to them, and to maybe get feedback from them on a regular basis. And of course, not every single customer, especially ideal, is going to have the time nor energy to be able to respond to you all the time, and that is okay. Dealing with rejection is okay. It's not you, it's them. It's also a case of this is there to benefit you. And for some people, and for some businesses, giving you their money should be enough. And again, not saying that to discredit you or anything that you have going on, I'm just saying that a lot of people, when they buy from a company, they're less likely to open up the feedback emails or you. Provide any feedback of any kind, because they're just busy. They're just busy doing the things that you have told them to do, or are following the advice that you have given them. So these particular questions usually revolve around customer traits. So customer traits are essentially, what are the actions that they are doing, which are then leading them to either seek you out or buy from you or take your information for later when they need to contact you. So say, for example, we've recently had some plumbing issues, and of course, I rent so most of these issues are being dealt with by the real estate agent who is managing the property. But if I was a owned my property, I wonder when that will happen, but if it does, I will need to have an emergency plumber on hand. I don't necessarily need them all the time, but I would like to have that on hand so whenever something goes wrong, I can pick up the phone. Boop, boop, boop, boop, hi, something's gone wrong. Toilets, slowly. Please come help like I'm able to make that decision. I don't necessarily need to engage them straight away, but I got that knowledge in my back pocket. Now, of course, this is an action of someone who is diligent. Is this the type of ideal customer trait that you want to have on board for your customers. Or are you, is your company or the business that you do more in League of people who are at that breaking point, people who are beyond the point of educating themselves, or this may become an issue for you in the future, they've gone straight to this is the problem now I need it to be fixed. Go through like Google. What I need to find out? Bam, boom, give me the answer now is that the type of customer that you're wanting to work with, or is this very much relates to trend adoption or risk tolerance. So risk tolerance is essentially what is their level of risk in regards to, for example, when it comes to say, purchasing from a fashion brand, some people's risk tolerance are very low, like, they're willing to buy, you know, they're willing to spend 150 bucks on a, you know, pair of shoes or a set of clothes, and if they don't like it, they'll return it back. Their risk tolerance is very low because they don't really care too much, compared to some people who their risk tolerance may be very high because their income or their budget that they have set for close is very limited. So they want to do as much research as they can to make sure that they are following the trends. But of whatever you're focusing on, but also, or of the industry as a whole, but also they want to research to make sure they're making the right decision. And this, in turn, will then, as you can imagine, impact how you market your company, which then will, in turn, how the impacts the decisions that you're making with your company. So say, for example, a good example of this is someone who I worked with in the past who did life coaching. And as you can imagine, life coaching is a highly unregulated industry. There's a lot of people who have great experiences, but there's also a large amount of people who have bad experiences. And the way that you combat this is by testimonials, by reviews, by actual living proof human beings who are showcasing that. Hey, talking with this person for 12 months on a regular basis gave me the courage and knowledge to be able to pursue my dreams. Now, of course, again, life coaches are not therapists. Want to stress that life coaching is not therapy. Want to stress that, but this then in turn, impacts your marketing. Because, okay, the type of person that is my ideal client, their risk tolerance is fairly like medium to high. So in turn, I need to make sure I invest in getting testimonials from my clients, making sure that I get raving reviews, make sure that I can show the growth of people before they met me, and then after they worked with me, making sure that you get proof of this. In turn, put that on your website, put that in your email list, then maybe trickle that down to social media, and then, in turn, this then dictates the processes on, say, for example, when you finish up with a client, one thing I highly recommend is ask for reviews. Ask for any they don't want to give you a review. Make sure you get feedback from them. They don't have to put it publicly just to get any sort of feedback on how you can improve to make things better for people like them, and that, in turn, in dictates how you're going to run the company you're how you're going to run the company, on how you're going to make sure that, Hey, how is this online? And what can I do to boost my reputation? Now, of course, that is one example out of 1000 that I could possibly give you today, and what I also discussed before was trend adoption. I. Yeah, so, for example, your business may not be, you know, very much into the trend cycles, like, for example, with fashion or anything that is cyclical regarding, say, for example, heaters and then water cool, and then, you know, air conditioning units on, like, alternate, alternate sides of, you know, summers or, sorry, seasons, I should say particularly, and this adoption with your particular customer audience is going to change depending on how likely are they to take an offer that you have. So say, for example, there's, you know, a good example, and I'm sure we have many of these people in our lives, the Apple fanboys, people who absolutely love apple and everything that they do, these people are what is known as trend adopters. They are early trend adopters. As soon as Apple even smidges mention something that they are going to release on board, they are going to take it, they going to grab it, and they are going to hold it in their predile hands. That is what is known as early adopters. And then you have people who are about mid adopters, who see what the early adopters are doing, see the pros and cons, and then make an educated decision. And then purchase or not purchase depending. And then you have people who are in the trend cycle, waiting till it is absolutely saturated in the market before they make a decision. Say, for example, people who are maybe the parents of when their kids were on Facebook and now, for example, following the Facebook trend. Then the late adopters, these are people who, for example, your grandparents and now on Facebook. And all the young people have left Facebook because the early adopters. Again, the kids have left because it's not cool anymore. But then this, in turn, impacts how you're going to market yourself, but also, as I mentioned already, how you're going to direct your business, the importance of gathering this information and creating these personas. So again, personas and avatars are very much in the same realm of the type of audience that you have in mind, the type of customer that you have in mind, being able to answer these questions and put them into the type of person. For example, Coca Cola has 36 of these, up to 165 different types of people that are going to regularly buy their product. So in turn, they can then market themselves slightly differently because they are an international company, but for you, starting off with just one marketing persona, being able to have a really clear idea of what you know, the risk tolerance is, what their trend adoption is, how likely it is say, for example, if you are going to offer something to them, how long, realistically You would have to wait to make sure the sales come in. So say, for example, if you've got someone, if your particular market is very high risk, like risk tolerant is really high, like, they need a lot of proof. Then, in turn, you need to have a really long window before you, say, release either a product or a service or a course or something like that, you need to make sure that you prove along the way that, hey, we've tested it on multiple people and multiple we've tested it on a lot of people. We've got grave reviews from all of these people and very little negative feedback. We have made sure that this product is flexible, that we've got payment plans like, again, whatever you need. You know this because you have asked them questions regarding their preferences and behaviours and motivations, and also just what you can see online. Of course, you can get these trends from ASIC. You can get, like, really big demographic trends, and I can do a podcast about that of where to find these large, big demographic information. But when it comes to yourself, especially if you are a solo business owner, or you are just growing your own personal brand, either as a side hustle, or, as you know, something that you're doing while working on a business that generates you money, then being able to have and grow this knowledge that you have about your particular target audience, or maybe even just following the type of people that you think are a good fit for your company, being able to follow them, maybe even friend them, either on, say, LinkedIn or Instagram. Again, do not stalk these people, but have a better idea of, hey, this, you know the example, this particular person that I think is a really good fit for my custom avatar, goes on holidays once a year around this time. Cool. I'll keep that in mind. So for example, when I release something in the future, maybe I don't do it around this time of year, because they're all going on holiday, and then more and they're less likely to purchase something from me before we go on holiday because I am something that helps them with their workflow and their business, as opposed to then going on holiday mode again. These are very broad decisions that you're making, but These, in turn, will help you guide these bigger decisions regarding your marketing and your business direction. So. Knowing this information. And of course, this is something that is consistently worked on over time. You meet people who are in your ideal customer demographic at networking events, and you find them, you lock onto them, and you have a chat, and you find you're able to ask more and more questions of these people, the more people that you bring on board, because you know who you're aiming for and the significance of considering these type of customers are whether they are early adopters or more cautious, as I mentioned before, and also how they can impact the marketing messages and tactics that you use to reach them. Because at the end of the day, we are doing this for them. We are doing it for the customers who need to know more about you, because you are the solution to their problem. And sometimes they don't even realise they have the problem, or they need to be educated on why the problem can get worse without your help or your solution, and you're not going to get everyone but if you have this again, a good starting place of something like a customer avatar or an ideal persona, or just, again, this information of Who exactly am I talking to? Why am I talking to them, and how can I solve their problem? Are they going to be receptive more in the morning than they are at night? This and then, in turn, impacts how you're going to, you know, do email marketing, for example, if you are going to invest in something into your website, are they more likely the person who's going to take a quiz, like a cute like 10, a 10 question quiz, because they're from the BuzzFeed, a buzz feed generation, for example, or Are they like the more likely to be the person who wants immediate results from, say, a survey or something like that. Again, you can do this to grow your community and grow the type of ideal customers that you have on board, but you still need to reach out to them and to have these questions and knowledge and questions and knowledge regarding what the actual answers mean is something that you need to work on. Hopefully work with me, but also you can work with other marketing professionals, because if anyone who you come across who works in marketing who doesn't put the customer first, is a big red flag, you should step aside and just leave them to it, because they may be, for example, someone who's worked in marketing for a long time, or someone who's fallen into marketing, and they're very good at, say, the graphic design element. They're not very good at the whole business side of marketing. And that is okay, I am, to be honest, quite shit at both. But that's why I constantly work on it. I regularly invest in new courses, to brush up on my knowledge and to do my best to be there for my customers and to listen to their queries and their quips as they have them, because that's why I'm there. I'm there to help and serve them. So ultimately, at the end of the day, asking who the type of people that you want to work with, and the type of questions that you want to ask are about their trend adoption. How are they more like? When are they likely to take you on board? And also, how risk averse are they and as to when on where, whether or not you need to provide more information leading up to any sort of launch in your business. I wish you all the best, and if you are interested in coming to me fourth coaching or marketing strategy, as I mentioned throughout this podcast episode, feel free to reach me out. Reach out to me at the VCC dot training. I apologise if my words have been a little bit skewed today, it is getting quite hot in here, and my words are slurring. I promise everything is okay, it has just been a month a year a week, and we're not done yet, but I'm here to sell, to help you and to serve you, and I wish you all the best. Thank you for listening or watching unboring your brand. You can find detailed show notes with tools, offers and episode transcriptions. Just click the first link in the description or go to Vcc dot training slash podcast, get involved and ask me anything about personal branding, video strategy, or just a friendly Small Business chat via my email. G'day at Vcc dot training. That is G, D, A, y at V cc, dot training, the video confidence coach would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the wadawurrung people of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which I record my podcast. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. I stand with the traditional custodians of these lands and working towards a more equal future. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land. Look forward to me chatting at you next week, superstars.
The above livestream episode description and transcript were generated together human knowledge + ai.
Who is your host?
Feeling stuck trying to build a personal brand that actually turns heads? Women and non-binary super-stars deserve more than just a cookie-cutter approach to their worries. Zoë Wood the Video Confidence Coach untangles your marketing mayhem, helping you own the camera, craft killer video strategies, and connect with your audience like never before. You’ll leave with the tools to show up, stand out, and smash your goals.
Find out more about how to grow your personal brand with the power of video right here on vcc.training
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*Please note that this podcast was previously called THE "Video Confidence Coachcast" and the "Do Video Podcast" previous to 2025. THANK-YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AS I TRANSITION THE BRAND TO BE MORE CONSISTANT FOR YOUR LISTENING AND WATCHING PLEASURE.