“How do I find my ideal client??”

That’s one of the questions I get asked most often by fellow calligraphers and creatives. One of the hardest parts of owning and building a successful creative business is finding clients who value the services that you offer and are willing to invest with you. I’ve owned my business for almost 5 years and, throughout that time, I’ve found a few foolproof ways to ensure that I’m being seen by the people that I want to see me. I’m here to share them with you so that you can put these tips into action TODAY to become more visible and start attracting your dream clients!!

3 Tips to Attract

Your Ideal Clients

1. Meet them where they are.

Think about who your ideal client is and where he or she is hanging out… What websites are they browsing for inspiration? What blogs are they reading? Where are they getting married? What other vendors might they be using?

For my wedding industry creatives: Brides.come found that 87% of brides use Pinterest to plan their wedding. That number seems like a pretty good reason to up your Pinterest game! (Not sure where to start with Pinterest? Hint: think of it as a search engine not as a social media platform. Use keywords that your ideal customer would be searching for in your board names, pin titles and pin descriptions.)

Brides.com also found that 76% of brides use Instagram to plan their wedding. I think that’s a pretty good reason to show up consistently on this free platform and start speaking to your ideal clients!

Action Item: Pay attention to where your ideal clients are getting married. On Instagram, tag those venues in your posts, especially if the work is for a wedding at a specific venue, and use venues’ hashtags in your captions. I’ve found that brides will search tagged photos of their venue or search their venue’s hashtag to find other vendors to work with!

2. Build relationships with fellow vendors.

Are there other professionals in your area who are attracting your ideal clients and could be passing referrals along to you? If so, reach out to those people and build relationships with them! I saw a growth in my inquiry and booking rate once I expanded my professional network to include photographers, floral designers, event planners, etc. Plus, you’ll get yourself a community of boss babes (or dudes!) who understand what it’s like to run a creative business, can provide advice and support, and are always down for a glass of wine (which you get to write off as a biz expense )

Action Item: Pull some samples of your work together to send to local designers or event planners who are attracting your dream brides and who you’d love to work with. Get your offerings in front of their clients so they can start spreading the word about you and your business!

3. Give an excellent client experience.

It’s pretty safe to assume that your past clients have friends, so make sure you’re always giving the absolute best client experience! This is literally free marketing, so make sure you use it! Give the most excellent client experience so that when your client walks away, he or she is raving about you and your services and telling his or her friends to work with you! Guess what…during my first year of business, almost all of my clients came from word of mouth referrals! All of my nights and weekends were booked that first year strictly because of the relationship I built with a local designer and because word of mouth referrals.

Action Item: Take a look at your customer service experience – are you giving the best possible experience you can to your clients? Are there any areas where you can improve? Ask for reviews from past clients so you can see how you’re doing. And don’t be afraid to reach out to past clients and ask if they have any friends who might need your services! If they loved working with you, they won’t have any problem shouting your name from the rooftops!

Not sure where to focus your marketing efforts? Take a look at where your last 3-5 clients came from. If you aren’t sure, ask! (Pro tip: Always have a “How did you hear about me?” question on your contact form, that way you can start tracking your leads right from the start.) Wherever your clients are finding you is a great place to start with your marketing!

If you’re just starting out in your business, take a look at how other successful businesses in your niche are showing up on various platforms and use that as inspiration, always keeping your ideal client in mind so that you can ensure you’re using your own wonderful voice and not someone else’s!

Looking for even more guidance? I highly recommend checking out The Client Bundle to help you up your marketing game! TCB is a comprehensive collection of resources all focused on how you can find paying clients as a creative business owner. Included in the bundle are eBooks focusing on: SEO, Pinterest, Instagram, Branding, Networking, Etsy and Facebook, as well as access to some really awesome bonuses like email templates and a Facebook Community of biz owners just like you!

PS. I’ve got something really exciting in the works for calligraphers, stationers and designers, and it’s all about pricing your services and products, so that when you get those dream clients knocking on your door, you know exactly how you should price your services and value what you’re offering to them! Sign up for the email list below to be the first to know of its launch!!!

Happy booking, babes!

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase using my link, I earn a small commission. I only share about companies and products that I truly believe in and that I think will be of benefit to you and I never promote anything that I haven’t tried and loved myself!