We have previously covered how to define who your Dream Customer is for your business, and why you should be focussing your time and energy on them. Now we’re going to show you how you can find these Dream Customers online.
This is done with a concept called The Dream 100.
So what is The Dream 100? Let’s start with its goal.
The goal of the Dream 100 is to take your ideal buyers from “I’ve never heard of this company” to “What is this company I keep hearing about?” to “I think I’ve heard of that company” to “Yes, I’ve heard of that company” to “Yes, I do business with that company.”
– Chet Holmes
The Dream 100 is a list of the top 100 places on the internet where your Dream Customers are congregating.
They’re places that they go to learn and discuss things relevant to them and their own careers. It is NOT a list of your top 100 dream clients.
Your Dream 100 could include certain Facebook or LinkedIn Groups, forums and message boards, podcasts, blogs, websites, Youtube channels or newsletter subscriptions.
Real Quick: Why The Dream 100?
So why are we making a list of The Dream 100 places your clients gather online, and not a list of the names of the 100 top customers you want in your business?
One word. SCALE.
Winning ONE client means winning ONE client.
Winning over just ONE of your Dream 100 could expose your brand to hundreds if not thousands of potential clients, all of whom are already listening to and trust that Dream 100 member.
Let me give you a quick example.
I run a B2B digital marketing agency for small businesses. My Dream 100 is therefore wherever small b2b businesses in b2b gather online.
There’s a podcast I love that has tens of thousands of listeners, all of whom I know are small business owners.
By connecting with the hosts of that podcast and appearing on it, I can potentially get myself in front of those listeners, of whom at least hundreds would be perfect candidates for my services.
Over time, some of these are likely to turn into clients.
How To Create Your Own Dream 100
To help you think about who might be in your Dream 100, we’ll work through a hypothetical example.
Let’s say you’re a packaging manufacturing business. Most of your customers are large farmers, who are producers of meat and vegetables that need to be packaged prior to making their way to the supermarket.
So how do we find their Dream 100? Let’s get into their heads and find out where they congregate online.
- Social Media: are there any groups online that farmers join to support each other, and share knowledge or information? If so, are they Facebook, LinkedIn or some other social platform?
- Newsletters: what industry body publications do these Farmers follow? Which news sources do they subscribe to?
- Websites: what relevant websites do they visit to make their lives easier? These could include websites on best farming practices, equipment to buy or something to help with transport
- YouTube: are there any YouTube ‘influencers’ in the space that they follow? People that review equipment they’d consider buying, or show how to plant and manage certain crops?
- Keywords: what keywords are they searching in Google to help make their lives easier?
- Complementary Businesses: are there any other businesses in the industry that the packaging company can partner with? What other businesses to farmers need to deal with before and after using your packaging services?
Find Your Own Dream 100 With These Exercises
Ask yourself these questions for your own clients, and write down your answers in this handy template Dream 100 Template below.
The relevant sections to fill out are the exercises 3 and 4 in the first tab. You can then list your Dream 100 in the second tab.
If you’re stuck thinking about where your customers are hanging out online, you can always call a customer that you trust and ask them directly, or talk to your sales and customer service team who are likely to have further insights.
We’ll get into how to then use this Dream 100 list in another article: How To Turn Your Dream Customers Into Paying Customers – The Dream 100
