An integral part of any strategic marketing effort is identifying your ideal client. Ideal doesn't mean that you will turn away business from "less than ideal" clients. Rather, by deciding which qualities best fit the products or services you offer, you create a target with the bulls-eye as the ideal. A target allows your marketing to be focused and the results that can be measured.

An ideal client should have the following characteristics:

Budget | Commitment | Conviction | Patience

The obvious part of the equation is money. It takes money to market your company. Business 101 will tell you that marketing is part of your business plan and will cost you a percentage of your profit. If you are worried about squeezing nickels and unwilling to spend what your business plan outlines, you are at best shaving dollars off your bottom line and at worst wasting valuable resources, money, time effort, etc. that will never be recouped. Commitment and conviction shrivel and die without appropriate spending. End of story.

Commitment to growth is absolutely imperative. If you want to stay the same - if treading water is okay - why would you spend any money marketing? If increasing sales would be nice, but not a burning necessity, save your time and money. Make some phone calls and things may work out okay. The ideal client gets out of bed thinking how they're going to move their company forward and reach their goals.

Conviction that marketing works is the second requirement. Without a belief in the process, the result is paralysis. Revisit the first point above. Marketing is a proven avenue to growth, but there are no guarantees that each effort will result in success. Conviction to learn and improve will always move you towards your target.

Patience is the final piece. Marketing takes time - time to create, time to implement, time to gain awareness, time for them to act. We all live in a world of NOW!, but you have to position yourself and be ready to react. That may not happen today, tomorrow, or next quarter. The only way to shorten the time frame is to make the decision to grow your company and start the process.

Once you have identified your ideal client, you can design your marketing program and target them. Spend your time and money wisely. Ideal clients don't come with their profiles stapled to their foreheads.