Focus your efforts by standing on the right shoulders
Follow your Dream 100 and use your insight to build your audience
The Dream 100 are crucial players in the market you want to address. They hold the key to your target group, so you got to learn a lot about them, engage with them and find a way to get on their radar. To do so, you have to follow them first. Here’s how.
In his bestselling book “The Ultimate Sales Machine“, sales expert Chet Holmes introduces the concept of The Dream 100. They are your most favorite customers. So, he recommends identifying them and working towards winning one after the other.
Russel Brunson, co-founder and public face of Clickfunnels, adapted this approach in his book “Traffic Secrets” to reach more people.
For him, the Dream 100 are not your perfect customers but people who have your dream customers in their audience. They are the key to reaching those members of your target group that are not part of your audience yet.
We’ll go with Russel’s take here.
Now, let’s think about how you can make use of the Dream 100 concept.
Step 1: Identify your Dream 100
First of all, you have to identify your Dream 100.
The question to ask is: Who are the people or companies that have your target group in their audience? Think of
- Thought leaders
- Media outlets
- Online communities
- Business organizations
- Trade shows
- Competitors
- Customers
As you can see, the list is pretty long. And that’s good because that should make it easy to identify a lot of people and businesses to join your Dream 100 list.
However, don’t take 100 literally. Fifty is a good start. And if you find more than 100, it’s fine too.
Step 2: Find their communication channels
Now that you know who has access to your target groups, it’s time to learn how and what they communicate.
Find their relevant communication channels. The most important ones are usually mentioned on their websites, so that’s a good starting point.
These are some common channel types that can be of interest:
- Websites and blogs
- Email newsletters
- Podcasts
- Online communities where they post and engage regularly
Collect as many channels as you can find. Even if you don’t follow them all: Only if you have them on your radar can you always check them for relevant insight.
Step 3: Follow them to be up-to-date
Start to watch their communication channels by doing the following:
- Follow their social media channels.
- Subscribe to their newsletters.
- Check their websites regularly.
- Subscribe to their podcasts.
- Check communities they engage in from time to time.
Schedule some time every week to check what’s going on at your Dream 100.
Step 4: Engage with their content to get on their radar
Remember, we’re talking about your Dream 100. They each have a key to your target group. So being well-informed can benefit you in different ways:
- Engage with their content on their channels.
- Curate their content and let them know about it.
- Connect with them and share your thoughts about their work.
- Gain insight that helps you along your way.
The main idea is to pick up their content and work with it in a way that’s valuable to them. Be helpful to them and their audience. That’s the best way to get their attention.
For the Dream 100 that are your competitors, it’s unlikely that they will let you access their audience. In this case, it still makes sense to follow their communication closely. However, you can try to reach their audience through targeted ads on social networks. In your ads, you can refer to the topics your competitors communicate, too. The main approach remains similar, but instead of getting help from these Dream 100 members, you’ll need different allies.
TL;DR
Let’s wrap it up:
- Identify your Dream 100
- Find their communication channels
- Follow them to be up-to-date
- Engage with their content to get on their radar — if they’re not competitors.
It’s as easy as that to get started. You can improve your process over time, but for now, that’s a good first step to take.
