Defining your customer avatar – Who is your ideal client?

To market a product or service well, the first thing you must be clear on is, WHO is your ideal customer. Trying to market the one product or service to everyone using the same message will always limit your sales conversions. This is because one message can not speak to all buyers.

Knowing your ideal client intimately by understanding their buying drivers, frustrations and interests will allow you to tailor both your marketing communications and the service itself so that it resonates with your clients and prospects.

Not everyone has the same interests, goals, needs or frustrations. Audience segmentation allows you to concentrate on the most relevant prospects to your offering. The bottom line is that if you fail to understand your customers and target your marketing to them effectively, you are unlikely to achieve the results you desire from your investment in sales and marketing.

A client avatar, customer avatar or buyer persona can be described as a ‘sketch’ of a fictional customer which represents the character of your ideal targets. Once you are clear on whom you are marketing and selling to, you are much better placed to communicate effectively with that audience in a way that appeals to them and addresses their specific interests, needs and concerns. You can start by asking yourself some simple questions about your ideal client.

Demographics
Is your customer avatar male or female? How old are they? What is their occupation? What is their income bracket? What kind of education level do they have? Their marital status? Where do they live? Ryan Battles even suggests grabbing a photo from online and giving your avatar a name! This helps build the first, basic level of a client avatar.

Personality
Is your target client an introvert or extrovert? How do they spend their time? Which newspapers, magazines or websites do they read – both for work and leisure? What kind of information do they need and what kind of searches do they do online? Do they use social media and what for? Equally, what don’t they like? Are they turned off by long form, in depth articles? Do they prefer quick, to the point ‘how to’ guides’? This continues to build up your customer avatar, starts to inform how you might be able to best reach them and what kind of content appeals to them.

Goals and values
What are their business and personal objectives? Do they want to work smarter to improve their current business performance and reduce their hours and stress? Or do they want to look good to their boss? Do they want more freedom or time spent with loved ones? With these goals in place you are able to consider how your product or service can help achieve them.

Challenges and frustrations
Is your ideal client concerned about competitors in a crowded marketplace? Are they worried about their cash flow? Have sales and growth become stagnant? Have they spread themselves too thinly running every aspect of their business themselves? Once you know the issues that your ideal clients face, you can demonstrate ‘what’s in it for them’ – i.e. how your product or service solves their problems.

When completed thoughtfully, a client avatar is a huge benefit because it helps you communicate messages that they can identify with and relate to. They will place more trust in your brand because they are confident you understand them. It’s always good practice to refer back to your client avatar from time to time to ensure you are still on track with effectively targeting and communicating with your ideal prospects.

Need help building a profile of your ideal customer? We can research your client avatar and market to them too! Contact us today!