How To Create Your Perfect Avatar
No matter what business you have, whether service or product-based, you are here to serve a specific market. Your product/services are not going to suit everyone which is why it’s really important to know who those people are that you are targeting as your client base.
Once you know what kind of person you are targeting as clients, creating the service or process around them becomes a lot easier.
But why do we need to know who we’re talking to?
It’s simple because if we try to satisfy too many people, we land up not being able to serve anyone at all.
We live in a time where people are leaning more towards the experience they have when interacting with brands or when it comes to spending their money. In order for people to choose you out of all the people you compete against, you have to leave an impression on them and to do this, you need to make sure the message you are sending to those people is the right one.
If you’ve ever struggled to come up with content for your audience or even how best to appeal to them, it could be because you have not defined a specific customer avatar.
Creating your perfect avatar is the first thing you should be doing when it comes to planning how you are going to market your product/services.
Once you define this avatar, marketing to your audience is clear and you are able to create the right messages that will appeal to your market.
For you to make a success out of what you are doing, it’s really important to understand why you’re there and what difference you wish to make in your clients' life.
What is the perfect avatar'?
First things first. What is an avatar?
Your avatar is your ideal client. It doesn’t represent a single person but has all the qualities of a person that your service/products will appeal to. Your avatar is the person who you picture in your head when you are creating your products/services or the campaigns and communication you wish to send to them.
Of course, this person is fictional and there will never be a person who fills all the characteristics of this avatar but this avatar is about helping you know who you are speaking to and how to craft your business and its offerings to make sure that you reach the target you are looking to reach.
Think about it this way. If you have not crafted this perfect person who you think of as a client, then how will you know what problems they have that you can solve?
How to create the perfect avatar
Determine their characteristics and who they are
This is the first step to take when creating the perfect avatar. When you’ve decided that you want to offer your services/products to the world, this is the next thing you need to do. This is because you need to know what your business’ purpose will be and how you are going to be able to provide for your clients.
Start by looking at who your avatar is. Avoid being general when you answer this question. For example, avoid starting like this: “My avatar is anybody who is into this and that and wants to learn more about it”.
This is vague and says nothing about who that ideal client is because you have likely referred to half the humans on the planet.
Instead, talk details.
My avatar’s name is Mary, she is 35, works as a full-time writer. She has been wanting to write her own book for years but does not know where to start. She often feels frustrated because between working full time and trying to save for a house, she does not have the time to get started on the book. When she has the time to dedicate to her personal writing she does not know what to write or how to even start a book. Mary lives with her fiance and they love to travel and adore animals.
Do you see the difference between the first example and the second?
Not only can you see who you are talking to but you can also get a pretty good idea on their pain points and what really bothers them. This info is really important when it comes to targeting for digital marketing and helps you find the people who are best suited to be your clients.
This is really important to do because there are many times going forward that you are going to need the information whether it is creating advertising campaigns or creating content for your website or social media. The last thing you want to be worrying about when it comes to creating this content is wondering what to write about.
Having the right info about who you are talking to will ensure that you are crafting your messages the right way and appealing to the right people instead of wasting time and money on missed targeting.
Research them
You have a pretty good idea right now what your customers are going to look like but what you personally think is just a starting off point. You need to conduct research to get deeper, more relevant info in order for you to continue in your avatar creation.
- Check out your competition and see if you can pick up on any traits of their existing client base. Things like demographics and interests that the clients have are great things to look out for. Look at their social media and take a look at the followers who engage the most. See what the engagement is about and see how many traits, characteristics, and insights you can pick up on to see if you establish some kind of pattern.
- Be sure to be up to date with things like industry blogs or forums in the marketplace you are targeting. Check out the kinds of questions being asked, the comments made and what information you can pull from the visitors. Perhaps you can gain insight on what problems they may be having with a service/product that will help you better craft your avatar.
- Keep an eye on social media influencers. Depending on what you are offering to your clients, the influencers themselves could be your avatar or the people that follow them will be your avatar. What problems can you find they are addressing or talking about?
Create an avatar worksheet
Now that you’ve started researching information on your avatar, you’ll want to have it in one place documented.
Use this document to write your avatar’s story (something like what we did above). Bring all the information together in one place so you can compile rich, detailed customer profiles and really bring these avatars to life!
You may find during this process that you discover other potential clients for your business. For example, if you have been targeting women, you may find that you can now include a mother avatar based on the information you have found and what you intend to do with your business.
Pay attention to the ‘negative avatars’
While it is really important to understand who you are trying to attract as clients, it’s also important to know who you don’t want as clients. Creating this kind of avatar can narrow your target audience down more and help you focus more on the ideal kind of client you want.
This knowledge will help you craft even more relevant content and will help when it comes time to marketing and selling your product/services.