Customer Avatars
A business avatar is a representation of your ideal customer – the type of person you want to purchase your products or services to.
Know Where They Go
Getting your message out is hard enough, it Must be targeted to the right audience. Demographics can narrow that down and provide a way to reach your potential customer in a financially sound way.
Your customer avatar is the best way to figure out who you’re trying to reach, where they hang out on the web and what problems they experience that you can solve.
Keyword Searches
Doing keyword searches on a regular basis will provide you with a ton of information on your competition, and your customers.
Start with your main keyword. Search for it and then see wat websites come up. Visit as many of them as you can, that feels like competition. Open your business journal and start writing. Write their answers down for every site you visit.
What problem do they promise to solve?
What solutions are offered?
Are your solutions the same? If so, how can you use your magic to make them different?
Do any of the sites talk about their customers’ goals?
Who are the writers, speakers and/or influencers they listen to?
Target by Groups
Now define your target audience by groups. You need to create groups to match your solution –
In a luxury product category, you might have groups of
- Established professionals.
- Luxury car owners
- Homeowners
- Locations by zip code of large homes
The entrepreneur’s job is to get the potential buyer to clearly identify their needs, budget, timeframe, and desired outcomes. Create your own list of questions that might help them share that information.
If they walked into your store or up to your booth, how would you greet them and what would you ask?
How would you try to make them feel comfortable?
Whether you are online or in person, selling is about connecting. When you connect with your customers you sell.
I have a client who has done her research, given her Avatar a name and crafted her blog posts as a letter to this person. Most are list or How-To posts and talk about solving her problems. When her potential customers read these posts they immediately know, like and trust her and her solutions.
Even when the problem is outside her wheelhouse, she refers her clients to someone who can help them. It’s become her powerful brand story, advertising focus and an Avatar her customers can relate to.
There are other storytelling methods you can use, but Avatars are the least complicated and most relatable. Give them a try.