Do you know your ideal client avatar? Most people don’t. Yet it’s one of the most important steps in marketing your business. Without knowing who these people are, how can you create content that speaks to them? How can you sell to them?
I’ve created a 4-step process to help you create the perfect list of attributes for your ideal client persona, making it easier to connect with them and start generating more conversions.
What is an avatar?
An avatar is a word or image that represents a person, object, or concept. When it comes to marketing, an avatar is actually a description of your ideal client persona. This helps you know who to target with your content and messaging.
Your business may have more than one avatar for different types of people you want to target so it’s important to know which one you’re targeting at any given time.
Step 1: Define Your Persona’s Pain Points
The first step in building your ideal client persona is to identify their paint points. What are the primary problems your persona is experiencing? What are they looking for? What do they need?
For example: You’re an Insurance Broker. Your ideal client might be someone who recently purchased a home and is super busy. They don’t have time to shop around to get the best service and rates. They also want a company that can combine all of their other policies under one to save money. They also want to deal with someone locally and not wait on hold with the big companies when they have a question or problem.
Once you know this you could offer an all in one solution to shop multiple carriers for them to find the best rates while combining their home and auto for even better rates.
If you know a few pain points that your persona is experiencing, it will be easier to create content that speaks to them. It will also help you sell products and services more effectively.
Another example, if you’re a home organizer and your ideal client is someone who recently moved into their new home and feels overwhelmed with unpacking and organizing everything you could create a video on how to declutter their home along with organization tips while unpack. You could then show the benefits of hiring a professional organizer to help them clean up once and for all.
Step 2: Define Who They Are
What are your ideal clients like? What’s their day-to-day life like? What are their interests?
This is the information that will really help you tailor your content to them. Without this information, you’re just shooting in the dark. You can never know what kind of content they want if you don’t know who they are.
By knowing more about your client avatar, you’ll be able to create content that appeals specifically to them and makes it easier to convert leads into clients.
There are four steps to defining who they are:
- Write down your list of attributes for your perfect client, including what they look like, their personality traits and preferences, what they do for a living and how they spend their time, and their values and interests. Age range, income range, location, employment status, marriage status, etc…
- Use the list of attributes you created to create a profile photo for them. This should be a simple image of someone who represents these traits.
- Imagine yourself talking with this avatar and write down everything you would say to them in conversation. What would make the most sense? What would they care about.
- Brainstorm what you could offer them that no one else can by using your knowledge of the industry and expertise in your field of business.
Back to our previous example of the Insurance Broker let’s put that all together. Your ideal client avatar might be Emily, a busy mom who works full-time, a husband and 2 kids in elementary school.
Between working, making 3 meals a day, tending to the kids homework and other tasks she doesn’t have the time to call and vet multiple insurance carriers. They just want someone to take this off their plate and do a great job at it. In her free time she loves spending time by the pool with a spritzer, taking her kids to the museum, relaxing at her local coffee shop and binging on Netflix.
Step 3: Who Is Your Persona Looking To Become?
The final step of this process is to figure out what your persona’s goals are. Most people have a few goals they want to accomplish in their lives, but you should pick one that resonates with your ideal client.
In our example Emily just wants to free up time from her already busy life. Any areas she can gain back minutes or hours she’s all for it. It is also important to her to establish a good and long term relationship with her insurance provider so having someone local is non-negotiable.
You can use these examples as inspiration for your marketing strategy. If you want to reach people with goals like Emily, you can create blog content about tips on how to simplify mom life. This is the most important part of the process because it will help define who your ideal client is and why they’re buying from you.
It also helps you figure out what kind of content they’ll respond well to (or not). Once you know what these goals are, it becomes easier to target them through digital marketing–whether it’s on social media or through PPC ads on Google Adwords.
Step 4: Name Your Avatar
This is the last step of the process. And, like with all things, it’s important to put some thought into your avatar’s name.
Give your avatar a name that will help you remember them and keep the energy flowing. Don’t just call them “John” or “Jane.”
If this person was named “Bob” for example, you could give him a nickname like “Bobby B.” You can also try giving your persona a title like “Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Company X” if he’s an entrepreneur. The point is to make it easy for you to remember who they are so you can get to know them better!
Conclusion
An avatar is a representation of your ideal client so it’s important to create one with care. The more detail you put into it, the better. The more information you have about your avatar, the easier it will be to tailor your business to their needs.
Once you have created your perfect persona, it’s time to start identifying ways to attract them. When you know what your avatar wants, it’s much easier getting their attention.