The Importance Of A Customer Avatar

One of the most profound lessons that you can learn in business is paraphrased somewhat like this: “If you try to help everyone, you will end up helping no one.”

Boiling this down, it is just highlighting the need for proper targeting. 

When you perfectly dial in your target market and know who your best customer is, amazing things happen.  You can find them easier when you are advertising.  You can speak more clearly to them in a sales letter.  You can deliver them greater value with your product.  You can make their lives better – which is why you should be in your business to begin with.

A solid avatar also works as a filter.

Having a laser-like target on your ideal customer does more than tell you who you should be trying to sell to, it tells you who to avoid at all costs.  This will save you time and money across the board, and most definitely help your bottom line.

I know it is hard to imagine in the beginning, but there are people who you shouldn’t work with in EVERY market.  For me, I will refuse any money from anyone that will be an unrelenting pain in the ass to work with.  I don’t care how much money they are willing to pay… I just don’t want that stress in my life.  With some research, I was able to drill down some key demographics and personality traits that more or less eliminate these people from my pool of available customers.   

And guess what?  I don’t have to deal with people that I don’t like very often – and it is amazing.

This is why you should have a killer avatar.

To define your ideal customer, you need to write out an avatar with a name and all relevant information.  Nothing vague like “uses a mobile phone and is on Facebook” will work.  It has to be incredibly detailed or you likely won’t get any benefit.  You should be including their income range, demographic information, likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams, fears, desires, what they read, what they watch and much more.  Anything and everything to help you connect with them on an emotional level is key.

Figuring out their emotional data is hard… why do you even need it?

You need it because we are an emotional species.  Our emotions drive us to do everything, much more so than boring old facts.  It is why we smoke.  It is why we eat delicious greasy burgers and halloween candy.

Here is a brief example of a customer avatar that would be an ideal client to work with me one on one:

Name:  Joe

Wealth level: Middle Class blue or white collar

Income level:  ~ $150k

Savings level:  > $50k

Willingness to invest in their business:  >= $25k

Home value:  > $350k

Kids:  Yes

Marital status:  Yes

Characteristics:

• Determined
• Able to focus
• Decisive
• Non-complaining

Pains:

• Working with a development team that they don’t like.
• Spending too much money on freelancers.
• Not knowing how to build their idea.
• Working 9-5 filled with stress.

Fears:

• Wasting a good idea
• Wasting money on technology
• Getting beaten to the punch
• Not knowing how to get their product built

Desires: 

• Become a famous tech startup CEO
• Sell a company for hundreds of millions / billions
• Travel the world on a yacht 
• Work from home without a boss

Education:

• Bachelors degree
• Blue Collar / No college / 2 year degree
• Trade degree
• White collar specific (marketing, product)

Investing level:

• Follows the market
• Personal investment account
• Interested in venture capital and angel investing.

Reads:

• Wall Street Journal
• Business Insider
• Entrepreneur Magazine
• The 4 Hour Work Week
• Tech Crunch

Follows:

• Mark Zuckerberg
• Tim Ferris
• Mark Cuban
• Damon John

Watches:

• Silicon Valley
• Shark Tank
• Bar Rescue
• The Profit

Hell, I even give my avatar a NAME!  When I am writing a new ad, or sales page, or having an intro with a potential new client, I tell myself that I need to be speaking as if I were directly addressing “Joe.”

This helps me target them in ads, write headlines and sales copy that connects with them and build a program that helps solve their exact problem. It helps me figure out what value I am going to deliver and determine a pricing structure that makes it worth my time as a consultant.  It gives them a solution that I can efficiently deliver that helps them solve a major problem that they couldn’t solve on their own.

The more you can figure out in your avatar, the better you will understand WHY your ideal client wants your product or service, how to reach them, how to make them happy, how to get them to buy, what headlines will catch their attention and how to turn them into raving fans / brand ambassadors for you.  Your marketing, customer service, sales and product development will be custom tailored to the exact person that you want to work with.  Everyone wins.

Now I want to hear about your avatar.  What is your customer avatar missing that would help you get more of your ideal clients or customers?

Reply below!