Now the word Avatar probably conjures an array of different images in your mind, perhaps it’s blue people running through forests, or your online persona which looks like a slightly better version of you (don’t worry, mine has a beard.) Now, whilst these aren’t entirely what we mean when we talk about your “Customer Avatar” you wouldn’t be too far off the mark of what it is.
So, what is a Customer Avatar then?
Essentially, your Customer Avatar is a fictional, generalised representation of your ideal customer, much like any Avatar and, they’re highly vital at the start of any campaign if you’re hoping to actually sell to anyone. Also, unless your product is particularly niche, you will have a different Avatar for every campaign you run, but ensure that regardless, they’re as specific as possible to get the most out of your campaign. Why? Because it will impact all aspects of how you market your product, and how you approach that marketing!
How do I build one?
So now you know what an Avatar is, how do you go about building one? It’s not as daunting as it seems, we promise!
Here are a few questions you should ask yourself when beginning any campaign and in fact, your business in general. If you can’t answer those questions, how do you expect your customers to?
Content
Who do you want your content to attract? Who are you catering it for? This is important because it vastly changes your voice, branding, approach. It changes everything. Content is the foundation of your marketing campaign; it’s how you actually get your messaging across! Get it wrong at your peril!
Search Engine
What solutions are your customers looking for online? Because guess what, we very rarely search for products online! We search for solutions to problems. So, ask yourself, what is your ideal customer typing into that search engine? What question do they need answering, and how can you answer it?
Social Media
What social media sites are your customers on? This is important to know as much like your content, this will vastly affect how you form the base of your social media marketing. Because different social media sites have different focusses (Instagram is image based, TikTok is video based for example) and different audience bases too (for example, TikTok and Instagram’s user base is statistically younger than Facebook and X), which ones you want to be on will vastly affect what your audience looks like!
Hopefully if you’re a good business you’ll have a newsletter, and if you’re an even better business, you won’t just be spamming everything to everyone all the time. Eventually you’ll just annoy 53-year-old Kevin if you keep sending him ads for hair straighteners (maybe – perhaps it’s just what he’s looking for!) So, ask yourself, which Avatar should receive a specific campaign? And organise your emails that way to ensure you’re getting the most out of them and not pushing people away with them!
Paid Ads
Similarly, to your social media, your customer Avatar will affect how you approach your paid ads situation, and yes, we’re sorry, but they should be a part of your campaign. Organic marketing of course is important, but in order to reach new audiences, you’re going to have to reach into your wallet. But, back to Avatars. Where you choose to invest that money is important to know, as you could end up wasting a lot of it if you pay for ads on Facebook for example, but your customers are on Instagram. Answer this question, it’s vital.
Problems
As we keep specifying, customers don’t care about your products, they care about their problems and how you can solve them. So, what solutions do your products offer to your potential customers’ potential problems? Can’t answer that? You’ve now got a problem too! Problems!
Copywriting
Much like your content, your copywriting is so important. If you throw the wrong tone at people, you’ll turn them away, or offend them, or worse. Your messaging is perhaps more important than the product you’re offering, as if it’s fluffy or unsure of itself, how can you make your customer sure? Be assertive, be sure of what you’re selling, and get your tone right!
What Should I include in my Avatar?
So now you know the questions you should be asking yourself? What are the all-important answers? What demographics should encompass those answers? In many ways it’s obvious, but you also need to be specific, think of everything! The more you think about, the more you’ll know that ideal customer. The more you know them, the easier it is to convince them of what you’re selling!
Goals & Values
What is your Avatar trying to achieve? And what values do they hold dear? What do they really care about day-to-day? You don’t want to accidentally offend them if you preach the wrong message, or in the wrong way!
Sources of Info
What books, magazines, blogs, and news stations do they interact with? Knowing these will help you tap into their interests, political alignments, hobbies, etc. It’s really important to know these sources in order to understand what problems they have, what they do to solve those problems, what they believe in- this is the foundation of any person essentially, so not knowing this will leave you at a loss when it comes to trying to convince them to buy from you!
Demographics
Demographics are important: someone’s age, marital status, gender, ethnicity, income, nationality, so on and so on, can directly impact how they view the world. Nowadays, it’s more important than ever, and how you handle someone’s demographic in your marketing can be the life or death of your business as a whole, let alone your campaign.
When it comes to certain spaces and demographics, it can directly affect what they consume as well, you want to be in these spaces to find these customers, but you also need to ensure you navigate these spaces respectfully to avoid offending or disrespecting anyone. Identify your Avatar’s demographics, it will make your life easier down the line!
Challenges and Pain Points
How can you solve your customers’ problems if you don’t know what those problems are? Once you get to know your Avatar, by answering the questions above, this should be something that’s easy for you to answer. Trust us, most people in these demographics have similar things they care about, similar challenges they face and similar things that hold them back from achieving their goals. It’s your job to try and figure out what that is!
Objections
Now, what would stop someone from buying your product, because sadly, not everyone is going to want to buy your product. But you don’t want that person to be your target audience! Try and sit down and think about what would stop your ideal customer from buying your product – it may seem hard, since you love your service and product so much, but it’s important to see it from the other side to figure out any weaknesses and, how to deal with them.
So, with all the above, you should now know how to go about building your ideal Customer Avatar. Use what you learn about this ideal customer to drive everything from your content to your digital ads and email marketing. It truly is the most important part of your campaign and, your business as a whole! And, if they DO turn out to be blue, that’s a-okay too!
