Creating Your Customer Avatar

At Tech Guys Who Get Marketing, we help business owners in a wide variety of niches target their ideal prospects, drive traffic and increase conversions.

But no matter what market we are working in, the first thing we do is develop a customer Avatar.

An avatar is an idealized representation of your perfect prospect. It’s important to properly develop your customer avatar if you want to be able to effectively communicate your message to people that you WANT to buy your product or service. After all, marketing communication works best when people feel like you’re talking directly TO them.

The best way to deliver that effect is to write as if you ARE speaking directly to one person – your customer avatar.

As tech guys, we like to keep things simple, so here’s a few short questions to answer about your ideal customer that will give you an avatar that you can speak to in your outbound communications.

What Do They Want?

Your goal is to improve the lives of your customers, but to do that you need to know exactly

What’s Their Pain?

There’s a reason they’re help, and it’s usually either that they can’t do something they want to do, or they find themselves in a situation where they want to change their situation but don’t quite know how to do it. Speaking directly to their pain points is a great way to get their attention.

What Common Challenges Do They Face?

There’s a reason they aren’t where they want to be, and often it’s some obstacle that looms large in front of them and keeps them from making progress. By sharing your story of overcoming similar challenges, they’ll see that it can be done, and that you are someone they can turn to for help.

What are they Afraid of?

The challenges are often an external “reason” but most times it boils down to the fact that your prospects are afraid of something. Sometimes that’s change and the unknown, other times it’s failure and looking foolish in front of others. Often these fears are irrational, and it’s your job to help them overcome these fears so they can move closer to their goals.

How Will You Make Their Lives Better?

Clearly list the benefits that come when your prospects take the plunge and become their customers. What’s the outcome they get out of your relationship?

Small Personal Details

Now you want to associate a name and a face to this person. What’s their demographic? What do they look like? Give them a short “life story” that has led them to the point where they need your help.

Those questions outline a prospect that you can speak to when it comes time to craft your marketing message. Having an avatar keeps your message specific and targeted, rather than the “one size fits all” approach that doesn’t really appeal to anyone.