Avatars: Part 1
What is a Customer Avatar, and why do you need to define it?
An avatar is the creation of a fictional character that helps us understand who our customers are so we can more easily find them.
Why? This is the profile of your dream customer–and who you will target in all of your marketing efforts
You should be able to define 2-3 avatars per service/product that you are offering.
You need to know who you’re talking to - one size does not fit all.
Example:
Fitness Niche - one size does not fit all. While it might be easy to say your services are great for everyone who wants to live a healthier lifestyle, you should get into more detail on what that means. The avatars defined below have different emotional triggers and life goals. They need to be nurtured in a way that resonates with those emotional triggers.
Eva is unfit, teetering on unhealthy and eats fast food every day. She wants to lose weight and change her lifestyle.
Missy does not struggle with weight issues, but wants to eat healthier and make better choices. A healthy meal plan is among her interests.
Ben is a 6-day-a-week gym go-er. He’s fit but wants to increase performance in the gym. Ben’s interests include protein shakes, pre-workout drinks, and protein packed meals.
How to start defining your Avatar
Get your Google Sheets doc ready! Now, scour the internet to find 50 places (YES, 50) where your ideal avatar “hangs out”. Facebook groups, forums, Reddit threads, publications they read, hobbies they have, etc. Drill down to truly define where those users are going when they go online.
Key questions to ask to create a customer avatar
Gender – even if your product is aimed at either sex or one specific gender, who actually makes the purchasing decisions?
Age – your product or service might be for a particular age group, but not necessarily bought by them (think of children’s products).
Location – targeting a particular region will make your marketing activities more effective. For example, Waitrose, a brand of British supermarkets, has stores across much of the country but these are in very specific locations, and therefore their marketing is not targeted to all areas of the UK.
Education – Understanding someone’s intellect will help you communicate with them effectively. How do they process information? Do they want statistics and models to make a buying decision? Or, will these make your product or service appear inaccessible to them?
Income – how much money someone has will obviously influence their discretionary income and buying habits. Similarly, if you operate in a B2B environment, the size of your client companies will be part of your customer avatar.
Occupation – understanding what your customers do for a living can help inform your marketing. What are their professional interests and stressors? For B2B companies, identify the person who will engage with your business; this is not always the Managing Director. Knowing these pieces of information will help you better position your product or service.
Interests – while interests are relevant because your product or service align with them, they can also help you better understand how your ideal client communicates. Knowing interests sets you up to speak in a language your customers understand and use references that will resonate strongly with them. Consider everything from hobbies and leisure activities, what they watch on TV, what they like to eat, what music they listen to – anything that can get you closer to them.
Motivations – what makes your target customer get out of bed in the morning? Understanding what drives them, their values and goals will help you align your offering with these aspirations.
Challenges – similarly, and especially if you provide a solution to a particular issue, you should also identify the challenges they face. These can range from significant ‘problems’ such as financial issues to seemingly more minor problems like finding the time to shop. However, whatever the scale of the challenge, these should be very important to you as they allow you to present a solution, whether that’s affordable products, the convenience of online shopping, or any other factor that can influence buying decisions.
Why do they buy your products? Taking into account all the points above, you should try to explain exactly why customers buy your product or service. Cost, quality, resale value, functionality, flexibility, convenience, localism, customer service, aftercare, and brand awareness are all relevant factors. You need to know what it is that makes people choose to do business with you.
Shopping habits – what other products or services does your ideal customer buy? Are they a Waitrose shopper or an Aldi regular? What kind of car do they drive? Where do they go on holiday? How often have they moved house in the last 10 years
Defining an avatar may seem like an unnecessary or tedious process, however it can better help you align with your target audience. Since marketers are so close to their product or service, it’s easy to fall victim to only communicating about the features of our item–but where the real magic happens is understanding our avatar’s interests, pain points, and motivations.
Want a headstart defining your avatar? We can help you with that. Contact us today.