You have all heard the terms “target audience”, “buyer persona”, “customer avatar”, “target avatar”, and “client avatar”, but what really do any of these terms mean? Why do you need a client avatar to be successful in your marketing? Let’s start by defining what a client avatar is.
1. Definition Of A Client Avatar
I have a two definitions for you, depending on where you are in your business:
– When you’re just beginning and you aren’t active in any social networks yet and you don’t have any other analytics data to base your observations on, the best definition of your client avatar is that it is a fictional and generalized representation of your ideal client. That’s really what it is in that moment because you have to imagine who would be your ideal client.
An example would be that you know that that your ideal client likes specific things and that’s the reason you think they would buy from you. You could also base your very first client avatar on when you were younger, somebody that you helped out (like a neighbor, friend, or acquaintance).
– When you have more analytics data and can check who actually buys from you, your client avatar would be the one person who buys your product or your services and it is also the person that you like to work with. You will know who that is from your analytics and your orders. So now that we talked a little bit about what a client avatar is, let’s look at why you need one for successful marketing.
2. 3 Key Benefits Of Having A Client Avatar
In order to see the benefits of having a client avatar for your marketing, I have a visual for you: Imagine that you want to shoot at an empty can. You pick up a shotgun, aim it in the general direction of the can and fire. Some of your shot may have hit the can you were targeting, but most of it probably went all over the place. Imagine now instead of a shotgun, you choose one of the sniper rifles you see in the movies with a scope. You find a can you are targeting in your scope and fire. The result? Each of your shots hits the can. Nothing else. Only the can you were targeting.
In marketing, the can is your prospective client who’s most likely to buy your products or services. The guns in both cases are your marketing methods on how you’re trying to reach those prospective clients. Some methods are more like a shotgun: They go all over the place. You may be lucky and reach some of your targeted audience, but most of your marketing reaches people who are not interested to buy from you at the moment.
Knowing your client avatar, is like shooting with the sniper rifle: Your marketing message will reach your ideal prospective client every single time you sent it because it is focused. Every time you send out a marketing message, you touch on your client avatar’s pain points. Your client avatar knows that you understand them, that you feel their pain, and that you can offer a solution.
The 3 key benefits of having a client avatar are that your marketing message is focused, that you will save time and money, that you will gain more clients, and that you actually build trust by showing that you are concerned for your idea client.
Let me explain the benefits in more detail. Why would you save time and money by having a client avatar? If you’re planning to do Facebook ads, Google ads, or any kind of ads, you may spend a lot of money on ads, but only get medium results by targeting the ads to a general audience. If you know your client avatar, you will target each Facebook ad exactly to them. Each of those ads will be shown only to your prospective target audience. Also, if your marketing message goes out to a general audience and people contact you, you will waste time with people who aren’t looking for what you have to sell. You will have a lot of discovery calls, but not a lot of clients.
You gain more clients because each marketing message targets your prospective, ideal client. You don’t have to separate the wheat from the chaff anymore.
Also, you will understand your client avatar better because they are now a person you can relate to. Because you understand your customer better, you can show them that they can trust you.
Your ideal client avatar really drives everything that is related to getting clients, working with clients, and keeping clients.
Wishing you all the best,
Wendy
About the Author
Wendy LugoSantiago
I help coaches, entrepreneurs and service providers to jumpstart their online visibility by providing social media marketing strategy, social media training and social media management. I am in business since 2008. You know you are making social media work for you if you are still in business after 10 years and thriving!
Aside from my continuous education in social media, my claim to fame is that all of my clients find me on social media. They contact me. Can you imagine what that would do for your business if prospective clients are contacting you? No cold calling involved.