Do you need to do a little spring cleaning and get your list segmented? Maybe your business is off to a slower start than you envisioned in 2021? Whatever your situation might be, you can use some of the themes and holidays in this infographic to give your marketing a fresh update this spring!
February is time to spread the love, and we aren’t just talking about Valentine’s Day. Check out these suggestions to help build relationships with your customers and make someone else’s day.
Creating content that your audience relates to is critical for capturing that elusive “engagement” that we all desire.
Performing the Avatar Study is a critical step in identifying our ideal client avatar’s painpoints. And as the industry expert who has the answers your audience craves, it’s important to speak their language. You may know the solution in it’s formal format, but if your audience doesn’t know that language, you’ll miss an opportunity.
As has been said many times, “it’s not about you, it’s about them.” Using your audience’s words and phrases, even if they seem a little informal or casual to you the expert, can make all the difference in relating to your target market.
There are several methods to use that can help you identify the language your ideal client avatar is using. Here’s two easy ideas to get you started.
1. Google alerts is a free tool that tracks topics and trends. You set the search topics, the frequency of the alert notifications, and Google does the rest. As an example, I’m very interested in Agritourism. I have an alert set to notify me via email (I choose the daily digest notification) when content related to Agritourism hits the internet. Learn more about Google Alerts here.
2. Follow hashtags on Instagram. Assuming your ideal client avatar is using Instagram, this is a super easy way to find out what they’re talking about. In addition to receiving a daily email about the Agritourism industry from my Google alert, I also follow #agritourism on Instagram, which offers me more insight on that audience. I can see the other hashtags they use, follow them, connect with them, and create content that speaks to them.
A recap of the Avatar Series:
we’ve determined what is an Ideal Client Avatar, how to perform an Avatar study, sorted out where they’re spending time online, and how to monitor our Avatar’s language, pain points, topics and trends.
Ah yes, the million dollar question. No, seriously. Knowing where your ideal client is spending time online can definitely equal dollars! Now that you have identified three avatars, the next step is to do a little more research.
But guess what? You don’t have to spend hours pouring through data. It’s already been done for you. Pew Research conducts massive research and all that information is available to you. Not only that, Marketing Charts has assembled that data into an easily digestible chart. Easy-peasy!
Check out the 2019 MarketingChart here!
Another great question. It will depend on the platform and the avatar’s pain points. If your Avatar is spending most of her time on Instagram, you’ll focus on creating images, stories and hashtags that relate to her.
If your Avatar is spending time on YouTube, you’ll create engaging and compelling, highly optimized videos that he wants to consume.
Bottom line Be where your Avatar is spending time. Build a relationship with them there, create engaging content, have a conversation, be social, and be consistent.
Spend some time on the platforms where your Avatar spends time. Find her there, and pay attention to what she’s talking about. Discover what videos he prefers. Be inspired by the groups or pages they interact with. Then, armed with this information, you can begin to create a content marketing strategy.
We’re rolling out two new 12-week coaching groups in January where you get access to individualized training for all of your marketing efforts. Learn more about Collective Coaching with Melanie Diehl here.
Taking some time to really get to know our ideal client is an investment that is worth its weight in gold. When we understand our audiences pain points and their language, it makes it easier for us to create the messaging that will relate to them.
Whenever we work with a new client, whether it’s an existing business or a new business, we always like to perform an avatar study. Most businesses will have more than one Avatar. Recently we worked with Larry, a game store owner who’s been in business for 10 years. Larry had a pretty good idea of his client Avatar, but had never performed a formal Avatar study. Larry embraced this exercise wholeheartedly, and was able to identify three clear avatars. Larry even went as far as to give each of his avatars real names. He determined that his number one Avatar was Molly The Mom. Molly The Mom’s pain points shifted somewhat during the pandemic, which caused Larry to shift his messaging, and provide resources that met her needs, and ultimately resulted in increased awareness and sales for his business.
Bottom line Larry created targeted marketing campaigns specifically for each of his avatars. And that’s what helped him be successful.
There are four components to explore or understand when we are identifying our Avatar. Those areas are psychographic, demographic, geographic, and behavior segments.
Let’s start with psychographics. Psychographics cover your avatars lifestyle, their values and their motives, their personality traits: the things that are of interest to them.
Probably the most common segmentation people are familiar with is demographics. Demographics include one’s age and gender, their income and education, their nationality or ethnicity, their religion.
The geographic segment is fairly simple. It’s whether your audience is local, regional, national or international.
And finally we explore the behavioral segmentation. This is quite possibly one of the most critical components to understand about your avatar. Knowing where they stand as far as brand loyalty or product loyalty, where they are in the buyer’s journey.
I challenge you to complete 3 ideal client avatars for your business or organization, your service or product. And keep in mind that your client avatars will likely shift somewhat over time. We encourage all businesses to review their ideal client avatars on a regular basis. An annual review, prior to creating your next marketing calendar, is a great way to stay current with your avatars.
You’ve identified three ideal client avatars!
The next step is to determine, based on your avatars, where and when to post content that your avatars will consume. Join us next week for some practical tips you can use right away to help get your message heard by your audience.
We’re rolling out two new 12-week coaching groups in January where you get access to individualized training for all of your marketing efforts. Learn more about Collective Coaching with Melanie Diehl here.
Avatar. I’m not referring to the blue creature from the animated Disney® movie. I’m talking about your Target Market. Your Marketing Persona. Your Target Audience.
The person/people you want to be your client/customer!
Join us for a 4-part series reviewing how to identify your ideal client avatar. You’ll learn how to:
Several years ago I was speaking with a local business owner we’ll call Steve. Steve owned a PC repair business. He was excited to grow his business and we were discussing methods and strategies he could use. One of the first questions I asked was, “Who’s your client?” Steve quickly answered, “Everybody. Everybody has a computer.”
You could have heard a pin drop when he said that.
EVERYBODY is NOT your ideal client, and not my ideal client.
Let’s take a deeper look at Steve’s situation. First of all, not everybody has a computer. And of those who do, not everyone owns a PC. I live in a household of proud Apple product owners. Secondly, Steve can’t possibly serve everyone who does have a PC. He’s a one-man show! Taking the EVERYBODY approach serves neither our customers nor us.
There are several schools of thought when it comes to a niche or ICA. Niche-ing down too far can paint yourself into a corner, but using broad strokes can water down your message. Finding the middle ground is the secret ingredient. We need to know our ICA’s pain points, understand their budget constraints, and speak their language, among other things.
After some brainstorming, we decided that Steve’s Ideal Client Avatar looks more like this: an established local business with 15+ employees on staff who rely on their computers to operate their day to day business. Steve could also have an ICA that is a little different: perhaps a website designer or graphic design artist who’s entire livelihood depends on a reliable computer. And Steve can sell a variety of products to these clients, such as emergency after hours support packages, or monthly maintenance packages, or even become an affiliate for malware or antivirus software.
See you next week when we get started on the Avatar Study!
We’re rolling out two new 12-week coaching groups in January where you get access to individualized training for all of your marketing efforts. Learn more about Collective Coaching with Melanie Diehl here.