What is an Avatar Study?

Now that we’ve dipped our toe into the “Avatar water” it’s time to wade in a bit further. Let’s talk about an Avatar Study.

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.

Because it’s really not about us. It’s about 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.

So, what exactly do you need to know about your Avatar?

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.

Congratulations!

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.

What is an Ideal Client Avatar?

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:

• perform an avatar study
• identify your ideal client avatars pain points
• determine where your ideal client avatar is spending time online
• create messaging that your ideal client avatar will respond to and engage with
• monitor trends in your ideal client avatars changing behaviors, pain points, and needs, and more

Sorry, but EVERYBODY is not your Ideal Client.

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. 

Let’s go further into investigating an Ideal Client Avatar.

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!