What is a marketing avatar?
An marketing avatar is a tool that helps business owners get out of their own frame of reference and see their products, services and marketing materials from the perspective of their best clients, in order to reach them effectively.
Why do I need a marketing avatar?
Often when designing a marketing strategy we think we know what will showcase our work best, and what potential customers need to know. We may use language that is particular to our industry, but which the clients looking for us online do not use to describe what they are looking for. We may find it hard to see ourselves through their eyes. This can lead to expensive mistakes when designing marketing tools like websites or ad campaigns. Learning how our ideal clients see what they are looking for can help us see our materials through their eyes and make sure that the search terms and questions that they use are words that are present on our website.
How do I create a marketing avatar?
Develop a very narrow, very specific image of your best client. This can often be hard to imagine. We tend to think that our products and services are for everyone. However, in a marketplace full of hundreds or thousands of your competitors, marketing effectively to a very small, very well fitting group of clients is a far more successful strategy than trying to reach everyone with your messsage. It’s not as if you are going to turn down sales from other sources. It is only that a specific type of person is the one who your company will make happiest,and you need to reach them.
So if you sell to men and women, but your best clients tend to be women, then your avatar is a woman. If you sell to all ages, but people in their 30s tend to be a great fit for your product, then she is in her 30s. Imagine this person, and their cultural background, upbringing, marital status, religion, location, economic class and any other information you can guess at. When in doubt choose the narrowest definition. Give this avatar a name, and refer to them by name when designing your message. What does this person say about your product? Imagine yourself as this person, and then look at your products and services – what do you like about them? what makes them the best choice for you? why do you buy them? What are their problems, needs or conserns? Not just the ones that they wish to solve by buying your product, but others you might expect them to have? Choose a photo to represent your avatar and place it somewhere along with a core description of wants and needs which you can look at it while you work on your marketing strategy.
Some companies conduct market research of people in the demographics you have identified, to determine where they go for their information and how they make purchasing decitions.
Try to avoid cheating by using your own ideas of what is good about your products or describing them in the way you always have. This whole exercise is to get you away from doing that, and into the minds of your ideal customers. You may need a different avatar for different products, particularly if they are priced differently or meet radically different needs. Embrace that and allow your message to shift depending on which type of person, which avatar you are marketing to.
I offer help to companies and entrepreneurs who want to develop a more focussed marketing strategy and do more than technical search engine optimization, by providing wording and imagery that appeals to your best clients for your website and ads. This helps your website reach the specific clients you want to reach and helps you sell to them. I can help you prepare your avatar and then come up with a plan to tune your marketing materials to fit this new understanding of your ideal client, so you can sell to them more effectively.
How do I use my marketing avatar?
Once the avatar is developed, treat him/her/them as if they are a person. Role play asking them why they are buying your product, and get into their head. Then come up with questions, in your avatar’s own voice and character, about your product and what terms they might search on in a search engine. Write down what words they use. Make sure you use this vocabulary and these questions when trying to reach your customers.
Photo by Michael Dam on Unsplash
