By Bria Hutchinson

What’s the foundation of marketing your business? Being able to talk directly to your ideal customer.

But before you even start writing your emails, ads, website, or anything else, you need to get to know your customer. You need a customer avatar.

I’m guiding you through what a customer avatar is, why it matters, and how to create one. So you know that you’re speaking directly to your ideal customer every time you post on your socials.

What Is a Customer Avatar?

Your customer avatar is a detailed description and representation of your ideal customer. It’s backed by data, but you can fictionalize it a little bit while you’re initially getting started.

Your avatar should have a name and be someone you can really visualize in your mind’s eye. Complete with demographics, socioeconomic status, psychographics, and more, your avatar should be someone you can describe clearly when someone asks you who you want to work with.

But why do you really need one? How does it actually help your business?

Why Do You Need a Customer Avatar?

Have you ever had a conversation with someone you didn’t know well who only talked about themselves, and never asked you a single question?

If so, it probably didn’t feel like a good conversation. Or even a conversation at all, since you didn’t do any talking. It most likely felt like they were talking at you instead of with you.

This is what marketing is like without a customer avatar. Sure, you might be able to relate to what the other person is saying, but if you can’t get a word in, it can feel like you’re just another number to them.

Through the process of creating your avatar, you get to really know your ideal customer. Meaning you don’t have to spend time on generic weather talk and can go straight to talking about things you know they like. Which captures their interest and establishes an instant connection. It also shows your customer that you care about them, making them feel valued. Which builds their trust with you.

In short, having a customer avatar allows you to speak directly to the customers you want to work with. It attracts them and helps you achieve your business goals more efficiently.

So let’s walk through how to create a customer avatar.

Creating Your Customer Avatar

Your customer avatar is mostly based on data, but you can fictionalize a few things to help you get started. Some fictional things you can think about:

• Name
• Personality
• Hobbies
• Personal goals

But when possible and relevant, do your best to get actual data from previous or current customers.

If you don’t have customers yet, look into reviews for similar products or services to yours and note all patterns you can. You can also ask people you know you’d like to work with to sit down for a quick interview or to take a brief survey.

Remember to thank them for their time and give them a small incentive, like a gift card, pay for their meal, or a small gift.

When gathering your data, think about things like demographics, socioeconomic status, and psychographics. Here are a few examples for each category to help you build your avatar:

Demographics

• Age
• Gender
• Race &/or ethnicity
• Education level
• Relationship status
• Number of children and/or pets

Socioeconomic Status

• Education level
• Occupation
• Income level
• Financial Assets & Liabilities
• Type of housing

Psychographics

• What do they need and what do they want?
• What are their dreams?
• What challenges, problems, or obstacles do they face?
• Where do they want to be in 1, 3, 5, 10, 25 years?
• When they purchase a product or service, what’s their process like? Ex: are they impulsive, slow to purchase, somewhere in between, or a combo?
• What motivates them?

The more data you have, the more detailed you can get. And you want to get as detailed as you can when considering each of these aspects of your avatar. Again, you want to be able to see it vividly in your imagination.

Once you’re confident in your customer avatar, be sure to reference back to it frequently when creating any marketing content and copy. Watch your business grow when you tailor your message to your ideal customer.

Need help with tailoring your socials to your customer avatar? CCox Social has tons of experience and is ready to help you boost your socials!