Have You Met Your Customer Avatar?
What is a customer avatar? Most of us can relate to Avatar as a Sci-Fi masterpiece by James Cameron that literally shattered box office records a decade ago (and finally it seems we can look forward to the release of its sequel soon). Well, the thing about it being a smash hit, was it introduced a new motion capture filming technique, which touted stereoscopic filmmaking as a breakthrough in cinematic technology. It also blew wide open the door on avatar popularity.
Yes indeed, avatars have become quite the trend and we have since seen them used everywhere in the digital space, especially on social media. Love them or hate them, everyone now relates to them.
So, where is the connection between the customer avatar and marketing?
It’s the avatar’s relatability that saw it being used in marketing. It is the embodiment or profile of your ideal customer. It’s an online character whose unique attributes are clearly defined. You understand their needs and your value proposition is designed around them. You’ve geared your products and services especially for your ideal customer.
How does your avatar ensure marketing success?
We know how frustrating it can be to invest in a digital marketing campaign that doesn’t deliver any new leads or business for you. This usually happens when the marketing campaign is too generic. The service offering may be on point, but your audience doesn’t resonate with whom you’re targeting. Your wording, images, videos and designs should be harnessed to work together to target your ideal customer. Your prospect will then be able to look at the material and think “Oh yes! I need this, and yes, they get me and understand exactly what I need – I’m their ideal customer”. This hyper-targeted marketing approach is what will ensure your campaign success.
But where do I start?
Review your existing customer base and ringfence your favourite customers. These are the people you love working with and you wish all your customers could be like. These are your profitable accounts, and they love receiving their product / service from you. They even refer you to some of their connections. You know exactly what their preferences are and how to meet their need.
Now make a list of some of the common characteristics that they have. What are the typical questions they ask you? In which segment of the market do they position themselves? Where do they live? Do they have kids? What do you know about the causes they like to support? What are their hobbies and interests? Can you see a picture starting to form? These are all important factors that will help you define your customer avatar.
To help you personalize your avatar, try to come up with a catchy name for your avatar as it relates to your niche market. For example, Mbali the Beauty Therapist.
Now that you have a well-defined customer avatar, you’ll be able to pinpoint your niche with social media and online advertising campaigns. Picture Mbali the Beauty Therapist while you create enticing content that you know she will love. Make sure that every aspect of your campaigns will appeal to people just like her.
The beauty of online marketing is that you can use all your valuable avatar profile info to target your niche market by age, gender, industry, household spend, job profiles, hobbies or other interests. Yes! You can even create more than one customer avatar. By hyper-focusing your marketing campaigns on your ideal customer, you will soon find more new customers to fall in love with. And who doesn’t want to do what they love for the avatars they love?
Do you know your customer avatar? We can help you find your perfect match as well as plan the right marketing campaign to attract business from this precisely targeted market.
Contact us today!
