Client Avatars: 5 Reasons Your Small Business Needs Them
It’s very important to know WHO your brand is and WHAT it does and WHY it does it. But– do you know WHO you’re trying to reach?
What is a Client Avatar?
Client avatars, also known as client profiles, customer profiles, buyer personas, or marketing personas, help identify the specific base a company is trying to reach. They represent a fictional character that aligns with the consumers your brand has worked with in the past and hopes to attract in the future.
Client avatars are representations based on research into who you are successfully attracting to your business or product in the present time. If you would like to reach a certain demographic that you are not currently attracting, these avatars will not portray your aspirational person. Instead, they demonstrate what your client base has in common–or not. Perhaps you will find that you reach two extremes of a certain spectrum, e.g a large group of outdoorsy types engage with your content, as well as a large group of homebodies.
How Do I Make Them?
Beginning with market research, you can get a general sense of who is paying for your products or services. It can be very beneficial to send a survey out to previous clients, asking them for their age, race, gender, education level, marital status, and location. For an in-depth client avatar, you should also find out more complex information, such as their preferred media sites and sources, their values, and their role in the purchasing process (i.e are they buying for themselves? Do they make all of the decisions for such a purchase?). If this information is not enough to create a client avatar, secondary research might entail looking into the clientele of similar businesses, checking online reviews, and reading social media conversations about your type of business.
Once this research is conducted, you can identify certain patterns within your clients. Maybe you find successful, well-educated, single men in your research who consume their media from financial institutions. You might also find a group of women in your clientele who are married with children and prefer to subscribe to daily political emails for their news. These specific patterns in their behavior can help you craft a fictional consumer who fits most of their criteria. Though having three specific avatars seems to be a perfect amount, you may need more or less based on your research.
Why Do I Need One?
Every business, no matter the size or the industry, should have at least one client avatar. Even if you think you know the specific details of your client base, you should refresh your research and adapt your avatars over time and as your company grows. Maybe your business is very small, and attracts very distinct buyers: there are still differences between them. Here at Bubbly, we suggest creating three unique client avatars that represent your client base.
Here’s a great example from a branding breakdown we did. We even gave them names!
Every piece of content you create should speak to at least one of these three fictional personas. Knowing the similarities and differences between these people can make all the difference when it comes to attracting clients and solidifying your brand identity.
1. Saves time
Once you have researched who your clientele is, you will be able to quickly hone your future marketing initiatives to a specific customer profile. Rather than researching your client base every time you release a new advertising campaign or product, you can instantly see who you are trying to reach and adjust accordingly. Having these avatars for immediate reference means that there is no more guesswork when it comes to the type of people you are connecting to.
2. Saves Money
When paying for targeted ads, these client avatars will help you direct them toward your ideal demographic. In this sense, your ad money will not be wasted on people who have no interest in your product or services! Knowing the specific demographics you are trying to reach allows you to specify the area, age, interest, and gender of your target audience.
3. Informs future business decisions
In the process of creating these client avatars, you may find data that does not support what you previously believed to be true about your customer base. This is a good thing! Though you may be surprised by the types of people your company is reaching, turning their characteristics into a fictional client in the form of an avatar can help you better understand them. Knowing your audience will assist in future decisions when it comes to offering new products or services, as well as where and how to promote them.
4. Improves customer experience
Once you have specific client avatars, you can work on ways to improve your customers’ experience with your company by appealing to their interests. If you break your general clientele into three personas, you can segment your marketing to appeal to them individually. For example, you can split up your emailing list and tailor your subject lines and messages so that each group gets specific content pushed to their inbox, based on the type of avatar they most resemble. This can improve your clicks and overall engagement. Read more on how to craft the perfect email here.
5. Attracts more clients!
Condensing your specific client base into avatars will help you identify shared key demographics or points of interest. Knowing who your audience is, or should be, will help inform your advertising decisions, future offerings from the company, and strengthen your brand identity. Knowing who you are, especially as it relates to your customer base, is key in attracting new people that may be similar to those represented in your avatars. Appealing to the demographics and values of your avatars will likely engage similar clients, and hopefully grow your business.
We know that marketing your business can feel overwhelming for many clients, no matter what industry you’re in. However, with the right tools and planning, engaging and maintaining your customer base is completely achievable. Not sure how to start creating client avatars? We’re here for you. Schedule a consultation with us today. We would love to help you better understand your current customers, and use that information to attract new ones!
