One of the main challenges that businesses face is attracting their ideal client. For many, they see the total addressable market (TAM) and multiply that by the price of their product or service—it's HUGE!! And it’s not reality. You can have the best sales funnel and the product or service offerings but if you are not attracting the right people then you have a problem. Your problem only gets bigger when developing and implementing your marketing strategy because you end up doing more, paying more, and producing fewer results…all because you didn’t have a specific image in mind of who you needed to attract.

Bigger is not better, anymore. Small is the new big. This smaller audience is called the total relevant market (TRM). The focus is on the client that is most likely to buy from you today. Focusing on a relevant market gives you better data about your most profitable clients. You'll learn if they already know about your brand, have they visited your website, or are they searching for similar solutions. It allows you to see them in a complete way--who they are, when is the best time to be in front of them, and what is most important to them. It will also show you when, where, and how to expand into other markets or create opportunities for future sales.

This specific image of your ideal client is called your customer avatar. It’s a detailed persona made up of the best aspects of your best clients put together into a single person. This person can have a name, age, hobbies, interests, a specific job, certain relationship status, and any other details that are relevant to who you want to attract. One vitally important aspect of creating your avatar is that it must have a pain point that is associated with the service that you provide. Without this pain point, you will have a significantly harder time connecting with them and convincing them that you have the solution to their needs.

You’ve probably heard me say that when you are creating your marketing materials, social media posts, positioning statements, or developing your offerings you should picture a specific person in your mind and tailor your message to that one person. Your job is to step out of your shoes and into the shoes of your avatar. Become that avatar as you create your marketing materials and product offerings. This helps your message come across as sincere. Focus your message to speak to someone specific to emotionally connect with them instead of a generic audience of everyone where no one listens.

The key to developing your avatar is not just reading this article one time and answering the questions as quickly as you can, but actually committing to it. Take the time to write your answers down. Invite your team to help you with this process. Maybe even have a character drawn to represent your avatar and give him/or her a name. Use this name internally just as you would an employee. Make your avatar a real person. I would also encourage you to print the details of your avatar out and hang it around the office so your team can be regularly reminded of who they are targeting.

Here are a few questions to help get you started:

• Are they married?
• What are their physical attributes? Hair, eye, or skin color.
• What degree do they have?
• Do they have specific experiences?
• What clubs, associations, or organizations do they belong to?
• Do they have kids?
• What news sources do they read?
• What shows or movies do they watch?
• What podcasts do they listen to?
• What do they do in their free time?
• Who are they responsible for?
• What keeps them up at night?
• What are key phrases or quotes that they use?

Since most of my audience is B2B, you’re probably thinking “I don’t care about the answer to those questions because my market is B2B”. To a point, you are right and I also disagree with you. You see, ultimately it is an individual person or a team of people that will make the decision to hire you, and the more successful you are at emotionally connecting with them, the more likely you are to land that new client. The more successful you are at clearly identifying who they are, the better results you will get from search engines and social media platforms.

So how is an avatar different than my target market?

That is a fabulous question.

One that really helps you focus on who you actually want to work with! Think of it this way, your target market is externally focused, it helps you identify a segment of the overall market that is likely in need or interested in the products or services that you offer. The avatar helps you clarify who in that market would make a good client for you. It allows you to go deep and get to the bottom of your client’s irrational fears and desires. It adds that personal touch so you don’t come across as generic.

Target markets generally focus on the demographics, firmographics, or technographic data, while avatars focus on the psychology, beliefs, values, and habits of your clientele.

We’ve all been in that situation where we work with a client that needs the product or service we offer, but they still aren’t a good fit—whether it be personality conflicts, industry complications, or timing, it honestly doesn’t matter. Not everyone in your total addressable market is a good fit for you. This is all a part of the funneling process that you create in your marketing. The total addressable market that you identify is the field where you play, but your total relevant market is where you put your attention for marketing. Your avatar directs your targeting and makes your next client real. It will help you personalize your message, emotionally connect with your market, and get better results with search engines and social media platforms to help you build your brand.

Have you completed your customer avatar? If so, how did you do it? Did you have any interesting discoveries or surprises? Send me a message and introduce me to your customer avatar. 

Omicle delivers brand clarity, marketing strategy, and operational efficiency to prepare leaders to scale their business. If you are ready to scale your business, contact us today to get started.