If your services are for everybody, they really are for nobody.
People need to know that you are speaking directly to them.
The final piece of laying your marketing foundation is developing your client avatar. An avatar is an embodiment of a person or an idea. So if you have been following along, you should have a very clear picture of the group of people you serve. Now we’re going to take it a step deeper to one particular person.
Tara Gentile refers to this as the reverse funnel, which I thought was so appropriate because you hear online marketers talk about funnels all the time where you start with a lot of people in mind, then they move through the funnel to few people. Tara, says to start with one person in mind and build out from there.
Brilliant, right? (Not so convinced? Keep reading…)
I know, we want a lot of clients, but what I have found, is that by taking this approach, it makes it a lot easier to figure out what topics are important to my people, to figure out what posts to curate for social media, what programs I want to offer (well, that and target market research, of course).
So how do you do it?
Remember, we started with ourselves in mind to get a framework for the people we’d like to work with. We figured out what our specialty was, then we developed a target market profile.
Now, let’s get specific.
It’s highly likely, that if you have coached some people (and I sure hope you have been coaching your face off-yes, do it for free if you have to), you have fallen in love with one or two of them. These are people were if you just had 10 of them, you’d be happy.
As you answer these questions, think about this person.
What is their biggest problem when they come to you?
How do they feel? How do they want to feel?
What are their dreams and aspirations?
How about their fears and frustrations? What do they complain about to their girlfriend or partner?
Make sure you use their words. How would they say it. (Try to ditch the “coach speak” as much as possible. You will be using this later.)
See if you can paint a picture about A Day in the Life of this person.
By the end of the exercise, you should be able to write a mini biography about that person.
Checking In: Were you able to complete the exercise? Was it easier or more difficult that you thought it would be?