How to Create an Ideal Client Avatar for Your Brand
One of the most integral and often overlooked parts of creating a brand for a small business is crafting up an ideal client avatar.
Now, you might read that and think, ideal client avatars are SO last year - but honestly, they are more important than EVER before.
Having an ideal client in mind enables to you speak intentionally and specifically to your audience.
Let’s think for a minute - what sounds more personal? Someone giving a general message to the masses that somewhat impacts you, or someone speaking specifically to your dreams, desires, and needs that you can’t stop thinking about?
So if having an ideal client avatar is really all that important, then how in the world do I create it??? Well follow the steps below to create your own ideal client - in just under an hour!
Don’t feel like reading? Then watch the Youtube video below, where I walk through the tips in this post in video format!
Create an Actual, Specific Client… or Two
The first thing you want to start with is creating an ACTUAL fake person as your ideal client - not some generic, unknown “group” that you can’t visualize when you want to speak to them!
Just think - it’s way easier to create a personal message to a specific friend and make it special than creating a message that has to affect a large group of people personally…
Basically, it’s almost like creating a profile for your ideal client - find a stock photo online to give you a visual to imagine as you create content for this person, and craft details about them with the following information below:
Photo (find a stock photo to use!)
Name
Age
Gender
Relationship Status
Location (if important)
Career/Education
Lifestyle - this helps to make your ideal client more realistic in your mind
What Platforms Do They Use Online - this helps you focus on where to show up!
Problem/Need - what they are struggling with (related to your business)
Values - both their own personal values as well as what they value related to your business
So let’s take an example business - a wedding photographer! Here’s what their ideal client may look like:
Age - 26 years old
Gender - Female
Relationship Status - Engaged!
Location - Denver, Colorado
Career/Education - Marketing Manager at a Tech Company
Lifestyle - loves to go hiking during summers and ski in the winters, always has a coffee in her hand, reality show tv is her guilty pleasure, and she is the biggest fan of her yellow Lab, Sunny
What Platforms Do They Use Online - Instagram mainly, and likes to scroll through TikTok!
Problem/Need - wants wedding photos that capture EVERY part of her day - from events to people to details to special moments and more
Values - quality time with her friends and family, intentional connections, healthy boundaries
Identify Your Client’s Specific Needs/Desires/Lacks
So now that you have a literal profile for your ideal client, it’s time to dive a little bit deeper into their story.
As part of your brand, you really want to be able to connect and empathize with your ideal client’s needs, desires, lacks, and more as it relates to your business so that they feel understood - and also, so you get a clearer vision on how to help them.
Here are some items to identify for your client:
Currently Lacking: What they are lacking in relation to your business
Currently Feels: How they feel about this lack
Afraid Of: What are they afraid of when it comes to hiring/buying something related to your business
End Goal: What tangible result do they want from your business
Wants to Feel: What do they want to FEEL after working with your business
Values in Your Business: What they value when looking for a business to work with/buy from
These don’t need to be long sentences - just quick blurbs that you can look back on when building your brand and creating content that can help bring you back to focusing on your ideal client.
Here’s our photographer example to help you out!
Currently Lacking: A wedding photographer that is intentional about capturing each moment of herwedding day
Currently Feels: Stressed about not being able to find a good photographer or picking the wrong one
Afraid Of: Not getting every moment and person captured that matters to her
End Goal: Beautiful, documentary style photos of her and her loved ones on her wedding day
Wants to Feel: Excited to share her photos with her future family and happy that each part was captured
Values in Your Business: Intentionality, lots of photo options, documentary capturing style
Create A Storyline For Your Client and Your Business
Lastly, you’ll want to create a short storyline about your client, based on their needs/desires, that relates directly back to your business.
Again, remember, the focus is on your CUSTOMER - so write their story from their perspective, not your own!
Here’s a map you can use to build your customer’s story:
I need help (what they are struggling with) because (how this lack/need has been negatively affecting them or what they fear). I want to be able to (what they believe they need tangibly to resolve this struggle - connects to what you can offer) so that I can (what success looks like to them).
And here is the example photographer’s customer’s story to help you brainstorm:
I need help finding an intentional wedding photographer because I’m afraid of not getting photos that capture everything important on my wedding day. I want to be able to have beautiful, documentary style photos of myself and my loved ones on my wedding day so that I can show my own family one day the memories of the most important day of my life and all the important people that surrounded me.
And there you have it! Now you have a great client avatar that you can use to create specific, targeted content to attract your dream customers and make them feel a personal connection with you and your business.
Remember, your customer is the MOST important part of your business - so you want to make sure that your branding is intentionally built around them!
