Do you really know your customer? The power of having an Avatar

First thing's first, in spite of the header image, this post is not about massive blue people and how they can help your business. There is a movie theme though.

This particular post is really about knowing your market and how important it is to really understand who your ideal customer is. In the digital world we refer to our ideal customer as an avatar, or sometimes a buyer persona. It's that ideal customer who you know, when they see your messaging, or catch your ad, or read your article, they are going to buy from you. Maybe not in the financial sense, but they buy into what you are doing, what you stand for, or of course they buy your product or service and become your advocate.

Furious 7

This post came to me today after I stepped out of the cinema having just watched the 7th instalment in the Fast and the Furious franchise - Furious 7, with a tear in my eye. How does this franchise, which some might find ridiculous, relate to a 30 something digital marketer and a post on ideal customers, or avatars?

Well let me start to bring all the pieces together for you. It's a personal story and one where I play the role of the avatar.

I'm a self confessed petrol head. I love cars and everything to do with them. I drive a completely modified Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD and convinced my other half that a convertible, fettled 5.0 V8 Mustang was a good 'sensible' car for her. Living here in the Middle East and being able to afford these machines, is a blessing I count every day I get in either of these cars. Someone even said to me the other day that the Mustang looked like it should be in the Fast and the Furious! A compliment of the highest order to someone like me!

Since the franchise started with the first film in 2001 I have been a fan. As Paul Walker (RIP) drives his modified Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T into view and floors it down the street in Los Angeles, I was hooked. As I watched the film, saw the cars, watched the races and yes watched the characters develop, they were talking my language. Yes the films are a bit cheesy to some, but they appealed to me, they also appealed to every other car nut out there. They cater to the turbo fans of Japanese imports and the old school American muscle car guys too. There's no replacement for displacement as they say. I think you can tell which camp I reside in. I'm so bought into this franchise and the characters that represent it, that the send off at the end of the movie to Paul Walker, one of the key character who passed away during filming, really did choke me up! It was done really well and really got me.

The point I am making here is that they (the actors, studio, directors and so forth) know exactly who they are targeting with their product. They have a very clear avatar and it's not just a demographic.

The difference between a demographic and an avatar is detail. They go beyond an age range, gender and a location. It get's into psychographic data, personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. When you think about who you really want to talk to, you need detail. You may also need more than one avatar or buyer persona, and that's fine. In fact I recommend it, as the more specific you can be, the better your messaging to those personas can be. Segmentation of your avatars is integral to successful communication and relationship building. But that's a subject for another post.

By taking the time to really establish who you want to speak to and forming a crystal clear image of who that is. It makes creating your content so much easier. It's a lot easier to create content for someone specific. Writing to your ideal customer instead of trying to write to your 10,000 fans/followers is a much easier task to accomplish, especially if you want to do it well.

What we are talking about here is the ability to reach out and put you content in front of those people that want to see it. Gone are the days of interrupt marketing, your customer only wants to hear from you when they want to hear from you, not when YOU want them to hear you! By taking the time to research your ideal customer, you can tailor your content to them, make sure you are talking their language, give them the content they want, on the channel they want and only when they want it.

By doing this, you build trust, and trust builds long term relationships. Long term relationships can then be leveraged to form advocates. Brand advocates are the pinnacle of marketing communication, because they are the ones that take your content and go and spread it on your behalf, not because you asked them, because they want to!!

Take me for example. I booked my tickets for this mornings movie, 2 weeks ago when they were first available. I also then 'sold' the idea to 6 other friends. Small scale I know, but just imagine that same scenario happening the world over? It's why this particular movie is predicted to generate huge amounts at the box office. They got their avatar(s) right and they, in my opinion, have created great content for us.

Go watch number 7 and tell me it's not great entertainment for a couple hours!! I'll let you know when I hear more about instalment 8 - can't wait!!!