Unveiling Your Ideal Client Avatar
*OR AS I LIKE TO SAY YOUR ‘Internet Cinderella’
Here we’ll identify and analyse your Ideal Client, so you can strategically stand out from the masses & speak straight to their hearts & wallets.
Looking to strategically design your brand and website to attract your dream clients? Of course you are, there’s no flies on you! You know that strategically crafting irresistible customer inspired content is hard core leverage. Combine that with YOUR authentic brand voice and you’re dynamite baby!
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Ok so if you've been poking around the internet searching your heart out on DIY website design and branding posts, you’ve probably heard someone mention your ‘audience’ or your ‘ideal client avatar’ (ICA).
Now they’re not talking about the leggy blue people in the forrest (I know, phew right because that would’ve been confusing!) But they are talking about literally identifying your ‘ideal’ client. Think of this as the dream client - the one who’s so wonderful to work with and whose needs are so up your alley, you go home wishing for another 50 clients just like them.
Great news, I’ve created a free downloadable supertool for you to strategically identify who your Ideal Clients are and demystify how you can connect directly to them in your website, your branding design and your copy (words). Helpful right! Stay tuned…
Remember the fairytale Cinderella? And how when the Prince went through all the land with her glass slipper, there was just one special girl that was the ‘perfect fit’? This document is your glass slipper, and your Ideal Client is your internet Cinderella! Of course in this instance there’s more than just one perfect fit, but you get the analogy?
If you want to squeeze all the juice out of this blog I highly recommend downloading your copy today! I’ll skim over the details here but dive deeper in the workbook itself.
Spending time truly understanding who you want to ‘speak’ to is a super valuable foundational step in your website, brand design and honestly business!
Most people will guide you through the basics but I want to take you a little further, we’ll dive deeper and scope broader than your average free resource does, so buckle up beautiful, it’s time to build the website and brand of your dreams and start magnetising all those ideal clients.
Let’s fill your rolodex with Cinderellas & have them gushing about the most magnetic brand they’ve found since ABBA!
HOW THIS IS GOING TO WORK:
Let’s start with the basics - which is where most people will lead you - who are they? (Like literally) Are they male, female or other? What age are they? Where are they and where are they from? What’s their social and relationship status?
We’ll move on after that to some richer and more complicated identifiers and create a whole Internet Cinderella persona you can call on anytime you create something new in your business, sound good? You’ll finish up with a bio so real you’ll be like Tom Hanks in Castaway calling “Wilsooooon”.
Ready to dive in?ELIMINATION BASICS:
I know this can feel like a limiting task - why can’t you just serve everyone?! The thing is, the age old adage applies - you can’t please all of the people all of the time - If you try and please everyone you will please no-one
Getting really clear on who you are for & who you are not for, is a secret weapon for Brand Resonance & it can be super powerful at doing 2 things:
Creating a brand that feels really authentic for you to live in
Creating a brand that genuinely reaches people you are best suited to serve - which, sorry to burst your bubble, no matter how incredible, or useful your products and services are - won’t be everyone.
So I invite you, let’s be a bit ‘Simon Cowell on the X factor-ish’ and bring an imaginary red buzzer to the table, you can even unbutton your shirt a little if it helps with the character - you do you.
As you go through the questions and you start to get stumped - wild fire some ideas on the stage and use your gut to gauge to ask yourself: do they have a place, or are they your opportunity to sound the buzzer and axe them.
You may even have the perfect person in mind already. Perhaps an actual client you have already served or someone you know somehow in your life? Wonderful, use that known info and expand on it. You can even reach out and ask them some questions from the lists below to get a better understanding if you wish.
Good luck!
*DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF THE FREE GUIDE TO MAKE THE MOST OF THIS POST AS YOU WORK THROUGH THE EXERCISES!
1.
STEP ONE: THE LITERAL NITTY GRITTY DEMOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Ok, the basics, it’s not that these factors are revolutionary game changing definers, it’s that they start to build a picture that will influence every element in your brand and branding choices.
For example if you are trying to connect with male builders in their 30s your brand will look, feel and sound completely different than if you are trying to connect with females over 60 looking for a reinvention. The colours, the styling choices, the photography and the language (not to mention the content) are going to need to be completely different to connect with those two contrasting audiences and make a lasting impression. It’s not that there would never be a 30 year old male builder that likes what a 60+ year old woman seeking reinvention likes (or vice versa), it’s simply that if that particular male builder was your dream client, then knowing that would be your golden ticket for how you communicate and connect with words, images, and messaging in order to magnetise him towards your business.
Examples here include:
Age
Gender
location origin and current
vocation & career stage
Etc. You can get as specific as you like (we can always eliminate what’s not relevant later)
2.
STEP TWO: BEHAVIOURAL DETAILS - THE WHO, WHAT & HOW
Peel back the layers a little deeper with me now, your getting to the Resonant Branding gold!
Who are they really? What inspires their choices and actions? How do they live their life? Spend their money? Interact with the people in their world?
Some examples include:
How do they spend their days?
Where are they active online? Who do they follow? Love? Admire? Seek inspiration from?
Describe their personality. What do they value? In life? In service? In products? In people?
Have they got pet peeves?
And so many more! Now you’re really starting to build something powerful, keep going!
3.
I LIKE TO THROW A SNEAKY BONUS STEP IN HERE:
You’ve got so much information about them already but what are you going to do with it? How will you use it to connect with your ideal client - after all connection is key!
In Their words : Get clear on what they’d actually say.
Connection : Identify how you’ll super charge your copy and content to make them feel right at home.
Join the dots : Synthesise how all the nitty gritty literal detail you’ve uncovered will feed into how they speak, connect and communicate.
Pop Culture : Go deeper still, find where you can connect with them in pop culture and real life references they’ll resonate with.
4.
STEP FOUR : PSYCHOGRAPHIC DETAILS
(Climb inside their why - why do they do what they do)
I recommend tackling this aspect from four different angles:
Drivers - get clear on what sits behind the emotions that motivate them - the whys behind the action
Magnetism - climb inside their heads and heart for a moment and find the points of attraction and repulsion you can work around
Problems and solutions - This is HUGE - what problems are they seeking to solve and why are you the solution they need?
Working together - There’s a million options out there, why are they going to pick you as their solution and why is that the best thing on the planet for them to do?
CREATIVE WRITING TIME
Come on Virginia Woolfe you’ve got this!
I want you to read through what you’ve discovered and craft a word sculpture that embodies your ideal client in detail and in essence. This is going to be the piece de la resistance you refer back to and hold front of mind as you build the rest of your brand and branding. Along with every piece of content you create.
Just like Tom Hanks in Castaway I want you to name your invisible friend. This needs to be more than a collection of words, it need to be a vision, a character, a ‘business bestie’ you can pull to mind whenever you need to.
It’s totally ok to create a selection of characters if you feel that is relevant. The key is to then seek the commonalities throughout them, because that’s the part you will speak to the most.
WRITE: Write your in depth Ideal Client / Internet Cinderella bio, then on what and why they’re going to engage with and appreciate the most in you and your work.
QUESTION: Find their main goal and how you’ll communicate your ability to help them with it.
REPEAT: Note: It's also possible to have multiple ICAs within one brand - the person buying your $29 ebook, is not going to be the same person that’s buying your $6500 retreat. If this is you, repeat all of the above to create multiple bios where necessary. Sometimes one person doesn’t sum up who you wish to serve enough and more are required. The big key here though is you’ll need to get clear on the similarities and differences between them, so you can speak to both and still connect with both.
ACTIVATION PHASE
* HOW TO USE THIS MOVING FORWARD
Knowing everything you know about them and more specifically as relates to what they are most struggling with
What problems are they looking to solve that you could assist them with in your content?
What types of content are they most likely to engage with the most - in type, style, and tone of voice?
Where is this content most likely to reach them?
Also, and this is key - know that your ideal client might metamorphoses over time - who you serve now may not be who you serve in the future.
So, add to it, edit it, allow it to grow & evolve with you and your business.
Come back to this guide every time you intend to launch something new in your brand or business - check the match between what you are creating and who you are serving.
Some questions to consider include:
Does your Internet Cinderella need it and will it appeal to them (directly)?
Remember the benefits they seek, will this deliver?
Will it engage them enough to get them itching to work with you?
One last BIG question
You’re so nearly there!Bearing in mind the overarching dream, vision and mission of your business? And remembering why you are in business, what you hope to achieve and how you plan to get there…
Ask yourself: Is this Cinderella my perfect match?
Fingers crossed you said yes, in which cases hooray! Well done, I know from experience how long that exercise takes.
May it prove infinitely valuable for you and your business and bring you one giant step closer to resonant branding bliss! Congratulations!
Ballantyne x.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
If you’re curious about accessing my unique creative scope, depth, & skills to help get you luminous & unstoppable with branding & design that truly serves you. I can’t wait to show you exactly what I mean!
Let’s unleash the power of your authentic essence in your branding and make your business irresistible.
Together we’ll create the abundance magnet you’re proud to welcome your dream clients to - a site that really represents the heart of you and your business. Curious to know more?
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