Maybe the most important element of business is knowing your audience. Fail to know who you are servicing and you will fail. Period.
Take a step back and consider first time writers . . .
Many first time writers come up with a great idea for a book. They rush to their local publisher to pitch the book.
Mr. Publisher asks, “Who is you book for? Who is your audience?”
Excited-soon-to-be-first-time-author says, “Oh this book . . . it is for everyone. That’s why I know it will be a New York Times best seller!”
Mr. Publisher spits coffee across the mahogany desk. “Son,” he says, “A book written for everyone is a book written for no one. Get out of my office.”
Dejected-first-time-wannabe-almost-author learns a valuable lesson and rewrites his book for someone instead of everyone.
If you are everything you are nothing.
The same goes for your product, service offering, Instagram posts, email marketing. Positioning your business to serve “everyone” will effectively make you the business of choice for absolutely no one.
In this post you will discover and map out the ONE person your brand is servicing. You are going to discover, and create, your ideal persona. A imaginary person that you are keeping top of mine with every decision you make and communication you send.
In my experience from hosting workshops, when I ask a group how old their ideal audience is, they reply “25-50 years old.”
The problem is, I’ve never met an individual who is 25, 50, and every age in between all at the same time.
A 25 year old thinks very differently than a 50 year old who thinks very differently than a 35 year old.
So . . . Who is your ideal audience?
I don’t know who your ideal customer is . . . but lets find out.
Go through the following questions to begin to understand your ideal prospect.
Avatar Worksheet
Name:
Birthdate: ___/_____/19_____
Birthplace:
Where do they live now?
What do we know of their worldview from the time period they grew up?
Are they married/Divorced/remarried/Single?
Where does he/she work?
Does the spouse work? Where?
How many kids?
How old are the kids?
What stage of life are the kids in?
Favorite book?
How do they steward their finances?
Where and on what do they spend their money? What does this tell you about their values and priorities?
Where do they shop?
Where do they “hang out” online? (Facebook? Email? Linkedin?)
What do they do on the weekends?
What car do they drive?
What is their greatest fear?
What is their greatest struggle?
What is their greatest dream?
This is a good list to get you started. Remember: this is a fictional character.
Once you fill out this list and you feel that you have a good grasp on your avatar you will be ready to move on to the next exercise: The Isolation-Chamber Technique.
The Isolation-Chamber Technique
The Isolation-Chamber Technique is a little exercise to help you get deeper into the world of your Avatar.
- Set a timer for 5 minutes.
- Turn off all distractions. (Phone, computer, music anything)
- Wrap your arms around yourself and close your eyes.
- Now become your avatar. Imagine yourself living in their world.
- Walk yourself through their day.
- What is it like? What do they do? What do they feel?
- What is their morning routine?
- How do they feel about their Job?
- How do they feel about their friendships?
- How do they think and feel about their family, marriage, children?
- As you walk through their life–focus in on the emotions that they are experiencing.
Live in their world for five full minutes.
Complete this exercise before moving on.
Welcome back to the real world.
Take time and journal out the answers to the follow questions:
- What did you learn about your Avatar?
- How do they feel?
- Armed with this information—how should you communicate and position yourself with your audience?
