What is a Client Persona?
Also known as Client Avatars, they are a fictional representation of your ideal client. A character or even an “imaginary friend” if you will. A client persona is a way that we can relate to our business clients as real people. You are creating an imaginary version of your ideal client. They have a name, and they represent everything that we know about our ideal clients. Having personas for your ideal clients allows you to create effective products, services and packages that will sell, and be able to market them effectively. Knowing your client personas will make it easier to sense check everything you do, to make sure the fictitious “George” or “Sophia” will love what you are doing, and how you speak to them, in turn making it easier to acquire and retain quality clients. Essentially turning the concept of your ideal client into a “real” person represented by your persona.
Why are Client Personas important?
They help you understand your existing and prospective clients better, but not just your general target market; your ideal client. Knowing your ideal client allows you to service their specific needs and solve their pain points. You might know that your target market is a Mum, but what are their interests and specific needs? Having an Avatar that represents everything we know about your ideal client, will give you a full understanding of what makes your clients tick. You can create everything based on whether “Steve” or “Gina” will respond, love and rave about what you are doing.
It can also be helpful to have a negative client persona, those who are NOT your ideal client. This will help you weed out the clients who are not right for your products or services. These are the ones that will waste your time and not buy from you, not the ones you want on your list!
How to create an Ideal Client Persona
Creating your Avatar is a combination of research into your existing database and surveying prospective clients. Also, see our previous article on Target Market vs Ideal Client for more.
1. Survey
The goal of surveying your prospective and current clients is to find out what their biggest challenge is. Then, you can solve it with your products or services. You are trying to learn as much about that person as possible, their behaviours, their habits, what drives them, where do they spend their time when they are online, what do they love and what do they trust.
2. Research
This is going back through your database to check on trends and buying patterns of your existing clients. Think back to the clients you have previously dealt with, what are their personality types, what have they found most useful, and what demographic were they in. Look at the reviews they leave, look at how they interact with your business and how they travel through the client journey – then aim to learn as much as you can about them. You can also create your persona from an existing ideal client, and use a picture of them when creating your persona – making it even more authentic when you’re sense checking your offers and material.
3. Create
Now that you have raw data from your survey and research, it is time to put it together into a persona of your ideal client. Ask yourself these questions…
- What is their demographic – their sex, their age, their family situation (are they married, do they have children?), their location, and any outstanding personality traits
- Career – do they work and what is their role, are they self-employed, what sort of money do they earn?
- Interests – what are their interests, what are they doing online, and what do they do in their spare time?
- Pain Points – what do they worry about, what keeps them up at night, and what are their major pain points?
- Knowledge – what do they know about your industry, and which of your competitors are they following?
Tie all of this information together and document how your business can help them. Armed with this information, you will be able to focus your offering, your content, your marketing, your sales calls, and your follow up to convert people like this into regular paying clients.
Don’t forget to give them a name and even attach an image of them so that you can really relate to them as a person. Make sure you share your client persona with each of your team members so that you can all have a unified approach.
Having a client persona will allow you to streamline your business processes as you will be very clear on who you are creating everything for. You will know how to communicate with your clients when speaking with them, you will know how to solve their issues, and you can use language that resonates with them in your marketing. Say goodbye to fumbling around in the dark, not knowing who you are targeting and how to communicate with them. Say hello to attracting your ideal client, and converting them, not only into a paying client, but also a raving fan!
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