How you can use your own interests and demographics to reach out to customers to sell more of your goods or services! This is sometimes called building a “client avatar” of your customers.
I was talking with Desy, my middle kid, the other day and I asked her to CC daddy on our conversation. Luckily she has had me long enough to know what that meant so she (all happy) said, “sure Mom, I will post it in our group chat”.
Wait what? First off I didn't think she was going to write him a letter, but maybe an email and “cc” or carbon copy IS still a thing in email. But no! She knows that the messages I send to Desy and Johnny are a “group chat”…. crazy I KNOW!
So that got me thinking and I asked Johnny how the kids would say they were going to “tape” something. Like how they would save a show they wanted to see later.
He got really grumpy when I didn't like his answers and finally said… they wouldn't save anything because they could always just look it up… doh, that makes sense too.
Now I am not THAT old (at least in my head), but my vocabulary and world view definitely skews older and more affluent at this point in my life than it did when I was in my 20's and eating ramen and pizza every day for affordability sake.
So how does my “old dear” talk matter to you?
If you are selling a product or service, knowing who is your customer is a great way to know WHICH marketing channels to use and HOW to speak to your network to get them to buy!
How To Find Out Who Your Audience Is
There are some great stats available to you in your own digital marketing platforms like websites and social media platforms to look for clues as to why people like you!
For example, my Youtube stats bear out that I appeal to an older crowd…
95% Chicks and 88% over 45 years old (do people still say chicks? damn I am old!)
You can also check your analytics in Pinterest to see what (Analytics > Audience Insights)
If I click the “diy and crafts” category, I get all kinds of clues about what else they like… including decorating, paper crafts and more!
So this goes back to people who like you, like you!
In MY internet land, age and sex seems to be the dominant trends, but yours could be something else like:
✓ Affinity… people who like the category of things you like… shopping, gardening, exercise
✓ Home situation… city dwellers, RV owners, tiny house peeps
✓ Family situation… home schoolers, large families, sandwich generation
Why Do People Like You, Like You?
So now let's think about why people like you, like you!
A great example for me is the marketing peeps who come to me to find out why their realtor marketing isn't working. They had a “great idea” that would be “perfect for realtors” but had never sold real estate themselves so their marketing didn't speak to the pain points that realtors encounter.
So what ARE realtor pain points??? Driving someone around in your car for months and then they buy a FSBO (buyers agent) OR paying for all the expenses of a listing and then the seller won't drop their price (listing agent).
Many of those marketers didn't even KNOW that they should be targeting one type of agent or the other.
Building Your Customer Avatar
One thing I am super good at is figuring out what kinds of people would buy which service! My marketing besty Rebekah and I play a fun game building customer profiles for different businesses (weird but fun for marketing peeps!)
Here are some things you can consider when building your customer avatar….
- Customer Demographics – these are demographic information like gender, age ranges and income
- Affinity Categories – things they like…. gardening, playing golf or fishing
- Marital Status – are they married or single?
- Kids or no kids – and if kids how old are the kids?
- Pets – dogs, cats, turtles
- People they follow – Glennon Doyle, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey
Once you start thinking about what type of person is a potential customer, writing marketing copy, crafting an email strategy or making ads becomes much easier!
People Like You Wrapup
When you are thinking of your marketing efforts, having a buyer persona or avatar to “talk” to is invaluable!
Think about something like email marketing… if you know the age and gender of your potential customers you can talk to them and use references that they will understand! For example, if your readers are my readers' age, a reference to Madonna the singer will resonate, but if you were talking to a younger audience that would not work at all!
Using demographic data will help you to grow your business and have a more targeted marketing strategy!