A different approach to avatar clarity

Kirsten Back Author

How to create a client avatar vision board that captures the essence of your perfect client

In a recent conversation, I asked a prospect about the biggest issue that she was struggling with – and the answer was that there is a disconnect between her and her audience which is reflected in her sales and landing pages not converting at all and a social media feed that gets no engagement.

I see this happening all the time and one reason why this is happening is that people are creating avatars like this:

But what is needed is an avatar like this:

Those who have created a vision board know that a lot of deep reflection goes into a vision board. The process of creating the board is as important as the visual result. Or it probably is even more important because you are asking yourself questions that are coming from the core of your personality. And while you are creating a vision board you are writing down all the insights that you make and the details that you need to select the images that go onto your vision board.

The best way to create a vision board

You don’t choose the images for your vision board randomly. You carefully select them after deep reflection. You want your images to give you as much information and insights as possible about your current and your future self. So, that when you look at your vision board, the images trigger emotions that give you a taste of what you will feel like in the future.

You are writing a story of yourself in the future.

The emotions that flow into this process should ideally be related to things that matter to you, give you purpose, motivate you and drive you forward.

Now, how do you select the images?

The best way to select your images is to follow a structure or topics. There are certain areas in your life that matter to you - and your vision board should be related to these areas.

You can either search for vision board structures or create your own based on what matters to you. Just to name a few areas that you could think about:

• Family – Which family members are dearest to you and whom do you want to be really close with? How do you want them to see you? How do you want to spend your time with them?
• Friends – Who are your closes friends that you want in your life just as much as your family? How do you want them to see you? What adventures would you like to share?
• Community – what kind of people do you want to be connected with and inspired by? Whom do you want to hang out with on a daily basis? This could be neighbours or through sports, charities, business networks etc.
• Quotes – Quotes are a good source for finding messages that resonate with you and inspire you. They also reflect your values, beliefs, and ambitions.
• Business – What kind of career or business do you want to have? What impact do you want your business to have? What life purpose are you pursuing through your business?

And then there are, of course, the more material dreams that you have, like your house, car, office, holidays, clothes, technology like computers, watches, phones or jewellery…

From vision board to connection

Feeling disconnected is the result of a missing relationship.

Ask yourself – when do you truly feel connected? What do you need to feel connected?

Feeling connected implies that there are two different parties. In this case, it’s you and your audience. But how do you close the gap between you and your audience?

The first step is that you open up and let your audience know who you are, what you believe in, what’s important to you, what you fear, where you have failed, what you are good at, what you dream about, what you value…

But then you also need to define what – or rather whom you want to be connected to. You need to picture that person in a lot of detail and a vision board is an amazing tool to figure out those points that connect you. The more there are, the stronger the connection will be.

My suggestion: create two (yes two!!!) ideal client vision boards. The first one is about where they are now, the person they are now, what they are feeling and experiencing right now, what their skills and abilities are, and what they lack or need to develop.

And the second vision board is the vision board that your clients would create for themselves for their future.

You need both to connect with your audience. The first, to show them that you understand them and that you know what they are experiencing right now. The second, to show them what’s possible and what their transformation looks like.

There are also a few bonuses of following this process:

• You get to talk and (re-)connect with your audience and some previous clients to do some in-depth research. I recommend that you schedule a few 15-minute calls with a few people who you believe to be a good fit for your offer and some previous clients
• You can record these interviews and get a brilliant source of words and phrases that your ideal clients use and that you can use for your messaging
• You get the opportunity to grow your business and build relationships with new people and revive your relationship with previous clients who might also connect you with people they know and who might benefit from your services

Could you create a client vision board?

Why don’t you try? 

You can follow this link and download a free Canva template complete with the questions that take you deeper. And...

If you still find it hard, then you could always send me a message and we can join forces to create more clarity about your ideal customer avatar.  

There's a contact form right below this post - just send me a message and we can talk about how you can get into your perfect client's brain!

Categories: : Attention, Brand Messaging, Customer Avatar, Engagement, ICA