Create a Target Customer Profile / TCP or Ideal Customer Avatar

A target customer profile or TCP, aka a customer avatar, buyer persona, ideal customer profile or marketing persona is a composite semi-fictional (named and visually portrayed) persona that represents your most valuable customer. (Needless to say, this customer feels the same about you.) These avatars are developed as fully as possible, even down to their 'buyer personality', ie as their personality relates specifically to the communication and selling methodology that is most likely to convert them. In fact, businesses typically have multiple avatars to personalize their approach for segments.

Benefits of a Target Customer Profile (TCP) / Avatar

• The greater level of personalization improves customer experience. Knowing your customers intimately can help you to improve product development, the unique value proposition, operations management, onboarding new customers, even the strategy behind interviewing, selecting and onboarding new employees that will work with each avatar. 
• Sales representatives can qualify leads based on the TCP attributes. Even advertisements portraying the problem statement and other TCP attributes help leads to qualify or disqualify themselves. (See more about the sales pipeline and buying process)
• Improves business efficiency: Sales personnel can easily qualify leads; Avatars saves sales representatives from having to handle burdensome data to understand qualified / avatar-assigned customers they deal with and sales personnel can convert customers faster. 

Steps to Create a Customer Avatar

Here are steps to take to create the ideal customer profile for your business. 

• Establish the key segmentation attributes if your products and or customers can vary in some significant way. CRM data mining is useful in this regard. Sometimes, this relates to variations of a problem for which your products offer a solution. For a skin care line of products, the primary attribute may relate to skin type like oily skin for one avatar and dry skin for another. This varies by product and industry. If you sell only one product and still need multiple avatars, that might be based on noticing a significant difference in something about the customer's circumstances that motivates them to act in a certain predictable way. Socio-economics and level of experience or even understanding of their needs may motivate customers to proceed through the buying process differently than otherwise. While people that are fully aware of their urgent needs can be lower hanging fruit, I no longer think they must be the TCP. If you are up to it, some customers who can not get other companies to meet them at their stages can create a new TCP opportunity for you. If you deal with different customer types, create unique avatars for each. B2B and B2C customer avatars are usually quite different. B2B customers often have a more assertive type of buyer personality type than average consumers.

• • Case studies
  • This social media manager created 3 named B2B TCPs. After several years in her business, she noticed reliable patterns and was able to segment her clients accordingly based on 3 attribute continua. Her attributes are 1. their business development stage (new entrepreneurial vs seasoned), 2. budget and 3. where they can be found (platforms). TCP Sabrina is the entrepreneur that wants the cheapest package and lacks knowledge of social media. She is usually in Facebook groups and tells group members that she is seeking help with social media services. She is good because, while small and low budget, she really needs help and will hold this manager close. Sabrina is especially great for new social media managers. TCP Mia is very seasoned, already really developing her business and knows exactly what she needs from a social media manager. She is expecting a well prepared contract, full professional onboarding process and so on. She specifies her need for specialized service. She is more able to pay higher than Sabrina. She usually gets referred by associates. TCP Jason & his team are medium to large and needs a very skilled social media manager with some specialized skill like strategy. They are expecting you to have a team. The team members are on LinkedIn.        

• Get motivation from in-house and other case studies of ideal customers. 

• For each persona, fill your knowledge gaps and or confirm your profile with customer surveys on the following.
• the problem (for which you have the solution)
• key segmentation differentiating attributes.
• customer goals (ie the transformation that your customer wants, literal and non-literal). For a more structured approach, consider their needs within the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
• Literal benefits of getting airline tickets may be transportation. However, if those tickets have the exclusive appeal of the first class cabin and special airport lounges, the non-literal emotional benefit is often prestige.
• An accountant may sell accountancy services. However, he also sells empowerment through knowledge of a client's true financial status and or taxation compliance along with its consequent peace of mind. Outsourcing the services also provides the non-literal benefit of convenience of time saved from not having to do the accounting oneself. 
• psychographics as they relate to each stage of the buying process. (See an example of considering the TCP and buying process within the context of social content management). For greatest impact figure the real motivating factors for each stage, especially those from the 'information' stage. True motivators actually advances customers to the next stage versus factors that are only 'nice to have'. (If you are keen on theory, read about Herzberg's theory on motivation versus hygiene factors.) 
• 1. Problem. Customer's level of attunement to the problem. People suffering an intense problem, like painful illness, socially crippling skin condition and so on are very consciously aware and often feel a sense of urgency in seeking out solutions. This is noteworthy because you are more likely to catch the attention  of urgently seeking customers within the usually short window of attention if you show images or concisely mention the problem before moving on to promising that you have a solution. You can exasperate such people with long winded discussions that delve into the basics of the problem. NB. Ask customers about other unexpected ways in which they use your product. This may help you to establish new problems.
• 2. Information (to fundamentally understand the problem and solutions). Regarding their getting information to learn and solve the problem, where do they get it? (like preferred social media platforms, social circle, social media influencers who promote x-y-z topics like Jane Donavan, etc) Always be receptive to this information to explore potential options, perhaps for co-branding with influencers or complementary sellers, creating content for their community and so on. To what format of content are they most likely to actually pay their attention (ie versus pass over through exasperation with advertisements. (like IG video reels or YouTube shorts that feature before and after clips with concise explanation of the solution that demonstrates expertise and motivates trust for persons still new to the brand). What keywords and questions does the TCP use? I like to get ideas from tools like AnswerThePublic and Google Trends. What are on your TCP's (social) media content pillar wish lists?
• 3. Evaluation (of competing brands). On what attributes do customers compare different brand options? Common attributes include quality, whatever that means for your product or service, price, performance properties and so on. How have other brands failed your TCP? 
• 4. Purchase. (Also consider buyer personality within the context of how they interact with your brand at this critical stage; point-of-purchase POP advertisements? packaging? sales people? product page? social media post?)  Comfort level and preferences shopping through certain channels, like online, direct sales, brick and mortars, etc? What emotions did customers feel immediately after the purchase? Is this something that can be systematically replicated? 
• 5. Post sale evaluation.
• buyer personality. Establish the salient points of the personality type that apply.
• secondary characteristics. Pay special attention to these. Delve more deeply into them to find potential for engaging through these avenues, like interest-related Facebook groups where you can share value.  Do not simply ask for one-word answers. Rather, get respondents to your survey to discuss specific meeting places for their community, especially if that community presents opportunities. Even if you sell something that is ostensibly unrelated to whether your customers are empty nesters or have young children, these details are noteworthy in helping you to cater to their circumstances. For instance, if your chemical engineers are young parents of very young children, it will likely be best to schedule training courses that do not clash with back-to-school periods, school holidays and so on. ... or If you sell houses, it may be useful to consider the fact that your clientele is elderly. You will know to offer age-appropriate homes like those that feature elevators, short stair cases or a single-level layout, covered garages and so on
• Family situation (single, early nesters, empty nesters, etc)
• What keeps your customers up at night?
• Hobbies, passions, other pass times, bucket list items, personal achievements or places, especially those with which the brand personality should align. 
• Socioeconomic circumstances
• Culture
• Integrate the profiling with all functional aspects of your business, especially all marketing efforts that are customer touchpoints. 
• Sales representatives should adapt appropriately to a customer's verified buyer personality type. Example(s): 
• If the client has an 'amiable' personality (which is risk-averse), marketers may seek every possible opportunity within the corresponding customer experience to infuse the message of an ever-available personally dedicated support representative. Even small details will not be overlooked like having email auto-signatures of such representatives with a line like 'Jane, your personal support rep' and a hyperlink below to the CRM's meeting scheduler that says something like 'Book a Meeting with me'. 
• Information regarding online payments will include details about security and may reinforce the details with images of a padlock. 
• Create additional avatars when notable differences in TCPs exist. Businesses often have multiple avatars.
• Set a schedule for analyzing and adjusting your customer avatar as your business grows. In the example 'Sabrina' avatar above, Sabrina is ideal for social media content managers who are also relatively new in their field. Consequently, when content managers grow, she will lose her appeal.
• Since brands seek to become so humanized that TCPs should feel a sense of friendship towards them, review your TCP and brand personality alongside each other to assess their compatibility.

CONTENT RELATED TO CREATING A TARGET CUSTOMER PROFILE / TCP OR IDEAL CUSTOMER AVATAR

• Buyer personality types are a great psychographic measure that can help you to identify, understand and appropriately adapt your selling style to your prospects.
• The success of social media content management relies heavily on knowing your target audience very well.
• Customer experience (CX)
• Your customer personality and your brand's personality must be well aligned to become good friends.
• Lifestyle brand strategy relies heavily on having very intimate knowledge of your target customer profile. 
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Create avatars for your B2B contacts. Each avatar will need to represent the purchasing personnel.
• Build customer loyalty. By communicating with your customers on a more human, personal encourages longer-lasting relationships. Also see how loyalty rewards programs can be designed to improve loyalty for the modern customer, how tiered rewards program and spend-based rewards programs are significant to this end.    
• The sales pipeline
• Consider the characteristics in your clients' online accounts on platforms like 'Facebook Audience Insight' Tool.
• A video about buying personas 

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