Identifying your ideal client avatar can be the difference between a booked calendar and a never-ringing-phone. Have you ever read a blog post or seen an ad that made you feel so completely seen that you wanted to get your hands on whatever additional content this person had produced?
Great content connects emotionally to your best-fit client’s challenges and pain points which leads to sales, clients, and raving fans for your private practice.
You have probably heard how important it is to identify your ideal client avatar for your private practice. You may have been instructed to drill down and list their age, gender, presenting problems, hobbies, goals, marital status, education level, favorite beverage, preferred social media platform, Myers-Briggs type, and maybe even what they eat for breakfast.
While some of this information is helpful, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds and lose the meaning behind the exercise. Defining your ideal client IS important, crucial actually, to your private practice but perhaps not for the reason you think.
Feeling Resistant To Defining an Ideal Client?
You might be asking yourself why it’s important to define your ideal client. You may even feel resistant because there are several different type of clients with whom you like to work, and you don’t want to niche down too heavily in your private practice.
Identifying your ideal client is not about defining your practice niche or service offerings.
Identifying your ideal client is a marketing strategy.
Creating a solid profile of your best-fit client is a marketing tool to help you craft laser-focused content that will have your dream clients filling your calendar.
So, first you will decide on your practice niche, who you serve, and what services you offer.
Then, it’s time to drill down to identify your ideal client avatar so that you can create an effective marketing strategy that connects with the clients you want.
What is an Ideal Client Avatar?
Your ideal client avatar (also called a customer avatar), is a fictional figure that represents your ideal client.
If you have a private practice, you want to identify this avatar to streamline your marketing efforts. You must know not only what service you are offering but to whom you are offering it.
How Does Your Avatar Help Your Marketing?
Before you can market your services or products effectively, you need to understand the following:
- WHO is your ideal customer?
- WHERE are they hanging out online?
- WHAT are their greatest challenges/struggles/pain points?
The above information determines your avatar. Every single piece of your marketing materials will then be directed toward your avatar. Some examples:
- Copywriting: Knowing your avatar helps you describe your services and connect with your client so they book with you
- Blog posts: Knowing your avatar helps you decide what blog posts you should create to attract more leads and clients
- Paid ads: Knowing your avatar helps you discover which ad platforms you should use
- Products: Knowing your avatar helps you create a product that your customer must have
- Email marketing: Knowing your avatar leads to more leads reading your emails and eventually deciding to book with you
Every stage of your marketing efforts will benefit when you get clear on your ideal client avatar.
Ideal Client Avatar Worksheet
To help you identify your avatar for your private practice, we created the Ideal Client Avatar Worksheet that you can download for FREE to help you identify this critical piece of marketing sorcery.
Identifying Your Ideal Customer Avatar
There are 5 major components to a customer avatar:
1. Values and Goals
Think about the values and goals that are important to your ideal client. For a therapist, a client goal might be to reduce anxiety or reconnect with their spouse. For an attorney, a client value might be providing top legal expertise or ongoing professional development.
Write down the values and goals that relate to the services or products you offer.
Example: You offer couples counseling, and a goal of your ideal client avatar is to reconnect with their spouse. As part of your email marketing strategy, you might send out an email with the subject line: “Let us help you reconnect with your spouse with couples counseling services.”
2. Know the Where
Where does your ideal client avatar hang out to get their information? Knowing the “where” will help you further determine where to market your services online.
3. Demographic Info
Knowing the details of your customer avatar helps you to get inside their head to know how they think, what their current stressors are, and what they need (and will pay for).
Add a quote that would be meaningful to your avatar to make them really come to life for you. The more you can visualize sitting across the kitchen table talking to them, the more you can hone in on specific marketing strategies that will appeal to them.
4. Challenges and Pain Points
How we’re getting to the good stuff. Understanding your avatar’s challenges and pain points can help you write compelling content to spur them to action. You will also get some new ideas for additional products or services that would appeal to your ideal client.
5. Objections and Role
It’s always helpful to think about why your ideal client avatar would choose not to purchase your services or products. Your marketing should overcome your avatar’s objections.
For example: Before coming to us, many of our website design clients were told by other designers that their website design would take 6 months. Since our client avatar appreciates high-quality website design with a quick turnaround, we might send an email with a subject line that says: Website Design for Private Practices (in just one week!)
You must also consider your client avatar’s role in the sales process. Do they have the final vote in a purchase or signing up for your service? If not, your marketing strategy should include the decision-maker.
Growing Your Private Practice Reach
Your private practice will grow by leaps and bounds when your marketing efforts effectively target your ideal client avatar. Your messages will resonate with your ideal client, your phone will start ringing, and your marketing materials will be shared. Defining your ideal client avatar is that powerful.
So get started on identifying your ideal client avatar so that you can create a powerful marketing strategy for your private practice full of connection-worthy content that fills your practice with clients you love. Don’t forget to download your Ideal Client Avatar Worksheet above which walks you through exactly how to identify how to connect to your ideal client through every piece of your marketing.
If you want a branding strategy that will connect, get you noticed, and make your ideal clients choose you over your competitors, contact me. I have helped hundreds of private practices just like yours grow their practices with less effort.
Let’s grow your practice and get you noticed.
