What is a business Avatar and to you really need one?

I have decided that this year is going to be a year of growth, and understanding for me and for my business. Business is something that is not my strong suite. I have no idea how to really market myself, other then through my children and their school activities, and of course the occasional Thumbtack request, and I honestly up until this point have had no idea what I want to shoot. In order to function more effectively in business I have realized that many people have suggested creating client avatars. Well that is great, but why should and I and what the heck is an avatar?

First a business avatar. This is a person, an ideal client if you will that you create. The person that you want to market too. This is the one that you want in front of your camera daily. Is this a real person? Technically no, it is someone that you have made up with all of the ideal qualities that you are looking for in a client. Rachel Brenke from the Business Bytes Podcast discusses this in episode 12 of her podcast. She has even named her avatar! As she describes it her avatar is very real, and not in a crazy way this is how she figures how how to go about marketing to her avatar as she is her ideal client. Jamie from the Modern Tog recommends that you know these things about your avatar:

• Who are they?
• What are their demographics? 
• What are their interests?
• What are their beliefs?
• What are their hobbies?
• Where do they hang out? 
• Why do they want to have photos done?

The more that you know about your business avatar, the more you will understand your ideal client and have the chance to make that ideal client be more comfortable and be more willing to book with you because it is you versus anyone else that they may have talked to before you.

Do you really need a business avatar? I will be perfectly honest with you, I have no idea. However, from the outside looking in it seems that having an avatar would make things so much easier when it comes to marketing. It helps to narrow things down, it helps you to focus on what you really want to do. You are able to start thinking about where you need to focus your energy regarding how to reach your clients when you are trying to market. I can see where this will reduce the amount of time that you are spinning your wheels trying to figure out where to find those much needed clients, while in the mean time shooting clients that you are just not interested in. I also think that this could help you find more clients purely because it is going to make you focus on your work. Your work is going to be tailored to that ideal client, and instead of just having everything from pets to weddings they are going to see you as someone that knows your stuff in a particular genre of photography.

I have sat down and taken the time to make my avatar. I want to see if this is something that is going to work for me. My avatar at the moment is not super tailored, however I do believe that as I move forward that this will continue to evolve to some point. I will talk you through my avatar, and I will explain some of my sticking points as I go through.



My Business Avatar Donna

Donna is a female that is between the ages of 18 and 50. She is your typical country girl with the boots and the wrangler jeans and the great summer tan. She may or may not be married, with or with out kids. (This is one of my huge sticking points)

She enjoys the outdoors, sports, hiking, going to the lake, beach, traveling etc.

Her hobbies consist of animals and sports

Regarding beliefs she has an open opinion about things, strong family values, and the need to close to her family.

She likes the idea of having photos done, but for occasions, such as graduation, engagements, weddings and family sessions. She is also a big supporter of action shots during sporting events. (This is my other sticking point)



As you can see I have a few points that I am not sure are very defined for my avatar. The first is the swing in age. The reason I have left this swing is because I love shooting senior photos, however I need to be able to market not only to the mother but to the senior as well. I also need to be able to market to the newly engaged, and the sporty individual that wants action shots of either herself or maybe her children when they are playing. Which makes the other sticking point of is she married with or without kids hard because of the swing from one end of the dynamic to the other. My second sticking point is that I want to shoot the highlights of life. Graduation, engagements, the occasional wedding, and family sessions along with the heart stopping action of sports. This leaves me in a very open field. I guess more of an artsy documentary of life. But these are the areas of life that I love and that I enjoy shooting. So somehow I have to find a way to market to someone that fits in this platform, however I am a little nervous that there may not be anyone that fits into this particular platform.

Do you have a business avatar? What does yours look like? What suggestions do you have for mine? Please leave comments below or if you would like to have private conversations please contact me using the contact me information box on the right side of your screen. I look forward to having great discussions with all of you!

*Disclaimer* The links that are in this blog post ARE NOT affiliate links. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. These two ladies have helped to open my eyes in this area and if you are interested in what they can do for you I highly recommend that you follow the links and see what they can help you with!