It is important to accurately define your ideal customer before solidifying your brand identity, before developing content and most definitely before making marketing plans

To build a thriving online business, you must know who you are serving.

Especially in today’s competitive digital marketplace, there is no room for empty banter, and not enough resources to market to everyone in the world. Your target customer, aka avatar, or persona is the person to whom you are speaking directly. This person is the embodiment of your tribe.

Creating any kind of business planning, be it branding (Link: What is a Brand and How Can Branding Help Me?), content (Link: Content Strategy: Content is the Soul of Small Business) or marketing strategy without a clear sense of who you are trying to reach is like being in a crowd of millions and shouting your message hoping the right people will hear and take-action.

Branding, marketing, and ideal customer are interrelated. Identifying your ideal client will help craft your product and/or service to meet their needs. You must structure your branding and message as if you are speaking directly to them. Only in knowing who they are can you truly serve them.

Definition, Demographics, and Motivation

Take the time to consciously describe and define, in as much detail as possible, who your ideal customer may be. Both objective and subjective information, as both are necessary to gain an insightful understanding of desires, wants and needs.

Two types of information are essential for developing your customer profile. First, demographic information will help you identify your core audience, the type of person who will potentially buy your products and services. Demographics to include are the following: age, gender, residence, income, marital status, children, lifestyle, roles, etc.

Psychographic information takes you one step further and provides insight behind the motivations of why your potential client will need your products, program, or services. Be sure to include non-tangibles like motivations, interests, hobbies, etc. Identifying non-tangibles creates a deeper profile of your ideal customer’s psychology, interests, hobbies, values, attitudes behaviors, lifestyle, and more. Don’t over analyze or be too general, simply choose details that may fit your ideal customer.

Another reason why you might be willing to painstakingly understand and intimately know your ideal customer’s profile is so that you will know where to find them. Deeper questions to consider are the following:

· Who do they go to as a resource or guide?

· Whom does your avatar see as an authority or influencer?

· Which websites or e-zines do they frequent?

· What social networks are they on?

· Are they constantly refreshing email or checking apps on their mobile device?

· Do they pick up the phone every single time it rings no matter how inconvenient?

· Do they let it go to voicemail, regardless of who it might be?

Your insight about the details of your ideal customer, along with an accurate understanding of where you might find them online, or how they use technology will inform the delivery of your message.

Once you compose some clarity about your ideal customer, you can then narrow your focus and prioritize your efforts. With this invaluable knowledge, you can concentrate on designing a program and/or crafting a message that will resonate with your target audience, all the while delivering on your brand promise while serving, sourcing and engaging with your brilliant new tribe.