Why Your Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) Isn’t Helping You
It’s one of the first things we think we need in our businesses, right? I mean, everyone tells you that you need to know who your ideal customer is. And conveniently, there are so many free resources to help us build one.
And then it sits in a pile on our desk (somewhere). Or maybe it’s already been recycled. And now you’re even wondering if you need an ideal customer profile at all.
Let me share with you some of the reasons that your ICA didn’t actually help you (based on Amy Porterfield’s freebie Define Your Niche & ICA).
1. You identified your overall market without considering your specific place in that market
So, yes, we have to start somewhere. And it seems like it makes sense to start broad and continue to “niche down”. But when someone instructs you to pick a market, you generally pick it based on common industry language like, “life coaching”, “graphic design”, or “financial services”.
But nowhere in this exercise do you consider WHERE you fit into your market. What unique stance are you taking for your customers? Since none of the workbooks mention having a focus on you, that insight gets missed. IN STEP ONE. And when we have a poor foundation, how strong can the house truly be?
2. When you “niched-down” and “got specific”, you based it on what you DO, not who you ARE
OK, so let’s say you’re a coach. And now you’re on to stage 2 of your niching. The default is to use language like, “I’m a life coach for [fill in the blank]. But with framing like that, your entire focus is thrown on to Ms. Imaginary Person again, instead of using REAL insight which can come from YOUR experience and personal brand.
Who you serve is actually irrelevant. “I’m a life coach for moms”. Great. Why do I care?
The bigger question that we should be asking is, “WHY do I want to serve a specific group of people”. And focusing more on the WHY than the WHO. The right WHO will connect with your WHY ;)
3. Your Market Research was based on your niche from #2
Here’s where we start to get really wobbly. Now, because we’ve decided we’re going to target moms, we go out and find moms and poll them on what their problems are. And then, we build our packages around solving the problems they have.
Have you ever tried to solve a problem you didn’t really care about solving? Like that super complex calculus formula where you just got to the point of, why bother? Yeah, people can FEEL that when you’re talking to them about solving a problem you aren’t truly passionate about solving.
4. Your Value Articulator Statement doesn’t resonate with you
This is probably one of my biggest hang-ups in marketing at the moment. It’s looks something like this.
I help [WHO] do [WHAT] so that [RESULT].
Hmm…no WHY. No Passion. No Feelings. No Sale.
This formula is just a TOOL. If the tool helps you find clarity, then great. If the tool doesn’t help you find clarity, that doesn’t mean you need to keep trying to force your square peg into a round hole. Because everyone is super excited to share a message that doesn’t resonate with them, right? Wrong.
5. Your Ideal Customer Avatar has too much focus on surface level identifiers
And then the fun stuff right? What do they look like? How much education do they have? Household income?
Not at all helpful.
What about their problem? That thing they’re trying to solve?
What they look like doesn’t matter. What problem they are experiencing does. And when you have clarity on that, you can serve whoever has that problem, regardless of their gender ;)
One last thought
One of the main reason behind picking a target audience is to provide consistent messaging in your marketing. But when we’re always out to figure out what we need to say to someone else, we forget to think about what WE need to say.
What do you stand for in your business?
If you don’t know, any time you spend on an Ideal Customer Avatar is a waste of time.
If you’d like to define what that is for you, let’s chat.
