Ideal client - template

Regardless of whether you plan to start a new blog, create a brand strategy or build a new SaaS, understanding your audience is the key to success. The more you know about the person you are trying to address your message to, the more likely you are to grab their attention. It is because your communication becomes more personalised, sending the key message.

Don't be tempted to cover all of the groups you can think of. Even if you have a great product or idea that can be used by many different people, always try to narrow down your audience to the niche that could benefit the most, or you would like to work with. It is very important because having an outstanding product can also lead to failure, simply because your message won't resonate with any particular audience.

There are many techniques on how to understand the needs of your ideal client and how to create the narration of your product. These can go under different names such as:

• Buyer persona,
• Customer profile,
• Avatar,
• Empathy map.

Regardless of the name and how exactly these techniques work, the common denominator is to understand not only meta-data of your ideal client but also to understand their emotions, motivations and many other psychological aspects.

My preferred way of building an avatar inspired from Jeff Walker's Launch Foundation, which I highly recommend. It starts with describing the characteristics of the ideal customer like sex, age, place where they live and any other details. It will give you an idea of where to find these people and who they are. Also, it's very important to name these personas to create bounding.

Then focus on psychological aspects of the nature of their problem you think they may have. What is their problem that wakes them up at night? What are they stressed about? When working on these questions, I try to imagine I am such a person and try to think and feel as they do. What are their biggest opportunities and most significant threats if they use your product or not. It answers your question of how to address their problems and how they see your product.

Finally, describing the transformation process is especially important. It gives an idea of how their life will change and what are the benefits they get. It is an essential part of the whole process, and it will show you what narration you should create.

To make the process easier for you, I've made a template you can use for your purpose. It's basic, something that you could come up with, yet I think it's convenient to use. Also, along with the template, I am attaching an example of my avatar for the software cost estimation SaaS project I am working on. I believe it should be easy for you to understand how to use this template.