Two of my VIP clients were having trouble with their messaging.
One was not getting engagements from her posts or enough downloads of her podcast. Not enough people in her audience were:
- going to her website
- taking actions to get on her list
- filling out her application, and
- grabbing a Discovery Call with her, so she could enroll them.
The other coach was struggling to write blog articles. His blogs were coming off stiff. They were full of cliché topics and thoughts. He was writing to a generic audience even though he had targeted a narrow group.
Neither of these coaches were relating enough to their audience.
Both of these coaches were not enough in touch with their specific target audience.
They were talking like a coach, which was coming off bland.
So, I showed them how to create an Avatar …
Your Avatar Helps You Inspire Coaching Clients to Hire You
Connect don’t perform. It’s the best lesson I ever learned.
Remember the blockbuster film Avatar from 2009? If you haven’t seen it, grab some friends and delicious snacks and settle in for a fantastic journey into a beautiful planet called Pandora, that is overrun by humans wanting to mine the native’s resources no matter the cost.
Yes, it’s an age-old story but uniquely told.
In the movie, scientists from Earth manufacture a few bodies that look and respond like the bodies of the Na’vi, the indigenous, highly evolved planet-centered people of Pandora. The consciousness of the scientists could then be downloaded into those bodies so they can move about in the culture, interacting with the Na’vi in the most relational way.
Beyond the movie, you’ve probably heard of the Avatar concept for businesses. Your Avatar, in this case, describes in great detail who your chosen target audience is and what exactly makes them tick.
And I want to emphasize that I’m talking about your MOST IDEAL CLIENTS in your target audience, not just some amorphous amalgam of everybody in your target audience.
Every business should have a clearly defined Avatar so that their products, services and marketing are designed specifically for the Avatar.
If you create your Avatar in a masterful way and use it to interact with your audience in the most relational way then you have a huge advantage in marketing and attracting clients.
This would mean that all of your content — web copy, articles, podcast episodes, presentations, videos, carousels or reels on Instagram or any kind of social media post — has the person represented by your Avatar in mind during the creation and beyond.
It’s like you write that one human being. Talk to the individual who most represent who you really want to serve.
When you connect to your Avatar with everything you do in your coaching business BEFORE clients hire you, more clients will hire you because you are connecting to your ideal prospects in your target audience on a deep level.
I’m blessed. I’m constantly hearing from coaches that they feel like I’m inside their head, speaking their language and directly about what they specifically want and their unique challenges as they try to accomplish those things on their own.
I hear them say they have devoured my podcast episodes and read every word on my website. And that’s why they reach out to hire me.
Of course, that’s very reassuring to me. I want that for you too.
I want you to feel the thrill when you’ve struck a resonant chord for the people you most want to coach.
Coming back to my two VIP clients … they had 2 advantages that you may or may not have:
- They had been their target audience recently so they knew intimately what was going on in their heads and what they could offer that would help their clients reach their most ultimate goals
- They had conducted market research with my help to uncover more details about their audience.
The issue was, they were having trouble connecting those dots to the day-to-day creation of messages for their audience. It’s understandable because there is a slow dawning when you’ve never had your own business or had to market. It is all about thinking differently.
22 Powerful Questions to Create Your Coaching Avatar
So here are steps to create your Avatar.
Start a document and write in bullet points so it’s easily scannable.
Then, take a moment to step into your ideal client’s shoes and into their mindset. It might help to think of a favorite client but also be sure they are in your chosen target audience.
If you haven’t chosen a narrow and viable target audience to serve yet, that’s step one for a successful coaching business. I can help you with that in a Nail Your Niche Strategy Session.
Use your intuition and imagination. Leave your analytical mind behind.
In each section below, flesh it out with more details especially as it relates to your niche. BE SPECIFIC. No generalized statements or abstract words and concepts. If you can, USE THEIR WORDS. How would they communicate it?
Give your Avatar a name. Yes, really! You want to be able to think of this person when you are writing.
How old are they?
Next, give them a home scenario:
Where do they live?
Are they single, married, divorced?
Are they getting along well with their partner? (If love relationship is your track add more details here.)
Do they have kids? How many? What ages? Do those kids have special needs? Are they doing well in school?
(If parenting is your track add more details here.)
Is your Avatar healthy? If not, how so? (If health & wellness is your track add more details here.)
Now, get into work details:
Where do they work? What is their role?
Do they like what they do? If so, why? If not, why not?
What is their income level? Are they striving for more?
(If business or leadership is your track add more details here.)
Get deeper into what makes them who they are now:
What or who were the biggest influences in their life?
What are their ultimate tangible and intangible desires/goals for their life in the next year to 5 years?
What are the biggest tangible and intangible problems/obstacles they face in reaching those desires/goals?
What are their greatest strengths related to those goals?
What are their greatest weaknesses related to those goals?
What is missing for them?
What are the things they need to do or know right now that will help them have a breakthrough?
What drives them to move forward and take risks?
What discourages them or keeps them stuck?
What do they read?
What podcasts do they listen to?
What do they do with relax?
How do they like to learn?
What social media channels are they on and why?
So you may add in other questions to get a clear idea of this person as if you know them personally. Now, as you create everything for your coaching business, design it with these things in mind. You can do it!
Think like them, not like a coach.
