5 Side-effects of NOT Creating a Customer Avatar (especially for startups)

Discover why most businesses fail despite having a wonderful product.

Whether you are starting a new business, or you want to grow your existing ones…

Do you know what’s the most important requirement, to increase your revenue?

• It’s NOT your website
• It’s NOT the marketing software
• It’s NOT the AI
• It’s NOT your pricing strategy
• And no… It’s NOT even how much money you currently have

I am not saying these are unimportant…

However, if you don’t figure out this one… your business probably won’t even last for 18 months.

I am talking about… having the clarity of your ideal customer avatar.

In other words… out of 8 billion people on this planet, who exactly can become your long-term loyal customer?

Because look… at the end of the day, it’s them who would eventually put money into your pocket.

So, don’t you think it is necessary to figure out who they are?

If I tell you honestly… having a customer avatar feels like having a map with a GPS.

It tells me exactly which road should I pick, and which roads to avoid.

But the question remains… if it’s that useful, why don’t most business owners create a buyer persona for their business?

Well, I think there are 2 answers…

1. They think they have a buyer persona, but they don’t.
   All they have is their buyer’s age, gender, and location. That’s not a buyer persona. You need to go deep into their minds and learn about their interests, lifestyle, problems, fears, frustrations, dreams, goals, needs, behaviors, and a lot more.
   (Check out this free customer avatar template if you need help)
2. They Procrastinate.
   It’s true. Because creating a buyer persona is difficult and is really a time-consuming process. And most business owners don’t feel its importance (until their sales graph starts going down, and they have no idea what to do next)

Look…

If you’re a business owner, coach, or someone who knows a bit about marketing… you probably know how to create a buyer persona.

If you don’t… check out this article. (Coming soon)

Today, I am NOT here to teach you, how to create a customer avatar… but to inform you of the long-term consequences of not establishing your buyer persona.

Especially… if you are making less than $100K per year.

A word of caution…

The points given below can feel scary and intimidating.

Don’t be scared.

Use this blog to inspire and remind yourself, why creating a buyer persona is a MUST for YOU and your business.

So, here are 5 deadly consequences of not creating your customer avatar…

#1 Incorrect Messaging

Every piece of content that you put out there…

Whether it’s an ad, reel, video, email, landing page, or just a normal social media post… you are communicating with your audience.

So, if you want to attract the right customers, you have to put out the right message.

Otherwise, you might end up isolating the right audience.

Here’s an Example:
Imagine you are offering therapy services.

Target Audience:
Working professionals above 25, going through depression.

— — — —

Wrong Copy:
Therapy for everyone. Affordable prices.
Change your life today.

— — — —

There’s no empathy. Even if the right audience reads it… they will simply ignore. Let’s improve it…

— — — —

High-converting copy:
Life of a working professional is not easy.
And depression can hit any one of us.

If you feel, there’s no one around to listen to you…
Speak to us.

We provide affordable 1 on 1 therapy sessions.
You don’t have to go through this alone.

— — — —

Do you see the difference?

When you create a buyer persona, you get into your customer’s mind.

You deeply understand their pain, and their deepest desires… which allows you to build empathy and create stronger connections.

However…

If you don’t create your customer avatar, you won’t have any choice other than creating generic messages… and PRAY that people sign up.

Except… people don’t generally sign up like that.
Generic messages turn off the right audience.

So… that’s one reason why it’s a MUST to create your customer avatar.

#2 Constant Decline in Revenue

There’s no smooth sailing when you are running a business.

It’s a hell of a roller coaster.

If you are running a business… you know it.

Especially the times, when your expenses are going through the roof, and your revenues are plummeting towards earth.

You have no idea why people are not buying from you.

Not only you, but your entire team is clueless.

Everyone is making their assumptions… and they are all running in different directions.

Yet… you’re bleeding money every single month.

How do you fix it?

Cause if you don’t… a month down the line, you will be bankrupt and out of business.

It’s not like, “Everything will get better with time.”

NO! IT WON’T.

You would have to lay off your employees and eventually close down your business if you don’t make profits.

I know that’s not a pretty picture.

But unfortunately… this is exactly what happens to many businesses and startups.

However… if you have a buyer persona, you will have a roadmap to fix the problem.

It just won’t tell you what your customer needs… but also, provide clarity to your entire team, and help them move in one direction.

Moving on to the next point…

#3 Wrong Marketing Strategy

Why do you think, startups like Quibi shut down even after receiving funding of $1.75 BILLION (Yes, Billion with a B)?

And it’s not just Quibi…

There are thousands of such companies… which went bust even after receiving millions of dollars in funding.

Sure there are many reasons we don’t know.

It might be…

• Inefficient team members
• Bad leadership
• No innovation
• Wrong fund allocation
• Change in market
• Lack of demand

Or it can be something totally different… I don’t know.

But we can all agree on one point… their expenses were higher, and their revenue was low and unpredictable.

And they didn’t have a clear strategy to fix that.

Too much revenue never kills a business.

So, what’s the solution?

How can you ensure to generate more revenue?

You need to conduct proper market research (which takes time and effort)… And the customer avatar plays a significant role in your overall marketing research.

Because, it helps you understand what really goes inside your customer’s mind.

But if you don’t create your buyer persona, you will end up creating marketing strategies based on blind assumptions.

In other words… your business would run on luck and hope.

And hope is NOT a strategy.

That’s why… you must create your buyer’s persona.

#4 High Customer Acquisition Cost

“Really?
How exactly acquisition cost is related to customer avatar?”

Here’s how…

Let’s imagine you have hired a copywriter… and you have asked them to write a video ad for your business.

Let’s also assume there’s no customer avatar, and the copywriter also didn’t bother to create one.

They did just a little research about your product, and went straight into writing.

From here onwards 2 things can happen…

Scenario #1: The video worked

Either it was by pure luck or the copywriter did some magic, which gave you amazing results. You both are happy. The copywriter got paid, and you also made money.

This is very unlikely to happen.

Plus… you can’t repeat success if you don’t know how to achived it in the first place.

Scenario #2: It was a disaster

The copywriter wrote you a video ad.
You shot the video.
The editor worked on it.
You spent your money on ads.

And it didn’t produce any results (or the CPA was extremely high)

Now the question is… what are you going to do next?

Look… as I said before… it’s very unlikely that your first ads are going to produce results.

You need to create more variations and test them… until you find a winning ad.

But the question is… can you really create variations out of thin air?

NO

What I mean is… if you can’t explain why exactly a particular ad didn’t work… then creating more variations is just going to burn more money.

This will ultimately shoot your customer acquisition cost (CPA) through the roof, and eventually, you will conclude that ads don’t work.

On the other hand…

If you create your buyer persona… you would have something you can refer to, before finalizing the next set of ads.

This would help you pinpoint your mistakes and, bring down your acquisition cost.

#5 Inconsistent Branding

Here’s an interesting fact most people don’t know about…

People buy from companies who value with their brand consistency.

This is the same reason why, a Starbucks customer won’t usually visit any other coffee shop… even if they have to pay $5 for a cup of coffee.

By the way…

Your brand doesn’t only depend on the ads you run.
There are many other factors, including…

• Your customer service
• The emails you send
• What you write on your sales page
• How you address customer queries
• How you reply to their comments
• What you post on social media
• How you provide your service (or how’s your product quality)

Now tell me honestly… can you really create a consistent brand message, if you don’t know who you are targeting?

If you don’t deeply understand their pain, desires, needs, fears, and interests… can you really send out consistent messages?

Of course not.

So, if you don’t maintain a consistent message for your business… your customers won’t be able to relate with you over a long period.

The end consequence will be… you will be struggling to retain your customers.

Conclusion

Alright friend.

Let’s sum it up.

As you can see, this was definitely NOT a tutorial article.

The aim was only to inspire you, and make you aware of the consequences of NOT creating a customer avatar… which we both can agree, are not funny.

If you want to learn how to create a detailed buyer persona… check out this blog (coming soon).

Look… The business world is not easy. It’s a treacherous and highly unpredictable world, where the roads are constantly changing.

And if you don’t have a guide… you are definitely going to get lost.

That’s why every successful business and startup, does their research before jumping into the market.

Just having the basic knowledge about your customer’s age, gender, location, and other basic demographic information, is NOT going to help you stand out.

It’s only when you understand the conversations going on inside your customer’s mind… you create better messages… and set your business apart.

And remember… your customer is the heart of your business.

Your business doesn’t exist without them.

So, don’t just connect with them on a transactional level… but on a human level.