An avatar is the single-most important marketing and branding tool that you’re not using.

You may have heard coaches talk about your “target market,” which is another important element in building your tribe online.  But when working to build deep, lasting connections with online customers, an avatar is the more effective tool.

So what is an avatar, anyway?  Simply put, it’s an imaginary person created to represent your ideal customer.

Let’s take a look at my avatar for The Boomer Business Owner.  His name is Bob, he’s 52 years old, he’s married, has a kid and works full time.

Basic demographic information like this will help you begin to target certain customers over others – for example, you may choose to interact on certain social media platforms and not others based on your avatar’s age, marital status, or employment situation.

Basic facts like these will help you find your customers and hang out where they hang out online.

This is the point where most people stop.  They figure “I’m targeting divorced women in their mid-30s” and leave it at that.

This is the exact point, however, when more work needs to be done on your avatar in order to turn casual online acquaintances into paying customers and members of your tribe.

Bob’s not just 52, married, and gainfully employed.  He’s also exhausted from commuting 2 hours to work each day, fed up with his boss, jealous that his wife spends time working from home, and frustrated that everyone else seems to have an online business but him.

In short, Bob has an urgent problem that needs solving.  Bob is in pain, and he’s at the point where he’s ready – even desperate – to pay someone to take that pain away.

When creating your avatar, take a look at what makes them human.  Beyond the basics, ask yourself:

• What terrifies my avatar?
• What gets them excited?
• If they were to die today, what would they regret the most?
• What fills them with joy?
• What do they believe is worth fighting for?

Now, all of these questions aren’t merely an exercise is pop psychology.  The answers to these questions hold the key to everything – absolutely everything – that you’re doing to promote your business online.

Pinpointing your avatar’s worst fear will unlock clues as to how you can help them.  For example, Bob is terrified of technology.  The truth is that sometimes he still gets confused using email, so how could he possibly start an online business?

Since I’ve tapped into Bob’s fear, I can now solve his problem every time I write a blog post, craft an email blast, or interview a guest on my podcast.  Each sentence I write and each question I ask my guests is presented in a way Bob will understand, and serves to ease Bob’s technological fears.

Imagine that you’re going to write a book for your target market. As you begin to think of the different needs and wants of your audience, you become so overwhelmed that you almost decide to quit the project altogether. After all, how are you supposed to cater to the needs of hundreds, thousands, even millions of people?

The secret is that you don’t have to please millions of people – you only have to please one. Instead of writing a book (or a blog post, or a tweet) for your entire target market, write a book for your avatar. Make every sentence a private conversation between you and your avatar alone.

When you create a specific avatar, you appeal to people on a human level.  You connect with their fears, their hopes, their innermost passions.  When you speak to the passions of a single avatar, you inevitably appeal to anyone and everyone who shares those same passions and fears.

The broader your target market, the harder you’ll have to work to connect with your tribe on a soul-level.  Use your imagination and create an avatar who desperately needs and wants what you have to offer.

From there, create everything for them – from the pictures you choose for your website to the fonts you use in your emails.  With every decision you make, ask yourself “What would Bob like?”, or “What does Alyson need?”

But won’t this technique limit you to only certain types of customers?

Yes. But only to the types of customers that are ready to get out their credit cards. You can spend a lifetime chasing after people who may or may not resonate with your brand.

Or, you can create an avatar, target a single person, and watch as your tribe magically emerges all around you.

This guest post was written by Charlie Poznek, The Boomer Business Owner.