Blog

One mistake that I see a lot of you making when you are creating a website, online shop or sharing your work on social media is creating something that you want to see, rather than something that the people that might be interested in your work would like to see – and you might not realise that’s a problem!

Of course you want to build something that you are happy with, that is an extension of you, your creativity and your self expression, however, if your goal is to make a living from your work, engage with more ‘fans’ or reach a wider audience, then you want to make sure it is appealing to others as well.

So, how do you define your ideal customer or fan?

By profiling them!

Who do you think they are?

Sadly, it’s no good guessing, you need to put a bit of effort into it.

You need to create a Customer Avatar.

An Avatar is a detailed profile that represents your ideal customer. It will help you to understand their needs, preferences, and behaviours, whilst enabling you to tailor your marketing efforts effectively and encourage them to buy or engage with your work.

Customer Avatars are also sometimes referred to as Buyer Personas, but I’ve never really liked the word Persona or Avatar and as we’re looking at developing creative engagement as well as simply selling things, for the purposes of this work, let’s call it a Fan Profile instead, for reasons which will become obvious in subsequent blog posts.

Picture credit: Airam Dato-on

Stop screaming into the void*

Whilst it can be great following and interacting with fellow artists online, you need to connect with potential customers too. Social media provides us with a convenient way to connect with our audience directly, so it’s important to make the most of that opportunity by putting some thought and effort into your interactions and thinking about who it is you are talking to, or trying to attract as well as what you want to say to them.

Build it and they will come is not an effective marketing strategy.

Fan Profiles enable you to create a specific person (or people) to represent your ideal customer, making it easier to visualise them when creating your social media or marketing posts, rather than thinking of them broadly as a group. It also stops you from marketing to yourself, with things that you want to see, and only sharing things that you like (if you are not your ideal customer).

By giving your avatar a name and a bit of a personality, you can think about ‘what would Julie like?’ rather than ‘what do I want to see?’ as these things may be slightly different.

Picture credit: Antoni Shkraba Studio

How to build your own Fan Profile

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create a comprehensive Fan Profile. You might not to include all of this info in the profile but it will help to get you thinking as you develop it.

Step 1: Basic Demographic Information

1. Name: Give them a name to make them more relatable.
2. Age: Specify an exact age within the typical age range of your customers
3. Gender: Identify their gender.
4. Marital Status: Are they single, married, divorced, etc.?
5. Children: Do they have children? If so, how many and what ages?
6. Location: Where do they live? (Town, city, country)
7. Education: What is their highest level of education?
8. Occupation: What do they do for a living?
9. Income: What is their income range?

Step 2: Psychographic Information

1. Goals and Aspirations: What are their personal and professional goals?
2. Values and Beliefs: What do they value most in life? What are their core beliefs?
3. Hobbies and Interests: What do they enjoy doing in their free time?
4. Lifestyle: What kind of lifestyle do they lead? (Active, busy, relaxed, etc.)
5. Personality Traits: Are they introverted, extroverted, optimistic, pragmatic, etc.?

Step 3: Challenges and Pain Points

1. Challenges: What obstacles do they face in their personal or professional life?
2. Pain Points: What are their main frustrations or problems they want to solve?

Step 4: Buying Behaviour

1. Motivations: What motivates them to make a purchase? (Quality, price, convenience, etc.)
2. Shopping Preferences: Do they prefer online shopping or in-store shopping? What kind of stores do they visit?
3. Decision-Making Process: How do they make purchasing decisions? (Research, recommendations, impulse, etc.)
4. Barriers or Objections: What might prevent them from buying your product or service?

Step 5: Media Consumption

1. Favourite Websites: Which websites do they visit regularly?
2. Social Media Platforms: Which social media platforms do they use, and how frequently?
3. Preferred Content: What type of content do they consume? (Blogs, videos, podcasts, etc.)
4. Influencers and Brands: Which influencers or brands do they follow and trust?

Where are you going to get this info from? If you are already selling your work, think of some of your favourite customers in the past – what did they buy? What did they say when they were buying it? Or have a look at some of your followers that you know are fans – who else are they following? What are they sharing? How are they engaging online? Social media also provides us with the opportunity to ask questions – with polls, comments and likes. Pay close attention to what your fans are saying.

Picture credit: Zeynep Temizel

How many Fan Profiles should you create?

If your customers are pretty similar then you probably only need to create one Fan Profile, if they fall into several categories, create more, but ideally no more than 3. You can also create a Fan Profile for specific projects. For example a product launch or a new range of courses.

You may find it useful to stick a picture on your profile – there are lots of free stock images available at Pexels.com or you can clip one out of a magazine.

It’s a good idea to put the profile on one page if possible and then stick it up in your workspace so that when you are creating your social posts you can ask yourself, “what would Julie (or whatever you have called your fan) do?”

I’ve created a couple of fan profile templates to help you get started, a word version of this example for you to edit and use, or if you prefer to scribble things down then I also have a writable pdf for you to fill in. If you’d like a copy of these then sign up for my mailing list and I will send them out to you.

I’ll be taking a closer look at fan theory and why it is important in another blog post, so if you sign up for the newsletter then you won’t miss any other useful information that I’ll be sharing over the coming months either.

Picture credit: Valeria Ushakova

Final thoughts

Even if you can’t be arsed to make a Fan Profile – the simple act of thinking about who your audience are, what they might be into and how you’re presenting yourself online is probably going to improve your online engagement. So just make a cup of tea, sit down and read through this post again – or sign up to download my templates and have a good look through and a think. I promise it will help – and it counts as working. You’re being very productive (I’ll be sharing some of my top productivity/attention focusing tips very soon so make sure you come back here for that too).

If you’d like to work with me but are worried that you’re not a traditional artist, my scope is pretty broad and I love working with anyone creative, over the last year this has included everything from a celebrity dog trainer to a music publishing firm. I also do traditional websites for regular businesses under the banner of Lush Designs. There are only a couple of industry sectors that I won’t work with. So if you’re interested in any of my services then just drop me a line – and if you found this information useful, please consider buying me a coffee and I will create and share even more!

*If you genuinely feel like screaming into a void I found this random website that appears to be something to do with Warner Brothers, weird but strangely satisfying.

And finally, whilst we’re on the subject of venting, here’s a top tip for when you’re on the phone with a mansplaining idiot and you can’t scream. Type your thoughts and lots of all caps swear words into a Word document whilst you listen to them drone on. It helps you to let it out and will also give you a giggle afterwards. just don’t send it to them by mistake. 

Featured picture credit: Sam Lion on Pexels,