The full title of this book by by Richard G. Lewis is
Customer Avatar: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Three Stars.
Here is my review.
A short summary that introduces the idea rather than being a definitive source
This short book looks at how to create a customer profile or avatar for the best customer in your market and in particular uses the Facebook Audience Insights to get information.
The reason why you should do this is because a market is made up of many different types of people with different needs and wants but, if you try to write marketing messages for the entire market, you will often finish with something bland and meaningless. If you write with a particular avatar in mind, your message deals with their issues, worries and frustrations and it becomes much more powerful.
I don’t have an issue with what’s written but I think the topic needs a more detailed book. I read it through the Kindle Unlimited service but I’d have expected more if I’d have paid £7.67 which is the Kindle buying price at the time of writing. This is much more of a £1.99 to £2.99 type of book.
What’s missing?
Well with my clients, if we do this exercise, I get them to look at a number of avatars active in the market to try to identify differences and similarities. As these different personalities come to life, it helps to understand why you can’t promote to the entire market with one message because of the contradictions involved.
The book suggests picking one based on what looks like the most popular profile. While this seems sensible at first sight, if everybody follows this practice, there is too much competition in that part of the market and other profitable opportunities are ignored. There’s also the danger that your marketing message looks very similar to your competitors if you both target the same basic avatar.
The book uses some examples of avatars but these were superficial and never felt like real people so I think you should dig deeper that the book suggests.
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