We all know how important it is to share valuable content with our audience, to gain trust, to build a community and to be seen as an expert in your field. But give me a show of hands, if you don’t always know what to talk about, or who you’re actually talking to…

I can’t see your hands but I know I’ve felt it and I know I’m not the only entrepreneur who experiences this. There is a whole wide world out there of people wanting to know your message, your tips and tricks, but sometimes you get stuck on what to actually post.

Weirdly enough, it all starts with your Buyer Persona, or your Ideal Customer Avatar. The one ideal client that you have in mind, that is desperate to buy your next product or service. We need to know his/her struggles, the ups, the downs, the hobbies, the way he/she likes to talk. We need to know him/her as if it’s your best friend or your previous selves.

One thing I love to share and helps me immensely when creating content:

“If you’re talking to everybody, you’re talking to nobody”.

This is why it’s so important to develop a buyer persona and write directly to them. Because if you’re talking to everyone, you’re actually talking to no one at all.

So, let’s take a step back, what is a buyer persona?

A buyer persona is really just a fancy way of saying your target audience. Your ideal client. One person that represents all those who buy from you. A profile rooted in research specific to your customer base.

How do you identify this “person?” There’s no one right way to do this, but here are some components of a buyer personal profile to get the ball rolling:

• Age, gender, language, geographic location, income

• Career, goals, identifying traits, causes they care about

• Hobbies, interests, patterns

• Platforms they use, trends they partake in

• Struggles they face

• Goals they have

• Common objections

Common buyer personas

Depending on your business, there may be more than one possibility for a buyer persona. And it’s totally okay to have multiple profiles and cater certain content to each one individually. But at least start with one that you can keep in mind when creating content, posting blogs, writing emails, and the like.

There are three types of buyer personas I want to highlight:

The Younger You. Many entrepreneurs actually start a business to solve a problem they experienced themselves. So if that sounds like you, maybe your ideal client is actually you, five years ago! Speak to that younger you when you write your blogs. Consider what your past self would have wanted to see or hear and create to fit that vision.

The Common Client. If you haven’t been in your customers’ shoes before, you can turn to the data. Look at your Instagram analytics. Gather the demographics of your previous buyers. Do a little digging and see if you can identify patterns in your client base.

The Ideal Client. Say you’re just starting your business and don’t have many customers (yet) to consider. Don’t worry – that just means that you have the freedom to completely make your idea client up. Their gender, age, goals and challenges. Get as specific as you can! You get to create for and address them from day one, which is a huge advantage.

Matching your buyer persona to your tone of voice and the content you spread

Speaking directly to your buyer persona(s) through your content ensures that whatever you’re putting out is relevant, consistent, and drawing in the right people because it’s literally made for them. You’re empathizing with the person you’re writing to – thinking from their point of view, channeling their perspective – so that you can better serve them.

And optimizing your content is just the beginning. Once you’ve established your buyer persona(s), you can apply them to all aspects of your business. Your marketing strategy, your product design or packaging, re-branding to fit the new audience, your sales approach, your customer experience and support.

Before you know it, you’ve carved out your niche in the industry the entire business is functioning specifically for your ideal clients! That’s what I call leveling up.