Creating your Customer Avatar

Know thy customer and know thyself, and you
shall be successful in a thousand marketing campaigns.

Sun Tzu, a military strategist for the Kingdom of Wu during China’s Spring and Autumn period, was one of the greatest military minds in history. Sun Tzu’s definitive work, The Art of War, influenced victorious generals in every era such as Mao Tse-Tung, Napoleon, and ancient China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

The Art of War begins in earnest with its first chapter, “The Laying of Plans.” According to Sun Tzu, a successful campaign cannot be commenced without due calculations. By thinking, assessing, and comparing five fundamental elements, an able strategist can secure his chances of victory.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo, in his work Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai, calls this “winning beforehand.”

In marketing, we win beforehand by creating your “customer avatar.” The very first thing we do before creating any marketing campaign, is we try to get inside of the head of your best prospect. We’ve found this to be the number one most effective weapon in our arsenal when it comes to creating a killer marketing campaign that produces predictable, rapid-fire results.

Marketing strategy begins with understanding the fears, frustrations, wants, and aspirations of your customer. It comes down to understanding her hot button motivators, and turning those motivators into compelling statements that deeply resonate with her and compel her to decisive action.

Your product or service is the bridge between them and the result that they want ‐ so a successful strategy focuses on things of prime overriding interest to the people you want to reach.

A lot of the results that we generate, and the customers we bring in the door for our clients seems like voodoo to the untrained eye. But it’s not black magic that we bring to the field of battle. It’s the result of a carefully assessed and calculated grand strategy.

Successful marketing is ultimately the result of a carefully-orchestrated marketing system and sequence. The marketing tactics and sales techniques that we apply are always done with one eye firmly fixed on a well-planned grand strategy.

Know your customer and know yourself, and you shall know victory.