Sometimes, your ideal customer avatar (ICA) may need a pivot. Changes in the market can sometimes reshape your ICA. For instance, the current pandemic has changed people’s expectations and behaviour drastically. How they shop and spend their time has changed.

As such, it’s important to adjust your marketing messages and strategies accordingly. Going back to the example of planners for women from our last newsletter, promoting the travel section or bucket list section of your planner may not be the best idea right now.

Instead, highlight the self-care sections such as journal prompts or habits trackers that are geared towards improving mental health to better relate to your ideal customer’s current situation. You might even find that stuck at home, more and more of your ideal customers start to use platforms such a TikTok. You can include this platform in your advertising efforts as well.

Another example is recessions. In difficult economic times, people are more concerned about money and their spending pattern changes as well. Usually your ideal customer may be a big spender but when a recession kicks in, that may change. This could be the time to develop cheaper alternatives or offer flexible payment options. Understanding the changes in the market and how your ideal customer reacts to these changes is important for tweaking relevant business strategies.

Ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind that your ICA is a guide, but it’s based on real people. Real people change and adapt according to the times, and it’s important that your business does too. So, when it comes to ICAs, here’s the important mantra you need to remember: create, leverage, pivot!