Building a Client Persona

Defining your niche is one of the first things you do when developing a marketing plan. When you know your niche, you’re able to create targeted marketing campaigns. People typically stop there, but it’s possible to create a narrower definition of your target market. You can do this by creating a persona for your ideal client. Creating this persona requires you to get down to the small details of who your dream customer is. That person is who you keep in mind when you evaluate your services, marketing, and customer experience.  

Create a broad description

To start building your client persona, create a list of the details for your ideal customer. These details should include information such as: 

• Location
• Age range
• Gender
• Yearly income
• Marital status
• Industry
• Job
• Financial goals

You can find an exhaustive list here. Next ask yourself questions surrounding how you’ll help the client you’re creating here. Be sure to address any barriers or pain points they may have. Once you have this information in front of you, you can build your client persona.

Write their story

The next step to building a client persona is to write the story of your ideal customer. It may feel silly, but treat this the same way you’d treat the story of a real person. That starts with giving your persona a name. From there, use the details you listed above to flesh things out. Your persona should feel like a real client since you’re using it to make business decisions.

Use your new persona

Now that you have the clearly identified your dream client, it’s time to use it. Consider your current marketing, and think about how you can make it more specific to your ideal client. Ask yourself if you offer all the services they need? You should use your new client persona to evaluate how well you’re meeting the needs of your dream customer.

A great deal of work goes into building and growing your financial advisor business. Creating a client persona simplifies that work. 

Download our free checklist 10 Things to Grow Your Financial Advisor Practice for more ways to grow your business.