Who Is Your Ideal Customer For Your Indoor Playground Business, And Is It OK To Have Multiple "Ideal Customer Avatars"?

In this article I want to explain more about about ICA’s–or “Ideal Customer Avatars”-- and why you might have MULTIPLE ICA’s in your business– and why that’s OK.

Now if you have read any of the business books I’ve mentioned on this podcast, including Building a StoryBrand by Donald miller which we read together in a 5-part series starting back on episode 114 of my Profitable Play podcast– you should already be intimately familiar with the concept of the ideal customer.

But just as a quick review, a customer avatar is essentially a representation of your ideal customer -the type of person you want to purchase your products or services.

And to me, this concept of “ideal” is twofold. 

YES, it’s someone who can benefit from your services, but it is also someone who VALUES your business and with whom you LOVE working. And that is the essential part of the equation many miss and it causes a drain on their resources and team morale as a result. 

These owners focus their marketing messaging on being versatile and miss the mark when it comes to 1:1 marketing. And as another review, one-to-one marketing is a strategy that builds customer relationships, emphasizing personalized interactions to foster customer loyalty and increase customer lifetime value. And increasing customer value simply means that people keep coming back again and again– booking additional services or purchasing more products.

I was reading an article in Forbes that basically says one-to-one marketing is the online version of your favorite deli handing you your order before you even place it.

And while YES, it’s important to build these relationships with the customers who come through your door, it’s equally essential to build these relationships with POTENTIAL clients who are coming across your business online as well.

And I was speaking with my friend Michele the other day who is putting a course together on attracting and retaining team members, and she was mentioning to me how the idea of creating this avatar felt kind of silly. She felt like choosing arbitrary hobbies and favorite movies and a job title for this made-up individual was a waste of her time– because HOW could this possibly result in a boost in sales?

Well, what I told her changed her way of thinking, so now I’m going to share it with you as well.

When you have ONE specific REAL person, or as close-to-real as can get, in mind – you are more likely to find success with 1:1 marketing.

Have you ever read an email from a business like an indoor playground that was kind of like a press release? Like they were standing on the stage making a huge announcement to the masses? Like for example, maybe their email said “Hi Western New York! We just released our santa events for this year– here is the information and here is how you can buy! We look forward to seeing your families!”.

That is typically, in my experience, NOT as effective as taking a more personal approach. 

So for example, a better strategy might be typing the email out like you were reaching out to a friend via DM. So for example, you might say– hey Michele, Santa events can be really overwhelming– and I get it. That’s why I created my Santa events this year with you in mind– the busy parent who wants to soak up every last second of holiday magic with your toddler– without standing in line or pushing your way through an overstimulating crowd just to get a glimpse of Santa for exactly 30 seconds. 

And you can talk about what you know matters to them– your ideal customer 

And I even invite my event purchasers or those who read my emails to REPLY– letting them know, hey– there’s a real business owner on the other side of this screen who pours their heart into this business every single day. 

And they care about YOU and your family. And does replying to these take a few moments out of every day? Yes. 

But, this is a source that can be very easily outsourced- and I have dozens of email templates to help out with this inside of Play Maker Society– but the conversion rate of someone replying and then not only making a purchase as a result of that email but ALSO becoming a lifelong fan, supporter, and vocal advocate of our business is VERY high. It’s a money making task as I talked about in detail in episode 114.

Will the words of your emails resonate with everyone when you speak this way? No. 

But they don’t need to. And I know this is counterintuitive for many of you– but I want to encourage you to just go ahead and give this a try and see what happens. Not just in your email marketing– but in your social media posts and marketing materials and website as well.

In my experience, this helped me fill my events and parties and classes up with the kind of people that VALUED my business, who gladly paid full price, who appreciated and supported all facets of our business including our cafe, and they respected our staff and our space. 

And anyone who is currently open knows– even though you’d like to believe all customers are understanding and compassionate towards small businesses- that is simply NOT the case.

So I wanted to talk about an example of why and when your business might have two different ideal customer avatars for your different services.

And first, I wanted to share a quote from that Forbes article from Minal Sampat. He says, “There are two ways to discover your ideal customer avatar,” says Sampat. “If you have already been in business for a few years, you may have heard the description and realized you already know your ideal customer avatar—because they’re an actual customer of yours.”

So while we go through these examples I want you to think about any current customers you may have– because that will make this entire exercise easier. But if you’re not yet open, you could create that avatar-type profile, or even use a past version of you who was yearning for more to do in your area with young children- or a close friend or neighbor.

OK– so let's talk about memberships first.

For us, our membership customers looked entirely different from our party customers. Our ideal member for our membership package was a 35 year old mom named Stephanie. Stephanie had a 3 year old and an infant– who both LOVE dress up and using their imagination. Stephanie does some freelance work on the side and she appreciates a change of scenery so she can answer a few emails while her toddler plays and her infant naps. Stephanie is very price conscious and is highly motivated by value and discounts or getting a great deal. She loves a good cup of coffee if it’s within her budget. She mainly wants to play during weekday mornings and early afternoons since her 3 year old has dance and soccer and other activities all weekend long. Stephanie lives about 5 miles from our location and drives a minivan for convenience.

Stephanie probably would not book a party with us– though she might– because we were higher priced than our competitors and really focused on the premium nature of our parties– and Stephanie is a penny pincher. That is not speaking negatively of Stephanie, by the way, she simply does not need or value anything more than a simple balloon bouquet and the aesthetic of a local recreation center room. So if she does not value our key offerings of party services, why should she pay a premium for it? If she DID somehow decide to extend herself and book  a party– she would likely come early and try to stretch every single offering. 

She would be stressed and nervous about the bill. She would call 18 times the week of the party checking of plates were included and how many. She would try and get items shaved of the bill– like cleanup or favors– because she has the time and will to DIY those things.  In fact, she enjoys it and gets a thrill from saving the money. And she likely would not tip the staff very well and may even complain after the party because she did not feel like the price was justified. And to her, it’s NOT justified– because her values and needs does not align with ours.

Now our ideal party customer is a little different. Her name is Tracy. She works full time as a real estate agent and has unpredictable hours. She has neither the time or interest in DIY and would prefer someone to handle all of the details- from invites, to food, to decor– but she also does not want to skimp on style. And because Tracy holds value in taking these items off her plate– she is more than willing to pay for that convenience. She needs simple online booking since she will likely browse our packages late at night– and she needs the convenience of filling out her party preferences online prior to the event as well. She does not want to spend time running around the party clearing plates or cleaning up, so she tips the staff well since they allowed her to spend the day with her kids and family and not play host. 

Now this is a simplified version of this exercise– but you can see pretty clearly that these two customers have different values and lifestyles– and they find joy in different things. And that’s OK that we are all different in that way. 

So when I write my party emails and create the booking page I have Tracy in mind. I literally pretend like I am writing directly TO her as a friend. I make sure everything is very clear and quick to complete for her. I highlight the convenience and ease of having an event in our space. I use words like premier and ultimate.

When I put our membership marketing materials out there – you guessed it, this time I do so with Stephanie in mind. I use words like value and savings– and I even would show a breakdown of how much she can save by purchasing a membership over a pack of passes or daily passes. I show how much she can save on coffee and other items like event tickets as a member. 

So your play of the day today (a concept you’ll be familiar with if you listen to my podcast!) is to write down your main list of service offerings, and try to come up with a basic ICA for each of them. 

Maybe you have a real customer list to choose from, maybe you use a past version of yourself, or maybe you create a fictional character. The main point here is to understand what each of them values most. What’s on that checklist in their head as they browse through a sales page. What things should you be highlighting that will jump off the page and make them say YES– this is exactly for me. 

Because once you do that– your conversion rate on these booking pages will increase. You will need to spend less time marketing and advertising. Your service offerings will start to not just be filled- but filled with the EXACT people who you created that specific offer for. 

Customer experiences will become better because they’re more tailored to them. Positive reviews will increase, refunds and complaints will decrease, and staff will be happier. Life and business will feel easier– I promise. It took me forcing myself to put this into practice to understand JUST how effective this can be.

Back in episode 137 I talked about my ideal customer for my play cafe academy course– and who IS a good fit for my programs and who may not be. 

And is it still hard to tell some people– NO, I do not think you’re a great fit? Sure. But as I always say– by saying NO to one person, you’re making space for the perfect YES that will light both of you up and create a lot more net benefit in the process- for both sides.

If you’d like to read more about my Play Cafe Academy or Play Maker Society programs, all that information can be found here or by clicking below! I look forward to welcoming you inside of our community.