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Let’s talk about something super basic but HUGE for your business: knowing who your customers actually are.
Sounds simple, right? But you’d be shocked how many business owners don’t even bother doing ANY research – they just sell to anyone with a pulse.
(Which is a great way to blow your marketing budget and get crappy results)
Now, I get it… market research can be a REAL pain.
See, old-school research takes ages (legendary copywriter David Ogilvy spent weeks researching before writing ONE ad!) and can be ridiculously expensive.
But in 2025, speed is king. While you’re busy researching, your competitors are already out there, talking to your potential customers and making sales!
This is where AI comes in and just blows EVERYTHING out of the water.
What used to take weeks of hard work can now be done in minutes.
Here’s how you use it to build a perfect Customer Avatar of your ideal audience:
Step 1: Feed the AI with Data
AI needs info to work with. Start with what you already have: customer emails, feedback forms, notes from sales calls, website data. This is your best starting point. Then, add more info from the web. Use AI tools that can browse online (like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity). Ask them to:
- Check out Forums (like Reddit): People are brutally honest when they’re anonymous. Great for finding real problems and the words people use.
- Read Amazon Reviews: Look at reviews for books or products your customers might use. Why did they buy it? What problem did it solve? What did they hate?
- Scan YouTube Comments: What questions keep popping up on videos in your niche? What gets people excited or angry?
- Look at Facebook Groups: What are people asking for help with? What are they celebrating?
- The AI can pull all this together for you super fast. It’s like having an entire research team that never sleeps. On steroids.
Step 2: Pick Your AI Tool(s)
The world of AI changes fast! Try a few different tools.
ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are really good for this kind of thinking work. Keep an eye out for new ones too – because as we saw with DeepSeek… they have the potential to really shake things up.
Pro Tip: Different AIs are good at different things. One might be great at summarizing, another better at spotting feelings. We use a few different ones at Radical Marketing. Don’t just stick to one.
Watch Out: AI can sometimes make stuff up (“hallucinate”). If an insight seems REALLY wild, try to double-check it. Don’t bet your whole business on something the AI dreamed up!
Step 3: Ask Smart Questions (Prompts)
If you ask lazy questions, you get lazy answers. Be clear and tell the AI exactly what you want.
Start Simple, Then Go Deeper:
- Try this: “Look at these customer emails. What are the top 5 problems people mention about [your topic, e.g., ‘running Facebook ads’]? What feelings do they express (like confused, frustrated, hopeful)?”
- Then ask: “Okay, AI, you said they feel ‘frustrated’ about ‘getting ads approved.’ Why? Based only on these emails, is it because the rules are confusing? They don’t have time? They feel unfairly treated? Pull out exact quotes that show this.”
Pro Tip: Tell the AI how you want the answer. Like, “Put the answers in a table,” or “Write a short story from the customer’s view about this problem.” Knowing how to ask good questions is key. These insights can directly help you figure out how to use AI to create better Facebook ads later on.
What You REALLY Need to Know About Your Customer:
Forget just knowing their age or where they live. That’s surface level stuff.
A TRULY useful customer profile, built with AI help, tells you about their inner world:
- Their Deep Pains: Not just “I need more sales,” but the feeling behind it, like “I’m scared my business will fail,” or “I feel like a fraud (imposter syndrome),” or “I feel guilty working so much.” Why this matters: Talking about these deeper feelings makes people feel truly understood.
- What They Secretly Want (Status): How do they want others to see them? (“As the expert,” “As successful,” “As someone who has it all figured out”). Why this matters: People buy things that help them become the person they want to be. Show them how you help them get there.
- Who They Want to Be (Identity): Are they trying to go from “struggling coach” to “in-demand expert”? Why this matters: Your product should be the helping hand that gets them from A to B.
- Why They Buy NOW (Triggers): What finally makes them decide to look for help? Was it a bad experience? A sudden realization? Why this matters: Knowing this helps you show up with the right message at the right time.
- How They Talk (Language): The exact words and phrases they use. Do they say “stuck,” “overwhelmed,” “plateau”? Why this matters: Using their words in your marketing makes them instantly feel like you ‘get’ them. It builds trust fast.
Think about it: Marketing to someone who “wants to lose weight” is okay.
But marketing to someone whose secret dream is “to walk into their 20-year reunion looking amazing and make their ex eat their heart out”?
That gives you way more powerful ideas for your ads and emails, right? You’re basically getting their psychological blueprint.
Step 4: Put These Secrets to Work
Okay, you’ve used AI to understand your customer deeply. Now what?
Simple. Use these insights EVERYWHERE:
- Your Ads: Stop being boring! Talk directly to their specific pains and dreams using their language. Write headlines that grab them specifically. Focus on the change they want, not just your product features. This is how you create genuinely scroll-stopping ads.
- Your Content (Webinars, Blog Posts, Videos): Make your content about them. Talk about their specific struggles. Tell stories they can relate to. Offer solutions to the problems that really bother them. If you run webinars, this deep understanding is key – it’s essential for following webinar marketing best practices.
- Your Sales Pages: Tell a story about their journey. Start by showing you understand their struggles (using their words!). Directly answer the secret worries and objections the AI helped you find (e.g., “Think this sounds too complicated? Here’s how we make it easy…”). Focus the page on the better future they want.
- Your Product or Service: This is huge. Use the insights to make your offer even better. Does it really solve their biggest hidden problem? Could you add something extra to address their fears (like extra support, a community, or mindset help)? Make your offer a perfect fit for them.
The Easier Way: Work With Experts
These are exciting times because AI now gives us a superpower: the ability to understand people deeply, quickly, and affordably like never before.
It’s high time you use it for your business!
But if this feels like too much work (the amount of prompt engineering we’ve had to do to perfect our customer avatars is mind-boggling)…
Then consider working together with a team that’s obsessed about keeping up with the latest tech (including AI) to get you sexy results.
This podcast is hosted by Terence Tam, author of Lead Surge: 8 Radically Effective Marketing Funnels for Coaches and Experts. He is also the Founder of Radical Marketing, a digital marketing agency that partners with high-ticket coaches to scale their businesses with Webinars – by using a proprietary blend of story ads and battled-tested sales funnels to achieve better returns on ad dollars.
