Ever heard the Serge Gainsbourg song, ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’?

I’m sure you have!

It features lots of baroque organ and funky guitar licks over raunchy moans and groans…

It caused quite the stir in 1969!

The woman singing the saucy, whispered vocals was Gainsbourg’s girlfriend, the British actress Jane Birkin.

By the time they separated in 1980, she had become a style icon.

But she was frustrated…

Because – try as she might – she just couldn’t find the perfect-sized handbag.

(I know, I know, we’ve ALL been through a crisis like that, right?!)

So in 1983 a fed-up Birkin had a meeting with Jean-Louis Dumas, the chief executive of the fashion house, Hermès.

Together, they sketched out a design on a flight to London (presumably while sipping champagne in First Class!)

This became the famous ‘Birkin’ handbag.

After Birkin died in 2023, the original sold at Sotheby’s Paris for $10.1million!

Meanwhile, the Birkin handbag range has become the “it bag” for elite actors and models like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez.

The cheapest ones start at £10,000.

And Hermès don’t just sell them to anyone.

When new shipments arrive, sales assistants check through a waiting list of wealthy clients.

But it goes further than that….

According to a recent investigation by fashion publication Glitz, Hermès are “stalking” their clients to make sure they are deserving enough to own one!

That includes using Google to view their home address to ensure that their houses are prestigious enough…

….Checking that they’ve bought enough luxury watches, shoes, and silk scarves.

…And even scanning through their social media accounts!

For example, if a customer is spotted listing a Birkin bag on social media, the client AND the Hermès employee who sold it to them are both blacklisted!

This is awful, of course.

And I’m not about to endorse privacy violations as a business strategy!

But if you peel away the snobbery and elitism, there’s actually a marketing lesson here.

Because it’s just a very extreme example of something everyone should do if they want to start, and grow, a successful business.

Why You Need to Get Up-Close and Personal With Your Prospects

If you want to create a business, product or service of any kind, there’s one essential thing you NEED to know.

And that’s precisely who your customer is.

After all, if you don’t have a clear idea of who is going to subscribe or buy from you, then how do you know what to offer them?

How do you know what they want?

How do you know what they don’t want?

How will you know how to position the product, brand it and package it so that it appeals to their tastes?

How will you know what benefits and features to emphasise in your marketing?

How will you know where they hang out online so you can advertise in those places?

How do you know what kind of online content they read or watch, so that you can create some that they’ll click on?

How will you know what their potential objections, worries and doubts might be?

How will you know what they can afford to pay?

Simple answer: YOU WON’T.

It’s a bit like throwing a dart with no dartboard to aim for.

Or launching a missile at an enemy with no target.

You might get lucky and hit something.

Most likely, it will be a waste of time.

And it’s not simply about having a target customer in a broad sense. For example, “Male, over 50, with disposable income” or “parents of young kids”, or “Retirees with investment portfolios”.

Those are a start, of course. But they’re not nearly enough.

If you want to create, position, brand and advertise a product that appeals, you need to get to know your prospects a LOT more intimately.

That means getting up close and personal.

Just imagine that I’ve stuck on a recording of Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’!

Yes, I mean THAT personal.

You need to get a deep understanding of how they think, how they feel, and how they act.

To achieve that, you need to stop thinking of your prospects as a demographic category, and think of them instead as an actual human individual.

That’s where an AVATAR comes in handy.

Your Ideal Customer Fleshed Out!

An avatar is a fleshed-out individual who you have in mind when you’re planning, creating and marketing a product…

Or whenever you’re producing online content of any kind – for instance, copy for emails, blogs and social media.

You should know:

• How old they are…
• What gender they are…
• Where they live
• What their family situation is…
• What social media they use…
• What they read and watch online…
• What they want from life…
• What they fear…
• What they buy – and why.

This way, you can gear your product or service so that it directly addresses their goals and problems, fears and desires.

You’ll be able to communicate directly with them, as if you know them personally.

In turn, your customer will feel like you’re talking only to them, which is a powerful thing in marketing.

It helps you stand out from the competition, and builds an astonishing level of trust very quickly.

But how do you make an avatar?

Just five years ago, everything you’ve just read would have meant conducting surveys, studying forums, Facebook groups and Amazon reviews plus weeks of note-taking.

Today? You can skip almost all of it.

Because AI tools like ChatGPT have effectively already read the internet for you.

It has absorbed millions of conversations, complaints, questions, reviews, posts and discussions from people in almost every niche and situation imaginable.

Which means it already understands how your prospects think.

You don’t need to go hunting for data.

You simply tell AI who you want to help…

…and it will build the avatar for you.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Describe The Type Of Person You Want To Serve

Open ChatGPT and start with something simple like:

“People over 50 who would like to earn extra income from home but feel overwhelmed by technology.”

Or

“Busy parents who want to get fitter but struggle to find time.”

Or

“Retirees who feel bored and want a new sense of purpose.”

That’s all you need.

Step 2: Use This Prompt

Copy and paste this into ChatGPT (or your favoured AI tool):

“Act as a market research expert. I want to create a product or service for: [describe the type of person here]

Using your knowledge of common online discussions, complaints, fears, desires, buying habits and behaviours of this type of person, create a highly detailed customer avatar.

Present this as a real individual with:

• Name
• Age
• Location
• Family situation
• Work situation

Then describe in detail:

• What they worry about privately
• What they want most right now
• What frustrates them about their situation
• What has stopped them taking action before
• What they have tried in the past
• What they think when they see offers in this market
• What would make them trust someone
• What ‘success’ looks like to them
• Where they spend time online
• The exact phrases they would use to describe their problem

Write this in natural, human language, as if you truly understand this person.”

Here’s the kind of avatar ChatGPT will create from nothing more than a simple description like: “People over 50 who would like to earn extra income from home but feel overwhelmed by technology.”

Name: Martin Hughes

Age: 57

Location: Worcester, UK

Martin works part-time after taking early retirement from a logistics job. He lives with his wife, who still works, and they’re starting to feel the quiet financial squeeze that comes with getting older. Nothing dramatic. Just the constant awareness that prices go up… and pensions don’t.

He thinks about money more than he admits. Usually late at night. Or when a bill arrives. Or when he sees friends enjoying holidays he quietly feels he can’t justify.

Martin doesn’t want a “business”. He doesn’t want stress. He doesn’t want to learn complicated systems.

He just wants a simple way to bring in an extra £500–£1,000 a month from home, at his own pace, without it taking over his life.

He’s seen countless adverts about making money online. Most of them make him suspicious. They feel too loud, too technical, too good to be true, or clearly aimed at younger people who live on social media.

He has tried looking into things before. Watched YouTube videos. Downloaded a free guide. Even bought a small course once. But he gave up because it felt overwhelming and assumed too much knowledge.

His biggest private fear is not failure — it’s looking foolish. Feeling out of his depth. Clicking the wrong thing. Getting stuck and not knowing who to ask.

He spends time on Facebook, reads email newsletters, occasionally watches YouTube, and Googles things quietly rather than asking people.

If you asked Martin what he wants, he wouldn’t say “financial freedom”.

He’d say:

“A bit of extra breathing room each month would be nice.”

And if he saw a product that felt calm, simple, step-by-step, and clearly designed for “people like him”…

He would feel immediate trust.

Step 3: Refine It

If the result is too short, say:

“Make this more emotionally detailed.”

If it’s too long, say:

“Condense this into a one-page summary.”

Within minutes, you’ll have a customer profile that feels unnervingly accurate.

Accurate enough that you’ll recognise people you already know inside it.

And once you have this…

Writing emails, landing pages, adverts and products stops feeling like guesswork.

Because you’re no longer marketing to “people”.

You’re speaking directly to one person you understand intimately.

Now Use Your Avatar To Create Everything Else

Here’s where this becomes incredibly powerful.

Once ChatGPT has created your avatar…

You can use that same avatar to generate almost all of your marketing and content for you.

Simply paste the avatar back into ChatGPT and say things like:

“Using this customer avatar, write a friendly email introducing a product that would appeal to them.”

Or

“Using this avatar, create 10 Facebook ad ideas that would grab their attention.”

Or

“Using this avatar, suggest a lead magnet they would be excited to download.”

Or

“Using this avatar, write a landing page headline and subhead that would immediately resonate with them.”

Because the AI now “knows” who it is writing for.

You’re no longer asking it to create generic marketing.

You’re asking it to speak directly to ‘Martin’.

And that’s when your emails, adverts, pages and products start to feel uncannily personal… without you having to wrestle with the words.

So you’ve ethically “stalked” your customer once.

And now that understanding can power everything you create.

Give it a go and see what you come up with!