When it comes to marketing, I admit that I am more old-school than I am modern (me giving my age away!)

I imagine this to be like having a conversation in a second language where you first have to process in your mother tongue before formulating a coherent reply. In the same way, when a new Internet marketing term is thrown at me, I have to first process it in traditional marketing terms before deciding whether to accept or reject the notion.

This happened recently when someone recommended I have an avatar for my next online marketing campaign.

"An avatar?" This conjured up images of purple people running across the movie screen. And weird-looking players on my son's game.

"Oh, she means a buyer persona!" it clicked in my mind.

Buyer personas I understand. Consider John, Kelly Mike, Cindy, and Travis as potential buyers of your products or services.

1. John’s a professional and a bit of a know-it-all. He’s always online, mostly on forums speaking his mind, and he’s subscribed to various business newsletters and blogs because he prefers news being delivered to him. Living by a schedule, he begins each morning reading the newspaper while having his coffee. Your challenge would be convincing him that your product is the best solution for his problem.
   
   Kelly’s a flirt and used to people pandering around her whims. Her fabulous life’s always on display on social media as she soaks up the attention. Your challenge would be to keep your cool while catering to her unrealistic demands.
   
   Mike’s laid back. An online gamer, he tries to do as much as possible without leaving the comfort of his home. If you suggested he tried your product, he probably would. Your challenge would be getting his attention long enough for him to hear your message!
   
   Nobody messes with Cindy! If she finds a fault in your product or service, she’ll be all over Facebook before you can say “Let’s sort it o…” When she’s not complaining about bad service or life in general, she’s probably at the mall spreading her sunshine. Your challenge would be to keep her happy at every stage of her buying decision.
   
   Poor Travis…He’s the frazzled father of young twins so whatever you’re selling, there needs to be doubles (especially if it’s a little something to calm his nerves). Your challenge would be to fight off all the other information buzzing around in his mind and convince him that what you’re selling can simplify his life.

Can you see why using the same marketing strategy for all these complex personalities just won’t work? To be successful marketers, we need to understand how our potential buyers behave in order to connect with them in the right way. To do this effectively, we need to have buyer personas - or "avatars" as I now refer to them.

For Entrepreneur 5.0, having an avatar becomes even more important so that we know how to connect with potential buyers before even thinking about selling. What inspires them? What do they have in common instead of their differences? How can we get their attention and transform them into loyal fans and followers? How will we build a community around them?

For those who need a kickstart in creating their avatars, I've created this quiz by combining my old-age knowledge of marketing with what I've learnt about Internet marketing over the past 10 years.  I hope you find it useful:

https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/5d2f77d004ef5b001454c6e3

And if you have any questions, please comment below or send me a message.