Buyer personas are the foundation of your marketing strategy. Without personas, how do you know who your target customer really is, where to reach them to build awareness for your brand, which message will appeal to their needs, or how to talk to them on social media?
A buyer persona will help you understand and connect with your target audience, enabling you to create content and plan marketing campaigns that genuinely engage them and meet their needs.
What is a Buyer's Persona?
A buyer's persona is a semi-fictional profile of your ideal customers based on research and data. They are created by collecting and analyzing information about your ideal clients and leads' lives, beliefs, and actions. Personas bring a vital segment of your customers to life.
Why Do You Need Buyer Personas?
Buyer personas will help you understand your customers and potential customers better, so you can focus your efforts on qualified prospects and attract high-value leads, customers, and visitors who you'll be more likely to retain over time.
Personas make it easier for you to customize your product development, content, messaging, sales follow-up, and services to meet your target audience's specific concerns, needs, and behaviors. It also helps you personalize or target your marketing for different segments of your audience. If done right, this could lead to higher marketing ROI and an improved relationship with your customers.
Step by Step Guide to Creating a Buyer Persona
The strongest buyer personas are data-driven and based on market research and insights you gather from your current customer base, prospects, and potential customers outside your contacts database but might align with your ideal audience. Here are the steps to creating robust buyer personas for your business:
1. Demographic Info
The first and most crucial step in developing a buyer persona is collecting demographic data. Demographic info includes gender, age, education level, city/country where your buyer persona resides, and household income. Ask demographic-based questions through online surveys or over the phone.
2. Motivations Behind Buying
This is where you use data based on your persona's behaviors to identify what motivates them to act, engage or buy. What keeps your persona up at night? What is their underlying reason for buying? Why would they question whether you provide their solution? What are their criteria for making a purchase decision? Tie all their motivations together by telling your target audience how your business can help them.
3. Prepare for Conversations with Personas
Include some real quotes from your market research and interviews that embody your persona's concerns, what they want, and who they are. It can be something like, "It's been challenging getting the company-wide adoption of new technologies in the past." Then create a list of objections they're likely to raise, such as "I'm worried I'll lose data transitioning to a new system." This planning allows your team to prepare how they will address common issues or roadblocks during their conversations with personas.
4. Create Content/Messaging for Personas
This step tells people how to talk about your services or products with your persona, including the standard elevator pitch that positions your solutions in a manner that resonates with your persona and the vernacular you should use. Creating content and messaging for personas ensures that everyone in your organization is on the same page and speaks the same language when communicating with customers and leads.
5. Conduct Interviews
The final step to creating buyer personas is conducting interviews to know what drives your target audience. But how do you find interviewees, and what questions do you ask?
How to Get Interviewees
One of the most critical steps to creating your buyer persona is finding real people who can give their honest opinions and experiences. The best place to start is with your existing customers, as they've already engaged with your brand and purchased your products. But don't just talk to people who love your product, also speak with customers who are unhappy with your products. Your current leads and prospects are also a great option since you already have their contact information. You can also interview referrals who fit your personas. Use your networks like social media contacts, coworkers, or existing customers to find referrals.
Questions to Ask in the Interview
After the usual thank-you's or small talk, it's now time to ask your persona questions to complete the profile. Here are some questions you can ask:
- Role questions — What's your role in the company or job title?
- Company questions — What's the size of your company (employees or revenue)?
- Challenge questions — What are your biggest challenges?
- Shopping preference questions — Describe your recent purchase.
- Goal questions — What does it mean to be successful in your role?
- Personal background questions — Describe your educational background.
- Watering hole questions — What publications or blogs do you read?
- Follow-up questions — Why?
Bottom Line
Creating buyer personas can help save you time and energy in your marketing strategy. De Novo Digital can help you with your digital strategy needs. Contact us today for a free consultation.