When creating content, developing marketing campaigns, and working on all of the other fun things that businesses need to do to market and grow their company, the last thing they want to do is waste their time and money focusing on the wrong customer.
Creating buyer personas will allow you to attract high-value leads and qualified customers. Buyer personas will also help with content creation, product development, and really anything related to customer acquisition and retention.
What is a buyer persona?
Buyer personas, also known as marketing personas or customer avatars, are "semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers based on data and research. They help you focus your time on qualified prospects, guide product development to suit the needs of your target customers, and align all work across your organization" (Hubspot).
It is common to have multiple buyer personas. For example, imagine you own a children's store. You will need to gain the approval of the child and their parent. The child will be the one using the item, but the parent is the one purchasing it. You will need to create two separate buyer personas because each individual will have different criteria for evaluating your product. These separate buyer personas will help you develop different strategies to address their needs.
*Note: All marketing/advertising pertaining to, or directed toward children must comply with The Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children (Children’s Code).
How do I create a buyer persona?
The first step in creating a persona is asking yourself specific questions about your ideal customer. Build this out to have a clear vision of who you want to consume your products or services. YES - you literally get out a piece of paper and develop a human customer. Name them, draw them, and discuss their interests. Get specific.
Download our buyer persona template to get started.
Once your buyer persona(s) are complete, you can move forward to marketing your company to a niche, more appropriate audience.
Reminder: revisit your buyer personas to integrate new insights along the way. Stay tuned for our next blog with more on this.
How are buyer personas used?
Buyer personas are beneficial for small, medium, and large businesses. They allow you to ensure all departments (marketing, sales, product development, customer support) have the same understanding of your ideal customer.
Here are two examples:
The product development team at a large company can use buyer personas to help identify and prioritize changes based on what their customer needs the most.
A local flower shop owner can use buyer personas to create marketing content strategies and write copy that will resonate with their ideal customer.
Summary
There is no one-size-fits-all list of questions when creating buyer personas. Start by creating a profile that best describes your ideal customer with the current knowledge you have and the research you have done. Remember, your buyer personas are not static documents. They can and will change as you learn more about your customers.