You have asked the questions of your customers. You have gathered your data for your buyer personas. Now what? It's time to construct them and put them to use.
Constructing Your Buyer Personas
Here are the best practices for constructing your buyer persona:
• The persona should focus on behaviors.
Example: Mabel is the Chief Marketing Officer at a B2C company that recently opened its doors. She is always on the lookout for new leads with the goal of bringing more revenue to the company. She is the one who does all the company’s marketing and she is in charge of creating the company’s brand.
• The persona should be fictional, but realistic.
Create a fictional person who embraces your target audience. Do not choose a specific person for this purpose.
This is good: Sam, VP, Director, or Manager of Sales at small to mid-sized aviation company
This is not: John Rutherford, Senior Sales Director at Flying Company, Inc.
• The persona should include pictures. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words. Most people embrace visual information. When you can give a picture that embraces part of your persona, it helps develop a better picture of this fictional character.
Here are the best practices for constructing your buyer persona:
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Workspace
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Working condition
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Food preferences
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Travel preferences
- Hobbies
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Family
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Clothing choices
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Car preferences
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The persona profile should tell a story.
Here is one example. Your company may need more than one buyer persona depending on the products and services you offer.
Mary is the marketing manager for a mid-sized clothing company. She is 38, married, and has three kids, ages 10, 6, and 3. She lives in a upscale suburban neighborhood outside a major metropolitan city. Mary drives a two-year old Dodge Charger. Her typical commute is 45 minutes one way in normal traffic. In her downtime, Mary enjoys hanging out with her girlfriends, taking in movies, and spending the occasional weekend away with her husband and family at the beach.
Mary is a savvy marketer in the real world but finds the world of online marketing overwhelming. She is looking for an agency that specializes in online marketing to act as the company’s team in this area. She needs a high level of trust before she will endorse any external partners. Mary must seek approval from and get funding from the company’s executive board for this type of decision.
One last note: Your first run at the persona may not be perfect. You can tweak it as you gain more insight to your customer base. Getting one defined is what is important to start with.
Putting Your Buyer Persona to Good Use
Now you have an idea of who your persona is, what he or she likes and is looking for, and what your company can do to answer his or her needs. This is when you can start using the persona.
• Create content focused on your persona. Your content should attract, convert, close, and delight your customer. With the persona at hand, you know exactly what your customers are looking for.
• Create all forms of content based on the persona. This includes marketing campaigns, blog entries, landing pages, email campaigns, and online brochures.
Once you know what they need and are able to develop a profile of who they are, you can address their needs with a practical solution. Developing your Buyer Personas is the most effective way to accomplish this goal. Your company will see the rewards.
For the next segment of the eBook, stay tuned for next week. Or download the whole eBook now!
