If you are a marketer, you’ve most likely heard the term buyer persona or buyer insights tossed around in conversation. Using context clues, you can assume what a buyer persona is, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you understand it.
In short, a buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your business’s ideal buyer.
So, a buyer persona is basically a target audience, right? Sort of, but not really.
Buyer personas take a target audience one huge leap further, providing more than demographics. A simple customer survey or quick analytics report is not going to supply you with an in-depth look into your consumer’s buying journey.
For example, buyer personas can tell you how someone shops for a solution, what factors into their purchasing decision, and what sources influence their decision.
Buyer personas allow you to hone in on the people that matter. You may think that casting a wide net would reel in better results, but that’s not always the case. For example, you may devise an awesome marketing campaign and advertise your new beauty product in newspapers and magazines.
But if your true customers prefer spending their time on Facebook and online beauty blogs, you’ve wasted your time, energy and money.
This infographic highlights 5 reasons you should incorporate buyer personas into your inbound marketing efforts.
With buyer personas, you focus on capturing qualified leads based on real data collected from buyer persona interviews. That way, you can allocate your budget accordingly and see a better ROI.
The material you unearth from real buyer interviews and research can help your entire business build a targeted marketing campaign, improve lead generation, develop a better positioning strategy and overall, unify your sales and marketing teams.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2015. It has been updated for freshness and accuracy.
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