You may or may not have heard of a buyer persona. It is a term that is being tossed around more and more among marketers.
A buyer persona can be a valuable tool in all forms of marketing, but it is especially vital in customer-oriented forms of marketing.
You may be asking yourself, “Why do I need to use a persona?”
That is a fair question. Let’s start with defining the term buyer persona. Buyer personas are fictional, but data-driven profiles of your actual or ideal customers. They are also referred to as marketing personas.
These personas are used to make marketing decisions like where to place ads, what product or service to feature, what blog posts to write, and what social media networks to use to promote your business or products.
Customer-oriented marketing is focused on building your audiences interest and respect. Using a persona forces you to “get into character”. Not all of your messages need to explicitly ask your customers to buy. Using personas allows you to target a variety of messages that will be of interest to your audience.
Building a persona requires good data.
The first step is to establish who your customers are. This will include background information, demographics, possible challenges as well as solutions to meet their needs. Through this information you will be able to see possible pitfalls and developing trends that can impact your business or affect the lives of your customers.
Remember that this is an on-going process. Don’t be afraid to revise your personas as you learn more about your customers. Monitor all of your marketing channels to see what blog posts, website pages, and offers your audience is responding to. Reach out to your audience through social media to gain more information about the buying decisions of your customers.
Once you have your buyer personas in place they will help you to clarify you marketing strategy and help you to keep yourself focused on your customers.
