What’s the point of saying something if you don’t know who you’re talking to? If your marketing is aimed at everyone, chances are it’s not speaking clearly enough to anyone.
This is where a good buyer persona comes in. It helps narrow the focus and gives your team a practical picture of the customer you most want to reach, including what they are responsible for, what they are trying to achieve, what is getting in their way and what influences their buying decisions.
That’s the information that will direct almost every marketing choice you make.
Know what your customer cares about
We’re all very good at talking about our own products, services and expertise, but customers are usually thinking about something else – the problem they need to solve.
A buyer persona helps connect the two.
Once you understand your customer’s goals, challenges and priorities, you can choose topics and messages that are more relevant to them. You can answer the questions they are already asking, address any concerns that may delay a decision and speak to the factors they use to compare suppliers.
It also helps with where you put your marketing effort. Knowing where customers look for information, how they like suppliers to communicate and which messages are important to them gives you a better basis for knowing which channels to use and how to plan your campaigns.
Base it on what customers actually tell you
Don’t leave your buyer persona up to guesswork. Review recent sales conversations, customer feedback, surveys and customer data. Ask your sales, marketing, customer service and leadership teams what they are hearing.
Where possible, talk to customers directly. You are looking for patterns – the same questions coming up, similar frustrations, common objections and repeated reasons for choosing one supplier over another.
The result should sound like a customer your team recognises.
Put it to work
Once you have it, use it! The value of a buyer persona comes from putting it to work. Refer to it when planning content, writing website copy, building campaigns, reviewing sales material or launching a new product or service. It can also help different teams work from the same understanding of who the business is trying to reach.
And keep it current. Customers change, markets change, and your business changes too. Your buyer persona gives you a straightforward test for your marketing – does this matter to the customer we want to reach?
Need help?
We’ve put together a handy Buyer Persona resource to help you get started. Download the template (no, we won’t ask you for your email address in exchange!) and go for it. Or send it to the up-and-coming marketer in your team or a fellow marketer who may be struggling to get clarity. And as always, if you need any help, you know where to find us.
