Sales and marketing strategies are useful if you know to whom you are selling or marketing. Developing a buyer persona will help you tailor your efforts to see more return on investment. Most companies like to think “everyone” is their audience but that’s not true. Even big brands like Apple or Target will have customer profiles that address who their shopper is so they can reach them effectively. These are industry giants, and the way they become so large is through a thorough understanding of their customer.

What is a Buyer Persona

Tailoring your buyer persona is relevant to your marketing efforts. It gives you the chance to customize your content to speak directly to the individual, get them engaged, and increase your chances of turning a lead into a buyer. Taking the time to outline who your customer is will help you throughout every purchasing stage and even give you insight as to how you can update your product or services to fit their needs. For example, your buyer persona might work as a teacher, but if you’re selling a reading comprehension program that improves retention, then you don’t want to target math or science teachers who won’t benefit as much from your product.

Getting the most out of your buyer persona will include market research and surveys from your current customers. Some businesses find that their product range transcends more than one persona which is fine. It’s not uncommon after doing your due diligence that you have more. Though if you are new to the process, you will want to start small to ensure you are capturing the most relevant information and applying it successfully.

How Buyer Personas Improve Marketing

Trying to explain how a buyer persona helps you improve your marketing efforts could take all day. So, to put it simply, knowing your customer means you can develop engaging content that is appealing for your audience. Why is this essential? For starters, if you tailor your message, you can gain quality leads. As quality leads come through your funnel, your sales team will have an easier time transferring the interaction into revenue. If you were to send a marketing email to a list of addresses that weren’t your buyer persona you would be spending more time and money on the effort than the return.

Once you’ve really nailed the customer profile than you can do the opposite by putting together a “negative” persona which would confirm all the qualities that aren’t going to translate into revenue. This strategy is also helpful because it lets you weed out customers or clients that won’t engage with your content and improve your return on investment for PPC or Facebook ad campaigns.

Creating a Buyer Persona

If you’ve never taken the time to create a buyer persona, it can be tough to get started. We’ve put together talking points to help you get going.

1. Collect information about demographics.

Demographics would include figuring out if they are married, what is their annual income, and where they live for starters. You can also define by age, gender, and whether or not they have children. Collecting demographics is the best place to start because this information is free and readily available.

2. Define their educational background and career.

Did your customer graduate college? Are they receiving a Phd.? Will they use this degree once when they start a career or did they dramatically switch to something new?

3. Find out the industry they serve.

We aren’t talking about finding out they are in “sales.” It’s more specific. Do they work in sales for a digital marketing company whose clients are in the medical profession? Get down to the nitty-gritty.

4. What is their job title or role at work?

Search for information that would let you know the title they have, how long they have been in that position and what they contribute to their company. Do they have employees that report to them? If so then mark that down.

5. Understand the company size.

When you work B2B, you’ll need information about the company size. If they are the CEO of a company that provides asphalt and road management services, define their average revenue and employee count.

6. What are their responsibilities?

If you are business that is selling a service to a customer recreationally, you’ll want to define their responsibilities outside the office. Are they married but make all the purchasing decisions? Are they single with more of a disposable income? If you’re trying to help someone on their career path, illustrate the challenges they might face at work so you can tailor your content to help them overcome these struggles.

7. What do they read?

If you’re not a direct competitor with their choice of reading material, it’s possible to align yourself in a couple different ways. You can either take out advertising or try to make a guest appearance.

8. Which of your competitors do they engage with?

If you’re buyer persona already engages with your competitors, you can find out how by doing some digging. Their involvement can help inspire how you create content, so you are speaking directly to them.

Building Target Buyers Persona

Putting together your buyer persona is a challenge but necessary because it will help your inbound marketing and web development. At Horton Group, we’ve been helping businesses create a successful digital strategy for over twenty years. You can learn more by visiting our website.