One of the very first tasks we tackle with a new Inbound Marketing client is an in-depth analysis of their existing customer base. Then we interview a few of them. Then we chat to the sales team, support team and anyone else in the company that has insight to customer characteristics. Then we use the information to create a detailed buyer persona profile.
A buyer persona is a research-based, modeled representation of your ideal buyer detailing (amongst other things) their demographics, professional position, pain points and business challenges, communication and socialising preferences, research resources and processes and more.
Without a buyer focused approach to marketing it wouldn't matter what tactics you used, the results would be less than desirable. A documented buyer persona helps marketers create content and marketing campaigns that address the very specific needs and interests of your ideal customer. And that is the critical difference between marketing that generates good quality leads and customers for your business and marketing that - well - doesn't.
Buyer personas are not a new concept but they have found renewed status at the hands of highly effective digital marketers using targeting to ensure maximum ROI from their marketing efforts.
Let's dive into how to create your buyer personas.
It's tempting as a business owner to assume you know everything about your ideal client - and understandably so. After all, it is your business. However, buyer personas are more than just the kind of customer you think is ideal. They're well-round, carefully researched representations of your ideal client, from their job descriptions and family lives, right down to their favourite food.
It's only possible to build these kinds of personas by knowing which questions to ask, and where to begin your research. Asking the right questions helps you determine exactly where your personas' pain points are, what challenges they're facing and how your service or product can meet their needs.
The best buyer personas are based on qualitative and experiential research which means you're going to be working with a lot of data. Dive into your current customer database, your marketing analytics, read up on research reports that are applicable and interview existing, potential and even previous or lost customers to gather the information needed to answer the following:
So you know your persona's name, their age and gender. But does this mean you know them? Nope - you don't know them any better than the person queuing in front of you at the bank, or driving a car alongside you on the highway. Getting to know your personas well means making a concerted effort to ask questions that will help you clarify who they are.
Questions to help you achieve this could be:
Once you've established the above, you could also delve even deeper by asking questions that tell you more about your personas personalities. These might be:
Once you've established who your personas are, it's time to gain a little more insight into their day-to-day routines. After all, we all have them, and they say a lot about who we are.
To establish this information, you could ask:
Everyone has things that niggle at and bother them, and your personas are no different. Knowing their pain points is critical if you're going to accurately align your content to their needs.
To discover their pain points you can try the following questions:
This is an important section of questions, as these answers will give you working knowledge of where your personas will go on the hunt for problem-solving information. Once you've gained this insight, you'll know where to position your content for maximum efficacy.
Determine this by asking:
We all have things we value. Knowing what your personas value is a good way to determine which offers and content will resonate well with them. Once you've established their pain points, it's a lot easier to determine what they value, but you'll still benefit from finding a little more information.
Questions to help you determine what your personas place value on might be:
After the research phase is complete you create a reference document for each buyer persona. Using names like Manager Mike, Receptionist Rose or Sales Stan and including a photo help to 'humanise' your buyer persona.
HubSpot has recently incorporated buyer personas within the marketing software dashboard which is incredibly helpful for marketers. With it, you can:
The tool will guide you through the process and ask questions about your buyer persona. Doing all the research beforehand and having your document handy will help you get it done in no time. Existing HubSpot customers can upload buyer personas by following this simple tutorial. Once populated, it will look something like this:
Buyer personas aren't just for marketers. Companies that reference buyer personas see better overall success and customer satisfaction results. This is due to the fact that everyone from the front line receptionist to sales team and support desk knows precisely who they are dealing with, and how to be most effective in doing so. This was the reason I think a place in the boardroom (or lunchroom) wouldn't go amiss!
Taking the time to build well-rounded, extensive buyer personas could mean the difference between success or failure for your inbound marketing efforts. These personas form the base on which all your campaigns need to be founded - so resist the temptation to barrel headlong into your inbound marketing planning and implementation without spending time on your personas. You won't regret making it a focus area, and it'll go a long way toward helping you create brilliant content and getting those all important leads!