Zeroing in on your Target with Customer Buying Persona
As times in business are evolving, so are
customer expectations. Consumers today only pay attention to marketing
communications that are tailored to them specifically and that are extremely relevant
to their individual experiences. In a case like this, a key element of any
successful inbound marketing approach is drafting buyer personas.
A buyer persona is a fictional depiction of
your target market or ideal customer.
Creating a buyer persona makes it possible for you to explore and understand your clients' requirements and desires. The process offers insightful information that you may utilise to deliver your message to the appropriate audience at the appropriate time, in the most effective manner. Additionally, they make it possible for you to carry out keyword research, usability testing, targeted advertising, and market research more successfully.
You can create an effective buyer persona
by following these 3 simple steps:
Step
01: Research
Begin your research by looking at your current clients. To draw up information and subsequently inferences from that knowledge, you can begin by asking the following questions:
- What does their work include?
- Do they manage people or processes?
- What is their life like outside of their work?
Step
02: Document persona attributes
Answer important questions about your customers persona which could include the following attributes:
I. The Person
These attributes help you imagine
the first layer of your customer buyer persona. Accurate information about the
same could be gathered easily by running a small background check on your
target audiences.
1)
Function in the company
E.g.: CFO, CIO, IT Department Heads, IT Manager
2)
Years spent in the position
held
E.g.:7 to 15 years
3)
Highest degree completed
E.g.: MBA/PhD
4)
Current age
E.g.: 37-55 years of age
5)
Gender
E.g.: Male/female/other
6)
Income bracket they belong to
E.g.: 30k – 100k thousand per
month
7)
Location
E.g.: City/town
8)
Demeanour
E.g.: Professional,
Pragmatic, Skilled, Value-driven
9)
Most preferred mode of
communication
E.g.:
Combination onsite, phone, virtual calls
II. The Company
This segment includes gathering more
information about the company they presently work in and contribute towards.
1) Industry of operation
E.g.: Real Estate, Oil and Natural Gas
2) Size of the company
E.g.: 100-5000
3) Geography
E.g.: UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt
4) Yearly Revenue
E.g.: 200-250k MIL
III. The
Goals
Here, you get a
chance to outline the goals of the company your target audience belongs to.
This is important as it helps you provide them with a solution that is in
direct alignment with their business outcomes.
1) Who do they report
to?
E.g.: CEO, Chairpersons
2) Their top KPIs
E.g.: Rate of interest, Revenue Growth and
Employee/Customer satisfaction
3) Top reasons they realise they need to
purchase a product
E.g.: Gaps
in current processes or some external factors
4) Top reasons they would be interested in your company
E.g.:
Strong customer centric work ethic and technical expertise.
IV. The Habits
The last layer of your buyer persona is documenting
their habits, giving yourself a deeper insight into their psyche and dwelling
truly into the kind of person they are. This is the final step, as having an
idea about their subconscious or personal self can go a long way in offering
you exactly what they most likely need.
1) Favourite social network for business purposes
E.g.: LinkedIn
2) Favourite social network for personal purposes
E.g.: Facebook or Instagram
3) Preferred content delivery method
E.g.: Customer Success
Stories, Case Studies, Product Demo Videos, Data Driven Insights, Infographics
4) Preferred source of information for business topics
E.g.:
Arabian Business, CIO.com, HBR, Bloomberg Business
Week ME
Step 03:
Chart a full customer persona for you to work with
You are now ready to chart a top-to-bottom customer persona that you can create tailored marketing and sales strategies for. Feel free to exercise your imagination to its fullest. As people relate to stories, an authentic buyer persona will help your sales and marketing teams to better direct their efforts to serve your clients in real life.
Creating buyer personas for customers is
not a new concept. For many years esteemed business schools, colleges and
institutes have been teaching it as a formal subject.
To gain a more in-depth knowledge on the discipline, you can also take up a course in the same. Here are a few links:
- Coursera course titled “How to create a buyer persona” - https://www.coursera.org/lecture/inbound-business-strategy/how-to-create-a-buyer-persona-dRZLs
- Udemy course titled “Create
powerful buyer personas for your small business” -https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-build-better-buyer-personas/
Alternatively, you can also visit us on our website and get in touch with our marketing experts who will help you through your journey of creating customer personas, so you can take a step towards realising your greater business goals!
