What is the "Buyer Persona" and why is it important?
While buyers move through the buyer's journey in the same steps - Awareness, Consideration, and finally Decision, they do so under a framework of filters.
What do I mean? Each person views the world differently based on a number of factors, the most relevant of which might arguably be intent. The consumer's intent is based on their goal at the moment, looking toward the future, or filling a need that resolves a looming issue. Depending on your product or service, this person might look different at each stage of the journey so you really want to capture who they are from the outset.
HubSpot has a great tool that allows you to create buyer personas in an organized and fun way. The site is called "Make My Persona" and it's a great tool to help you get started in building personas. Make sure to ask questions about your personas in order to really identify who they are so you know who you're talking to.
Example:
What do I mean? Each person views the world differently based on a number of factors, the most relevant of which might arguably be intent. The consumer's intent is based on their goal at the moment, looking toward the future, or filling a need that resolves a looming issue. Depending on your product or service, this person might look different at each stage of the journey so you really want to capture who they are from the outset.
HubSpot has a great tool that allows you to create buyer personas in an organized and fun way. The site is called "Make My Persona" and it's a great tool to help you get started in building personas. Make sure to ask questions about your personas in order to really identify who they are so you know who you're talking to.
Example:
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In this example, we're creating a semi-fictional character representation who works with a media marketing company. We've listed their their methods of communication, how their job is measured, their goals and objectives, their job responsibilities and so on. You can see that this is a B2B persona that you can leverage to meet your needs when approaching construction development companies, especially if you're just breaking in as a Real Estate professional in commercial properties.
You now know how to talk to this person either face to face or in messaging through commercials, social ads, email marketing, and print. You may have a great idea of what she's looking for with regard to your product or service. If you want to approach her about potentially representing the company in investment projects, you'll discuss how you can help Judy bring potential customers to the properties this company serves or other ways you can help them build revenue. Judy's in the position to consider leads, as lead generation is the foundation of her job, but she may also want to know more about the type of clients you can bring to her door, like buyers or people looking for development, which of these can you server to her?
Where will you find her normally? Probably on LinkedIn or maybe even Pinterest. Do the research to find out where someone in Judy's position hangs out. When you know where you can find her, you can start a conversation with her. We'll go into transmedia marketing in another section so keep this persona in mind because we'll show you how best to reach her no matter what type of medium she's using. |
Number of Personas
How many personas should you create? That's up to you and your goals. Some business create B2B personas and B2C personas. They may create 5 or just 2. You want to keep your number of personas manageable so anything over 10 is probably too many. Have fun building the personas the best fit your business and goals. You'll find that it aligns much easier with your messaging then you might think right now. Also know, you don't have to build the persona as you see above, add your own elements, the possibilities are limitless.
