Buyer Persona Marketing

Buyer Persona (translated: "buyer persona" or "portrait of the ideal customer") is a detailed, fictional description of a representative of the ideal target customer for a given business or product. This is not a real customer, but a constructed fiction based on real data and research about your audience.

Think of it as a character in a story who embodies all the characteristics, needs, fears and behavior of your best potential customers.

Why is Buyer Persona so important?

Marketing and sales become much more effective when you don't address an impersonal "market", but a specific person. Persona helps you to:

• Create targeted content: Write blogs, emails and posts that address the specific questions and problems of your ideal customer.
• Target ads: You know where your persona "hangs out" online and how to reach them.
• Develop products: You understand which features are really important to your customers.
• Improve service: You anticipate questions and objections that customers might have.
• Unite the team: The entire organization (marketing, sales, development) talks about the same type of customer and works towards one goal.

What does a good Buyer Persona consist of?

A good persona is not just "a 30-year-old woman". It's a rich, multidimensional profile. Here are the key elements it should include:

• Demographics: Name, age, gender, location, marital status, income, education.
• Profession and role: What is their profession? What is their position in the company? What are their responsibilities?
• Goals and challenges: What are their personal and professional goals? What problems are they trying to solve? What stops them?
• Motivation and pain points: What motivates them to make a decision? What is their "pain" – the fear, frustration or problem that torments them?
• How do they make decisions?: What does their buying process look like? Where do they find information? Who influences them? What criteria do they use for selection?
• Objections and barriers: What objections might they have against your product? (Price, complexity, distrust, etc.)
• Quotes (Thought bubbles): How would they formulate their problem to themselves? (E.g.: "I have so much work that I never have time to manage the company's social media.")
• Information channels: Which websites do they read? Which social networks do they use? Books, blogs, influencers?

Example of Buyer Persona:

Name: Maria "The Successful Marketer"

• Age: 32
• Position: Digital Marketing Manager at a medium-sized company
• Goals: To increase website traffic and conversions. To prove ROI of marketing campaigns. To look innovative in front of her boss.
• Challenges: No time to learn about complex new tools. Budget constraints are high. It's difficult to measure the effectiveness of different channels.
• Motivation: To find an easy-to-use tool that makes her more efficient and saves her time. To have clear reports and charts to show management.
• Information channels: Reads marketing blogs like MarketingLand and HubSpot. Active in LinkedIn groups for digital marketing. Watches webinars and tutorials on YouTube.
• Quote: "I need to increase traffic by 20% this quarter, but I don't have time to analyze data all day."

How is Buyer Persona created?

• Customer interviews: Talk to real customers (your best customers!) to understand their motivations.
• Market research: Analysis of data from Google Analytics, social networks and CRM system.
• Surveys: Send questionnaires to your customer base.
• Talk to the sales team: They are on the front line and know what questions and objections customers have.

IMPORTANT: One business can have several different Buyer Personas. Usually 2-3 main ones are created to cover most of the target audience.

In summary: Buyer Persona is the most powerful tool to move from general marketing to personalized, relevant and effective marketing that truly resonates with the people you want to reach.