A Marketing Sherpa Case study found that buyer personas added the following value:
- 900% increase in length of visit,
- 171% increase in marketing-generated revenue,
- 111% increase in email open rate,
- And 100% increase in the number of pages visited.
What is a Buyer Persona?
Let’s start with some examples.
Let’s say you own a beauty salon.
What do you know about your ideal customers’ demographics and psychographics?
Let’s create an imaginary lady, and let’s call her Ada N. Let’s assume that this lady has the demographics and psychographics of your ideal customer.
This is called your Buyer Persona.
It is a depiction of your ideal customer based on qualitative and quantitative data, market research and what we know about our existing customers.
Developing Ad Copies, and creating great content becomes much easier when you know the persona of Ada N.
Let’s look at the diagram below. That is our buyer Persona for Ada
A buyer persona is a tool every business should use. It helps with product development, marketing, content creation, and writing. Here’s what you need to know about creating and using buyer personas.
A buyer persona is a detailed description of your ideal customer. It’s not a real person, but rather a fictional character based on real data about your existing customers and market research.
Here are some key details to include in a buyer persona:
- – Name
- – Age
- – Marital Status
- – Occupation
- – Location
- – Income Level
- – Education
- – Preferences
- – Interests
- – Goals
- – Challenges
- – Communication Channels
Why are Buyer Personas Important?
Buyer personas help you understand your audience. By creating a persona, you can tailor your products, messages, and marketing strategies to meet the needs and preferences of your target customers.
This ensures that every customer has a great experience with your company.
How to Use Buyer Personas
1. Understanding Your Audience:
The main goal of creating a buyer persona is to understand your target audience, this refers to the different types of people who might buy your product. This helps you customize your approach to meet their preferences and needs.
2. Tailoring Your Messages and Products:
Once you know who your customers are, you can develop messages and products that speak directly to them. This makes your marketing efforts more effective and helps build a stronger connection with your audience.
3. Identifying Key Channels:
Your buyer persona will help you determine which communication channels to focus on. For example, if your target customer spends a lot of time on social media, you should focus your efforts there. Conversely, if they don’t use certain platforms, you can avoid wasting time and resources on those channels.
4. Creating Relevant Content:
Knowing your target audience allows you to create content that is informative, entertaining, or inspirational. You can write headlines that grab their attention and use images that resonate with them.
This makes it more likely that your audience will engage with your content and connect with your brand.
5. Targeted Marketing:
By combining buyer personas with the ability to target your audience based on characteristics like location, industry, and interests, you can improve the chances that the right people will see and engage with your brand.
Example of a Buyer Persona
We already looked at one example,Ada N.
Let’s look at another example
Let’s say you run a fitness apparel company. Here’s an example of a buyer persona for your business:
- – Name: Fitness Fiona
- – Age: 28
- – Marital Status: Single
- – Occupation: Marketing Manager
- – Location: New York City
- – Income Level: $70,000 per year
- – Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing
- – Preferences: Eco-friendly products, trendy designs
- – Interests: Yoga, running, healthy eating
- – Goals: Stay fit, look stylish while working out
- – Challenges: Finding affordable, high-quality fitness gear
- – Communication Channels: Instagram, fitness blogs, email newsletters
By understanding Fitness Fiona, you can tailor your marketing efforts to appeal to people like her.
For example, you might create Instagram posts featuring eco-friendly workout gear, write blog articles about healthy eating, and send email newsletters with special offers on trendy fitness apparel.
Benefits of Using Buyer Personas
Better Customer Understanding:
You get a clear picture of who your customers are and what they need.
Improved Marketing Efforts:
Your marketing becomes more targeted and effective.
According to a study by Rock Content, website traffic rises by 210% when companies include buyer personas in their business.
Enhanced Product Development:
You can develop products that better meet the needs of your customers.
Stronger Customer Relationships:
Your customers feel understood and valued, leading to increased loyalty.
How would this understanding of my target audience help me as a Content Writer or Content Marketer?
Let’s look at this example
I love to teach with a lot of examples
Now let’s say you’re a chef and I contacted you to be my chef.
Because you didn’t understand that you first need to know your target audience before preparing meals for them, you made a big mistake.
Facts about me:
I don’t like spices, I don’t like beef (cow meat) and also I don’t like much salt.
I love a lot of pepper, fish or goat meat, and would prefer a little salt.
So you went ahead and prepared my meal with spices, little pepper, and even used cow meat.
The result; I could not eat the food!
Oh you’re such a great cook, in fact one of the best chefs in town.
And truth be told, the food was so delicious!
But guess what, I could not eat it.
Oh no you felt so disappointed.
What you didn’t know was that, no matter how delicious a meal is, if there’s little or no pepper in it I wouldn’t be able to eat it.
Secondly, I hate spices.
Knowing your audience is like preparing meal for me with a lot of pepper, zero spices, little salt, with goat meat or fish.
I would enjoy that meal and even recommend you to my friends and colleagues; “hey this lady here is a great cook, please patronize her”
Lol
But that’s true
Similarly, when writing or creating something, understanding who you’re talking to helps you make it just right for them. It’s like giving them exactly what they want.
Another Example
Let’s say you visited your brother, and his 10 year old niece who loves storytelling a lot, particularly fairy tales, comes to you and say “please uncle could you tell me some interesting stories?”
Imagine sharing adventure stories with this ten-year-old girl who enjoys fairy tales. Surely it would not be as thrilling. Right?
Know Your Target Audience
Selecting an engaging and interesting “story” or content topic is made easier when you are aware of your audience.
Also, imagine talking to this little girl as If you were speaking to a 28-year-old graduate, picture yourself using fancy words in your narrative. What do you think you’re doing? confusing the young girl!
Your audience may find it difficult to understand your content if you use technical terms or the incorrect tone. Knowing your audience will help you connect with them by using the appropriate language and tone.
But imagine that you told the little girl fairy tales, exactly what she wanted. And you spoke with words simple for a child to understand.
Do you know what will happen next? She would share the story to her classmates!
Content That Resonates Is Shared
Content that resonates with your audience is shared with others in the same way that a good fairytale story is. When your content appeals to your audience, they will spread the word to others who might find it intriguing.
So being a great storyteller is similar to knowing your target audience in content marketing.
It assists you in producing content that your audience enjoys, finds relatable, finds simple to connect with, comprehends, and believes in.
It’s like telling them the ideal fairytale story that keeps them coming back for more when your content is just right for them!
Conclusion
Creating and using buyer personas is a simple yet powerful way to improve your business.
By understanding your audience, tailoring your messages and products, and focusing on the right channels, you can ensure that your customers have a great experience with your company.
This leads to better marketing, more sales, and stronger customer relationships.
For more information on buyer personas, check out HubSpot Guide and Hootsuite Article. These resources provide valuable insights and tips on how to create and use buyer personas effectively.