What is a Buyer Persona?
A buyer persona is a fictional but research-based profile of a company’s ideal customers. Businesses usually have several detailed buyer personas as a general representation of their customer base. Creating multiple buyer personas has a two-fold purpose: first, if the end user of your product or service requires approval of others before making a purchase; and second, to craft a tailored content strategy that commands high engagement with your prospective buyers.
The goal of the buyer persona, which can also be called marketing persona or customer profile, is to gain insight into how target consumers think, act, respond, and behave online. A buyer persona helps businesses gain a genuine understanding of prospective buyers’ needs and wants so they can do a better job of serving them.
How to Develop a Buyer Persona
- Website and Social Media Analytics
To better empathize with your ideal customer, take time to collect both website and social media data. Look for online trends, specific motivators, and all other relevant data so you can perform a comprehensive analysis of the type of content your customers currently view and ignore. - Customer Database
Age, gender, location, and other demographic information can provide a wealth of information about your target consumers. Use your current database including customer purchasing history to determine how and when buying decisions happen. - Market Research
When building an effective buyer persona, don’t neglect any insights on prospective customers. Market research is integral for gathering useful data both on your current and future buyers. It is also important to identify and evaluate the marketing strategies that competitors use to connect with and retain their existing client base. - Sales Team Feedback
Your sales team knows your customers better than anyone else. Their feedback and suggestions are crucial for finding out customer pain points, crafting tailored buyer personas, and offering genuine solutions that will gain customer approval and loyalty. - Customer Insight
Use various surveys and polls to get to know your current and future buyers. Check out online reviews and interviews of both your shoppers and your competitors’ shoppers to gain insight into personal preferences, information search process, and general consumers in the industry.
Tips for Using Your Buyer Persona to Create Content
Having a detailed buyer persona in place enables organizations to write customized content that will match target consumers’ needs, personality, and interests. Buyer personas can influence your content marketing strategy in the following aspects:
- Style and Tone
Buyer persona should be used to set the right tone, style, and jargon. For example, your content template would be totally different for a professional female about to enter retirement than you would for a teenage male just graduating from the university. - Problem-Solution Strategy
As more online users are relying on internet information to solve their problems, this is a great opportunity to use your buyer personas in providing them with the information they are looking for. When creating problem-solution content, it must address specific pain points and offer attractive options to make these problems go away. - Targeted Keywords
Buyer personas are valuable for narrowing down certain statements and questions prospective buyers are using when searching online. This can expand keyword generation by considering both conventional industry-based keywords and additional keywords and keyword phrases that represent your target consumers. - Blog Topic Creation
Choosing the right blog topics won’t be too overwhelming if you rely on your buyer personas. When you have a more intimate knowledge of who your ideal customers are, this will help reduce the bounce rate of your content and increase conversion rates. - Website Content
Your website may be the first thing prospective buyers will encounter. Use your buyer personas to tailor your website content, website design, and user experience according to their inclinations, goals, and expectations. - Social Media Strategy
An effective digital marketing strategy includes a dynamic social media presence. Buyer personas can be a guide on the type of content to promote at the right platform at the right moment. Knowing prospective buyers’ behavior on social media will enable you to put out social ads, content, and data that will generate the most click throughs and conversion
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