What Are Buyer Personas? Why Do You Need Them? And How Do You Create Them?

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While marketers often work to produce content that differentiates them and describes the benefits of their products and services, they often miss the mark on producing content for each type of person buying their product or service. For instance, if your prospect seeks a new hosting service, a marketer focused on search and conversions may prioritize performance, while the IT director may prioritize security features. You must speak to both, often requiring you to target each with specific advertisements and content. In short, it’s about segmenting your company’s messaging to each of the types of prospects you need to speak to. Some examples of missed opportunities: Conversions – A company focuses on content getting the most attention on its site rather than identifying the personas driving conversions. If 1% of your site’s visitors turn into customers, you need to target that 1% and identify who they are, what compelled them to convert, and then figure out how to speak to others like them. Industries – A company’s platform serves multiple industries, but the generic content on its site speaks to businesses in general. Without industry in the content hierarchy, prospects visiting the site from a specific segment cannot visualize or conceive how the platform will help them. Positions – A company’s content speaks directly to the overall business results their platform has provided but neglects to single out how the platform assists each job position within the company.

Companies make purchase decisions collaboratively, so it’s essential that each position impacted is communicated to. Instead of focusing on your brand, products, and services to develop a hierarchy of content that positions each, you instead look at your company from the eyes of your buyer and build out content and messaging programs that speak directly to their motivation for becoming a customer of your brand. What are Buyer Personas? Buyer personas are fictional identities that represent the types of prospects that your business is speaking to. Brightspark Consulting offers China WhatsApp Number List this infographic of a B2B Buyer Persona: Buyer Persona Profile Source: Brightspark Examples of Buyer Personas A publication like Martech Zone, for example, serves multiple personas: Susan, the Chief Marketing Officer – Sue is the decision-maker regarding technology purchases to assist her company’s marketing needs. Sue uses our publication to both discover and research tools. Dan, the Marketing Director – Dan is developing the strategies to implement the best tools to assist their marketing, and he wants to keep up with the latest and greatest technologies.

Sarah, the Small Business Owner – Sarah doesn’t have the monetary resources to hire a marketing department or agency. They seek best practices and inexpensive tools to improve their marketing without breaking their budget. Scott, the Marketing Technology Investor – Scott is trying to keep an eye out for the latest trends in the industry that he invests in. Katie, the Marketing Intern – Katie is going to school for marketing or public relations and wants to understand the industry better to get a great job when she graduates. Tim, the Marketing Technology Provider – Tim wants to watch for partner companies he might integrate with or competing services. As we write our posts, we communicate directly to some of these personas. In the case of this post, it would be Dan, Sarah, and Katie that we’re focused on. These examples, of course, aren’t the detailed versions – they’re just an overview. The actual persona profile can and should go much deeper in insight as to every element of the persona’s profile… industry, motivation, reporting structure, geographic location, gender, salary, education, experience, age, etc.