In order to effectively sell your products and services to the right people, buyer personas are key. As important as these customer profiles are, many people aren’t sure how to create them. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to create effective target personas. We’ll show you how to go about this in a few simple steps.
Why are Buyer Personas Important?
First, let’s talk about why having buyer personas is important. Personas are representations of your customers. When you know who you’re writing to, you can create content that is tailored to their needs. Having a clear picture of your ideal buyer also helps you attract better leads, craft compelling calls to action, and see a higher return on investment.
Here are four steps to developing effective buyer personas for your own brand.
Give Your Persona a Name
When you think of your target persona as a real person, it allows you to be a better judge in terms of how they think, feel, and act. Ultimately, this influences whether or not a person like “Lucy”, for example, buys your product or service.
Aside from Lucy’s name, also compile other details about her, such as:
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Age
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Location
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Interests
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Pain points
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Marital status
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Annual income
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Job description
Define Your Buyer Persona’s Needs
Let’s say that you sell database software to small business owners like Lucy. Lucy needs an easy, effective, and affordable database solution.
Like other small business owners, Lucy doesn’t have a lot of time to learn new software. She wants her database to look and feel similar to the spreadsheets she has been using. Lucy needs to be sold on familiarity, simplicity, and support. By identifying her personal needs, you can position your product in the most attractive way.
Define Your Buyer Persona’s Pain Points
What is Lucy struggling with? Is she tired of being sold expensive database solutions that are too big or too complex for her small business? Does she not have time to learn a new system?
By understanding Lucy’s pain points, you can explain how your product will solve these challenges. Use one of these four lead nurturing methods to address Lucy’s frustrations and how you plan to solve them. Customers like Lucy will appreciate that you’ve done your research and can offer something that your competitors cannot.
Know Your Persona’s Communication Channels
It’s important to know what communication channels your ideal buyer uses. This way, you can deliver targeted messages in the right place, at the right time. Lucy is most active on Facebook, usually early mornings and late evenings when she’s not running her business. She also likes emails because she can answer them on her own time. She is not a fan of phone calls.
Lucy probably feels like a real customer, but she’s just a persona. Hopefully, you can see how developing a buyer persona can help you see into the eyes of real customers. Remember that people’s needs change over time, so be sure to update your personas regularly.
