Photo is Courtesy of HubSpotIn the HubSpot Buyer Persona Webinar Series, they define personas as archetypes that describe the various goals and observe behavior patterns among potential users and customers. Now before you try to convince yourself you fully understand that definition and know what this it is, let me explain. Buyer personas are 100 percent necessary in order to have a high customer satisfaction rating and an impeccable relationship with customers.
Personas are based off of a group of people who have similar views on the products they buy as well as similar lifestyles, behaviors and attitudes. These similarities allow companies to improve their marketing toward that specific group of people and create products that those customers will use based on their preferences and goals.
Now that you have some insight on what a persona is, it’s time to get a little bit more in-depth.
How to Create a Buyer Persona
In creating a persona there are several “must-haves.” To begin, each persona has to have a name and be as human as possible. Do not be confused, they are not real people, they are just Internet personalities that relate to your ideal customers. There are several fundamental questions that companies have to ask themselves to make the persona as relatable as possible.
· The Role of the Customer- What is the customers typical day comprised of?
· Company- What industry does the customer work for?
· Goals- What does it mean for the customer to be successful?
· Challenges- What are the biggest challenges for the customer?
· Watering Holes- How does the customer learn about new information for their job? What publications does the customer read? What associations and social media networks is the customer a part of?
· Personal Background- How old is the customer? Gender? Marital status?
It is important to tell customer stories and make the relationship as significant as possible by researching customers and integrating their wants onto the company website, such as gift cards, content and incentives.
How to Effectively Use Your Buyer Persona
The whole purpose of creating a persona is so that your business knows which types of customers are best for certain parts of the business. Therefore, it is important to effectively plan out how you will create this persona. In order to create great marketing for the persona, it is essential to listen and understand the questions of customers via e-mail, social media, telephone calls, etc. to address their issues and answer them. In responding to these questions, it is imperative to use the language that the persona would use and understand.
Once the company sets a goal for a persona, whether it is to bring in a certain percentage of sales by the end of the month or respond to a certain amount of questions each day, each employee must do their part to facilitate the goal; it cannot be reached with the help of only several employees.
When marketing toward these buyer personas, there are a couple rules to abide by to help ensure success.
The quality of the content must be spot-on in order to get the right traffic. Using the right keywords will attract the exact target market that the company is looking for.
In order to make it easier to respond to customers, you should have email templates and demo scripts for each persona. It is crucial to update your company's blog at least once a month, and it is strongly advised that it is updated daily.
Through these personas, companies are building relationships with customers in order to make them feel as if they can confide in someone that they are compatible with.