It\u2019s no surprise that consumers are more likely to trust recommendations<\/a>\u00a0from people they know or even customer reviews, as opposed to advertising:<\/p>\n A friend with our best interest at heart, for example, will almost always be able to offer a more persuasive endorsement<\/a>\u00a0than a marketer whose sole reason for convincing others to buy is that his or her livelihood depends on making this sale. Not only that, but when friends and family provide referrals, the words and phrases they choose will naturally be tailored to what they know of our own preferences.<\/p>\n As a marketer, you need to rely on testing different messages for different audiences to increase sales<\/a>. But don\u2019t take a stab in the dark and assume you understand the people you want to attract.<\/p>\n If you want to have the best chance of getting the attention of prospects in an ad-heavy world \u2014 and, more importantly, convince them to buy from your company \u2014 you\u2019ll need to build buyer personas.<\/p>\n In the past era of TV commercials, print ads and large-scale media buys, advertisements took a \u2018one size fits all\u2019 approach by necessity, as the cost of disseminating a single message made it imperative that the ad reach as many people as possible.<\/p>\n Today, though, we live in a \u2018Big Data\u2019 world. And since we know more than ever about who our customers are, what they\u2019re thinking and how they\u2019re behaving, it\u2019s possible to target advertisements on a much more granular level.<\/p>\n First up, let\u2019s discuss exactly what a buyer persona is.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the simple definition: A buyer persona<\/a>\u00a0is a detailed description of your target customer. It\u2019s a document that lists everything from demographic information to hobbies, and from career history to family size \u2014 all written as if the persona were a real person.<\/p>\n For a deeper understanding of how advertising evolved from a one-size-fits-all approach to today\u2019s data-driven targeting\u2014and why this evolution makes buyer personas so critical\u2014see the section \u2018The Evolution of Advertising and the Big Data Revolution\u2019 above.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n If this seems like an actual description of a real person, that\u2019s because the brand or the marketer did their research.<\/p>\n You might be wondering why you should bother creating buyer personas, since it looks like a lot of work. The answer is simple: With detailed buyer personas, you have a clearly defined target customer.<\/p>\n Knowing them inside and out \u2014 including the motivations they have or the problems\u00a0they\u2019re struggling with \u2014 allows you to tailor your marketing messages to speak directly to the people whom you want to buy your products or services. Similar to a friend who vouches for a certain brand of sneakers, you will understand exactly what might matter to your buyer and convey the message in a manner that a personal friend might use. In other words, you take the guesswork out and stop shooting in the dark with your fingers crossed.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no wonder that 71% of companies<\/a>\u00a0who exceed revenue and lead goals have documented buyer personas.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Travel brand Eindhoven365<\/a>\u00a0decided they needed a stronger understanding of the people they were targeting through their marketing campaigns. They wanted to learn the decision-making behavior of three key segments:<\/p>\n By working to understand each segment through research<\/a>, analysis and dozens of in-depth interviews with target audience representatives, they found valuable insights about each of their segments and<\/em>\u00a0the tactics needed to reach them.<\/p>\n For example, here\u2019s what they discovered about\u00a0Tech Starters:<\/p>\n Eindhoven365 is now using their buyer personas to power<\/a>\u00a0\u201cinbound marketing program, formatting content, search marketing and the implementation of marketing automation software.\u201d<\/p>\n Buyer personas inform everything you do, from the words you use on the phone to the content you post on your website, with one aim: to deliver the sales pitch<\/a>\u00a0that will be most persuasive to a particular buyer\u2019s personal situation.<\/p>\n Marketers who are sending advertising messages into the void without knowing the exact wants, needs, preferences and experiences of their target customers must resort to vague and general language in their ads in the hopes of connecting with at least a few recipients.<\/p>\nSince persuasive messages result in more sales and revenue for your business, it\u2019s definitely worth your time to create and implement buyer personas as part of your marketing strategy. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n Are you ready to take advantage of buyer personas and start driving more sales through your marketing campaigns?<\/p>\n Spoiler alert: It takes more than \u201cspying\u201d on your ideal customers to understand who they are. You\u2019ll need to know everything about them to ensure that your documents are built on concrete data rather than assumptions.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how you can create your own fool-proof buyer personas:<\/p>\n You can\u2019t create marketing messages that appeal to your customers, nor build accurate buyer personas, if you don\u2019t know what makes them tick. You\u2019ll need to put in the work and learn all about them.<\/p>\n A concrete buyer persona contains the answers to the majority of these questions:<\/p>\n Personal Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n Work-Related Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n As you might expect, the specific questions for which you\u2019ll need to find answers will vary. For example: If your product or service doesn\u2019t involve technology, adding the question about your buyer\u2019s tech expertise may be unnecessary.<\/p>\n But how do you\u00a0find the answers to those burning questions? You could:<\/p>\n The most important thing to remember when creating buyer personas is that you should never assume. Guessing that your customers are millennials when they\u2019re actually aged 50+, for example, could throw off your online marketing campaigns<\/a>\u00a0drastically because you wouldn\u2019t target them in the same way.<\/p>\n Granted, investing in buyer persona research can be a big investment \u2014 especially if you\u2019re incentivizing customers to take part in your surveys \u2014 but having that concrete data, rather than a bunch of guesswork, is bound to save cash in the long run.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve collected the answers to your buyer persona questions, it\u2019s time to put your customers into groups.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a bit\u00a0confused, don\u2019t worry. It\u2019s not uncommon for your answers to vary dramatically, which is why you\u2019ll need to create separate buyer personas for the different\u00a0groups of people you sell to.<\/p>\n For example: Mark offers website design services to businesses. When reaching out to new prospects, he tends to encounter two different types of customers:<\/p>\n From experience, Mark has discovered that these two groups respond to very different sales approaches.<\/p>\n The older managers aren\u2019t that comfortable with the Internet and aren\u2019t concerned about making sure their websites look up-to-date. However, they do care a lot about their bottom line, so they respond well to pitches that emphasize how important a modern-looking website is to attracting and retaining new clients.<\/p>\n The younger segment, on the other hand, isn\u2019t as concerned with the bottom line of their practices. But, having grown up around computers, they\u2019re anxious to get their hands on the newest web technology.<\/p>\n In this case, Mark has two distinct target customers:<\/p>\n Mark should create two buyer personas \u2013 or detailed descriptions from sample customers \u2013 based on these profiles. Why? Because segmenting the qualities for each buyer persona, rather than jumbling them all into one, allows Mark to tailor his future marketing campaign messages as closely as possible to the needs of each segment. Talking too much about technology might alienate the older manager, and talking too much about bottom lines might frustrate or bore the younger business owner.<\/p>\n You might not even realize that you have more than two target customers until you start putting this into practice for your business.<\/p>\n It\u2019s predicted that 3-4 personas usually account for over 90% of a company\u2019s sales<\/a>, but regardless of whether you have one or many, the key is to make sure that your buyer personas are as accurate (and defined) as possible.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Great job! You\u2019ve got answers to your sets of questions, and you\u2019ve got your information divided into the types of customers you have. Your job isn\u2019t over yet, though; now it\u2019s time to put your personas together.<\/p>\n Downloading our free buyer persona template is the easiest way to do this. All you\u2019ll need to do is type the qualities that your ideal customers share into the template<\/strong>! Click below:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Let\u2019s put that into practice with our example of Mark, the website designer.<\/p>\n Mark goes through the questions above, combining his own insights with the information he gathers by interviewing past customers, and comes up with the following two buyer personas:<\/p>\n Maggie Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n Eduardo Entrepreneur<\/strong><\/p>\n Notice how each of Mark\u2019s buyer personas tells the story of a different person?<\/p>\n If he\u2019d lumped them all into one, his targeting wouldn\u2019t be as accurate. But by splitting them up, he can analyze which marketing campaigns attract each type of customer.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper: <\/strong>Top 8 Tools to Improve Customer Experience Using Heat Maps, Feedback and Links<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n You\u2019ve got your buyer persona documents down to a T, but now that you\u2019ve put in all this effort to create them, don\u2019t just leave them to float to the bottom of your Google Drive, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n Put them to use \u2014 and start improving your marketing campaigns instantly \u2014 by following these steps.<\/p>\n In order to use your buyer personas effectively, you\u2019ve got to develop methods for classifying prospects accordingly. That way, you\u2019ll be able to tailor everything from your sales pitch to your marketing materials as closely as possible to the type of prospect you\u2019re dealing with.<\/p>\n Remember: buyer personas are the key you\u2019ll need to unlock uber-specific customer targeting and speak to them in a way they\u2019ll convert. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask prospects a clarifying question (or series of questions) during your first interaction with them.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take Mark\u2019s example from above and imagine that he\u2019s dealing with a manager who\u2019s called his business to inquire about website services. Since Mark doesn\u2019t yet know what kind of prospect he\u2019s talking to, one of the first things he should ask is: \u201cWhat is your biggest problem with your current website?\u201d<\/p>\n If the prospect responds that she\u2019s having trouble capturing business leads<\/a>, Mark could assume that he\u2019s talking to a \u201cMaggie Manager\u201d\u00a0persona and adjust his sales pitch to focus on the financial advantages of having a new website.<\/p>\n If the response is that the firm\u2019s current site looks out-of-date, he could hone in on the features that his platform provides in order to appeal to an\u00a0\u201cEduardo Entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n A few other clarifying questions that could help identify different buyer personas include:<\/p>\n Take a look at how Dave Smyth, the brains behind web design company Websmyth, does this with one simple question on his contact form<\/a>:<\/p>\n The \u201clocation\/timezone\u201d allows Dave to see where his customers live, and the \u201ccompany\u201d field gives Dave the opportunity to browse their company website \u2014 both of which give Dave the chance to determine whether a new inquiry fits into his buyer persona.<\/p>\n But even if you don\u2019t have a way to add clarifying questions to your sales cycle, you\u2019re not out of luck. You\u2019ll just need to let your creative juices flow.<\/p>\n Could you run separate advertisements<\/a>\u00a0in your industry\u2019s trade journal using different language\/jargon that will appeal to each of your buyer personas? If you include a special promotional code that prospects must reference when initiating contact with your company, you\u2019ll know which ad piqued their interest and, therefore, which buyer persona they\u2019re more likely to fall under.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the specific classification methodology that works best for your business will depend on your unique sales funnel, marketing strategies and target customers.<\/p>\n There\u2019s another caveat to this technique: Not all prospects will fall neatly into one of your buyer personas, and it\u2019s possible that you\u2019ll receive unexpected answers to your qualifying questions.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t let this throw you. Gather the unexpected responses you receive to create future additional buyer personas and, in the meantime, classify the prospect according to the existing persona that\u2019s closest in nature.<\/p>\n If you go to all the effort of classifying your sales prospects into different buyer personas, it makes sense to track this information in order to nurture them through the marketing funnel. But a handwritten note scrawled on a scrap of paper mid-phone call isn\u2019t the way to go.<\/p>\n It\u2019s wise to use a CRM with a custom picklist field that allows you to select from your established buyer personas. That way, you can quickly glance at your customer list and know which type of marketing, communications or sales copy you\u2019ll need to convert them.<\/p>\n You can do this in HubSpot, simply by uploading your buyer personas and using them to label every new lead<\/a>:<\/p>\n You\u2019ll then be able to run reports based on this data, including:<\/p>\n These types of reports can provide you with powerful marketing insights that could alter the way you spend your advertising dollars, as well as the specific methods you use to reach out to prospects.<\/p>\n The bottom line? Find a good way to record the buyer personas you\u2019ve assigned to your customers and revisit the data you\u2019ve collected at least once a quarter to see if reveals any insight that ultimately affects the way you market or advertise your business.<\/p>\n Classifying your prospects into buyer personas is great and tracking that information is important, but driving your different personas into different marketing funnels is the real reason you\u2019re going to all this trouble in the first place, right?<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve already discussed, knowing your buyer personas allows you to speak to them in a way that\u2019s likely to resonate with their specific wants and needs.<\/p>\n And since each buyer persona likely has a preferred mode of communication, you can use this to create specific marketing funnels<\/a>\u00a0for each type of person you\u2019re looking to convert into a customer:<\/p>\n For example: Sales calls are one of the first places you\u2019ll want to introduce persona-specific content since that\u2019s likely a lead\u2019s final interaction before converting. So create a set of sales scripts tailored to the wants and needs of each of your buyer personas.<\/p>\n Then, once you\u2019ve used your clarifying questions to figure out which buyer persona your prospect falls within, switch to the appropriate set of script to use. This will allow you to have the most compelling possible sales pitch, designed specifically for that person and their needs.<\/p>\n Taking this a step further, here are some more ideas of how you can use your buyer personas to push leads down personalized marketing funnels:<\/p>\n Finishing up with our example of Mark the website designer, let\u2019s see how he can tailor his phone calls to his two different buyer personas \u2014 rather than just giving out a \u201cone size fits all\u201d sales pitch:<\/p>\n For <\/strong>Maggie Manager:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark:<\/strong>\u00a0Hi there. My name is Mark from Websites 4 Everyone<\/em>. I\u2019d love to talk to you about how our streamlined website management system can help your firm meet its business goals.<\/p>\n Maggie Manager<\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0Sure, I\u2019ve got a few minutes.<\/p>\n M:<\/strong>\u00a0Great! Let me start by asking: What would you say is your biggest problem with your current website?<\/p>\n MM: <\/strong>Well, I don\u2019t really know much about websites. I just want something that looks good and will help my recruiting firm get more clients.<\/p>\n M:<\/strong>\u00a0I definitely understand. Having a website is important, but it needs to represent a positive investment for your firm. I\u2019d love to show you how some of my past customers have used their websites to capture new business and increase their overall revenue.<\/p>\n For Eduardo<\/strong>\u00a0Entrepreneur:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark:<\/strong>\u00a0Hi there. My name is Mark from Websites 4 Everyone<\/em>. I\u2019d love to talk to you about how our streamlined website management system can help your firm meet its business goals.<\/p>\n Eduardo<\/strong>\u00a0Entrepreneur:<\/strong>\u00a0Sure, I\u2019ve got a few minutes.<\/p>\n M:<\/strong>\u00a0Great! Let me start by asking: What would you say is your biggest problem with your current website?<\/p>\n EE:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, my website looks incredibly dated. I wish I could get something new to impress my clients who are up-to-date with design and technology, but I don\u2019t have a big budget.<\/p>\n M:<\/strong>\u00a0I definitely understand. Having a website is important, but it needs to look modern if you want potential customers to take you seriously. I\u2019d be happy to show you how my past customers have taken advantage of our system\u2019s high-tech features, and I can show you several options at various price tiers.<\/p>\n Dive Deeper:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![\"Hubspot](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Hubspot-inbound-marketing-vs-outbound-marketing.png\")
<\/p>\nSo what is it that makes personal recommendations so powerful? The fact that there\u2019s no commercial intent in their delivery is a powerful motivator. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Lead-Magnet-Buyer-Persona-Template.png)
<\/a><\/div>\nThe Evolution of Advertising and the Big Data Revolution<\/h2>\n
What Is a Buyer Persona?<\/h2>\n
![\"Buyer](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Buyer-Persona-Tyrone-College.jpg\")
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Infographic Overview: Target Acquired<\/h2>\n
![\"buyer](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/target-acquired-science-of-building-buyer-personas-infographic.png\")
<\/p>\nDo Buyer Personas Really Work? (Case Study)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"TechToMarket](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/TechToMarket_Case_Ehv365.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/div>\nHow to Create Your Own Buyer Personas<\/h2>\n
1)\u00a0Learn About Your Customers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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2) Determine How to Segment Your Customers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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3) Create Your Own Buyer Persona Template<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"Buyer](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Buyer-Persona-Maggie-Manager-1.jpg\")
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![\"Buyer](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Buyer-Persona-Eduardo-Entrepreneur.jpg\")
<\/p>\n4 Ways to Use Your Buyer Personas for Better Marketing Campaigns<\/h2>\n
1) Identify Prospects by Persona, Right from Your First Interaction<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"pasted](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/pasted-image-0-15.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n2) Track Leads More Effectively in Your CRM<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"pasted](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/pasted-image-0-14.png\")
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3) Send Different Personas into Customized Marketing Funnels<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Marketing](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Marketing-Funnel-Single-Grain.png\")
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![\"Optinmonster\"](\"https:\/\/www.singlegrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Optinmonster.png\")
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