{"id":2334,"date":"2020-09-14T10:26:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T10:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctc-digital.com\/ctc2022\/?p=2334"},"modified":"2021-02-02T10:51:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T10:51:50","slug":"developing-utilizing-your-buyer-personas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctc-digital.com\/ctc2022\/developing-utilizing-your-buyer-personas\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing Buyer Personas: Find and Reach your Target Customers the proven way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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In this blog, we give you a no-BS, straight up, clear shot of this phenomenal marketing tool called the Buyer Persona. By the time you\u2019re done with this read, you will be ready to roll the red carpets for your perfect, tailor-made buyer personas that can literally shine a Master Shifu kinda of wisdom on your sales and marketing strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IN THIS BLOG<\/strong><\/span>

1. WHAT is a buyer persona?<\/a>
2. WHY should I bother with one?<\/a>
3. HOW do I create them?<\/a>
4. HOW do I use them?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHAT is a buyer persona?<\/span><\/strong>
Alan Cooper<\/a>, the father of \u201cVisual Basic\u201d introduced the term Buyer Persona in his famous 1999 book \u201cThe inmates are running the asylum<\/em>\u201d. He introduced them as a practical, interaction design tool. Today, they have evolved into a strategic component of sales & marketing planning across industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buyer persona<\/strong> is a detailed, written down, semi-fictional description of your target consumer group\/s. It lists everything – from demographics to interests and hobbies; family size and income to their professional journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not like a CV though. Peppered simply with facts and figures or even characteristics. It\u2019s more personal \u2013 deeper \u2013 if you please. Like YOUR account of a dear friend \u2013 her motivators and fears, her deepest desires and nightmares.<\/strong>\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHY should I bother with one?<\/span><\/strong>
Creating a buyer persona is time-consuming and can get overwhelming. You\u2019re working with a whole lot of information and you may not intuitively know how to synthesize it. But\u2026 it\u2019ll be worth it. In more ways than one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up \u2013 buyer personas help eliminate or at least reduce your days of sifting through marketing strategies like a headless chicken – hoping something from your elaborate, ingenious list will work. Instead, buyer personas help you zoom in on your consumers and know them better. In effect, you tailor-make marketing strategies that resonate with them. You reduce costs of blanket marketing initiatives, improve marketing ROI, and enhance brand recall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClarity affords focus\u201d \u2013 Thomas Leonard\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

16%<\/div><\/em><\/strong><\/a>improvement in Click Through Rates of Email marketing driven by personas <\/em><\/a><\/td>
71%<\/div><\/em><\/strong><\/a>number of companies that exceed revenue and lead goals AND have documented personas<\/em><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

HOW to create them?<\/span><\/strong>
Buyer personas that are based on real people are not designed in a closed, sound-proof conference room. As Tony Zambito<\/a> – founder and leading authority in buyer insights and personas \u2013 reminds, buyer personas are NOT to be created; they are to be researched and crafted in the real world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look the case of High Five – an online training organization<\/em> to navigate through this simple, intuitive, and agile process of creating buyer personas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Their marketing strategy, communication channels will naturally have to be very different from those they\u2019ve deployed in the past. What should they be? Well, an effective, true-to-its-salt buyer persona should take the guesswork away and answer that for High Five. Grab your cuppa and join me in designing one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 1 \u2013 Collect information<\/span><\/strong>
Let\u2019s start with the target group of parents. As always \u2013 know your outcome. At the end of this entire exercise, you want to walk out with a clear understanding of who they are and why will they purchase your offering. To do so, set out to do some real research. Follow 3 best practices to make this quick and dirty. And useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Reach out to consumers of diverse settings<\/strong> <\/em>\u2013 as diverse as is practically possible for you. For High Five, we reached out parents across geographies, income groups, single child, single parent, race, and nationalities etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Leverage face to face, telephonic, group, one-on-one or online survey formats<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Don\u2019t restrict yourself to information that buyers give about themselves. You shouldn\u2019t. It\u2019s likely riddled with blind spots. Reach out to other sources who may know about your buyers<\/strong>. Like your customer-facing teams \u2013 sales, complaint box reps, tech support etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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