What are Buyer Personas?

“Youuuuuu’re soooo vaaaiiiiiin, I bet you think this post is about you, don’t you, don’t you, don’t youuuuuuuuuuuuu?”. Gotta love Carly Simon. Well, that’s the point really, this post is for you, our buyer persona. I don’t really think you’re vain, but if I’m doing my job right, you should be the type of person that I want reading this post. Like Carly Simon, I’m not going to reveal exactly who this is about, but it very well could be you if you’re still reading. Chances are you get this Carly Simon reference and are having a little chuckle. Our buyer persona is of a certain age group and also has a sense of humor! And since you’re wanting to learn about buyer personas, we know that you’re likely interested in learning more about inbound marketing.

So, What are Buyer Personas?

As defined by HubSpot, buyer personas are “semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.” Buyer personas are the foundational component of any successful inbound strategy because they’re who you create content for and whoyou’re trying to reach. It doesn’t matter if you’re a B2C, a B2B or a non-profit – every type of business has a unique target. Any and all organizations should have personas because everyone is trying to reach someone. Buyer personas are not:

• Target markets
• Job titles / roles
• Dependent on specific tools or technology
• Specific real people

Personas are fictional characters you create that represent a subset of your customers.

Three Ways That Buyer Personas Benefit Your Company

1.) Targeted Content – Buyer personas are necessary in every stage of the inbound methodology. These strangers are your personas. Every single piece of content on your website should be aimed at attracting, converting, closing and delighting your personas. 2.) Reach Your Ideal Customers – Identifying buyer personas will help you find out where your ideal customers spend time on the Internet. 3.) Product and Service Developments – Since you’ll be discovering what your buyer personas want and need and what their pain points are, your business will be armed with the knowledge that can guide product and service developments. If you know exactly what your personas want, you’ll know what they’ll use. And if you know what they need, you can help them create things to reach their goals and overcome their challenges. The right content will effectively attract the right customers, convert them into leads and close them into customers. It behooves your company to get to know everything you can about your buyer persona so you can match your online information and content to speak to them, answer their burning questions and address their individual needs and issues. This is who you want to be thinking about every time you write a piece of content, send an e-mail marketing message, or Tweet.

How Are Buyer Personas Created?

Buyer personas are created by analyzing and researching the customers that are already buying from you. It might sound easy, but crafting a detailed buyer persona does take some time to do right. You probably have much of this information in your mind, but are you 100% correct? It’s time to do some research. First off, buyer personas must be built. Here are four things to keep in mind when creating personas for your business:

1. Details matter – It’s important to take a good look at who your personas are during the building phase.
2. You don’t have to have an answer for every question – just start with what you know and go from there.
3. Personas are a continual process. They can be refreshed, and tweaked as much as needed. We recommend doing it once every six months.
4. Everything you do with your inbound marketing strategy should tie back to the personas you create. Taking the time to create them will help your marketing excel.

Steps to Create a Buyer Persona

• Identify questions to ask to develop your persona – This checklist from HubSpot can help you get a complete, unbiased view of your persona. Tailor questions to your organization and industry.
• Determine how you’ll research your personas – Once you’ve identified your questions, you’ll determine how you’ll ask those questions.

Here are some tips to get started:

• Interview current customers
• Survey your customers
• Talk to your co-workers
• Use HubSpot lead intelligence

Here are some tips for doing research on your personas:

• Search for industry keywords on various social networks
• Check out the comments section on key industry blogs
• Review LinkedIn profiles
• Ask questions on social media
• Interview current customers

1. Compile research and answers to your paraphrased version of questions.
2. Use the buyer persona-building best practices to transform your notes into a complete persona.
3. Focus on motives behind behaviors
4. Keep personas fictional, but still realistic
5. Choose one primary persona
6. Tell your persona’s story

Although building out buyer personas is a time-intensive process, keep in mind that it’s the basis for every piece of content that you will create in your digital marketing campaigns. Your effort will be rewarded!