Knowing your audience is a big part of successfully marketing your products and services to the masses. Casting a wide net is great, but not if it doesn’t bring in any customers! Instead, tailoring that net to the people you want as customers is guaranteed to get your audience through your door. It all starts by identifying WHO you want as a client base.
What is a buyer persona?
Think of your buyer persona as the ideal person you most want to shop with you. In a sense, it is a semi-fictional version of your most sought-after customer. A buyer persona breaks down your customer into an easily recognizable form. Think of it like this, it’s a lot easier to catch a fish when you know what fish it is, and what lure to use! Your buyer persona can be a broad representation of all the customers who fit your idea, although identifying them even further and creating multiple buyer personas really helps to gear your strategies in the right direction. Here’s how a buyer persona can help:
- A buyer persona ensures all your marketing strategies are aligned with your targeted buyer’s goals, lifestyle, age and so on.
- You position your business to promote a “how can we help you with what you NEED” persona, which caters to a buyer “how can you help me” decision making process, as opposed to a company that simply promotes what they do.
- You will build trust with your buyer.
How do you create your own?
- The first step to creating an accurate buyer persona is taking a look through your existing contact base. If you don’t have one, that’s ok! No better time to start than the present. Watch for trends in your clients, you may be surprised at the commonalities you uncover.
- Define your GOOD customers. Note things like age, gender, lifestyle, location, job…anything you think might categorise your customer in order to gain insight in to their purchase making decisions.
- Define your BAD customers. Believe it or not, when you create a buyer persona for your unwanted customers, you give yourself more insight into what your business actually offers your customers and how to create an even better buying experience overall.
Creating a buyer persona takes time and work, so don’t be discouraged if you find you are lacking information, or the buyer persona you create is very broad. As your business grows, your personas will adapt and you will have plenty of (ever evolving) information to really nail down who it is your business benefits the most! When you want to really get inside your customers mind, 3SIXTY Marketing Solutions can help. We find out WHO your customers are and take care of the HOW when it comes to getting them through the door. Ready to really know your customer? No prob-llama…just give us a call today at 705-252-4180!
