Hark! A well-defined buyer persona—oft referred to as a customer persona, audience persona, or marketing persona—doth serve as a compass to guide thee toward thy ideal customer.
Methinks back to days of yore, when as a youth thou might haveth an imaginary friend. Lo, social media marketers too have such companions, known as buyer personas or audience personas.
Unlike those of thy childhood, these imaginary friends be a most handy tool in targeting thy ideal customer.
As a social marketer, ’tis all too easy to be consumed by the minutiae of tracking engagement rates and marketing campaigns.
But fear not, for a buyer persona is a detailed description of one who represents thy target audience. Though of fictional nature, this persona is grounded in deep research of thy existing or desired audience, aiding thee in refining thy marketing strategy and product positioning.
Doth not forget, a buyer persona doth go by many a name: customer persona, audience persona, or marketing persona. For ’tis true that different types of customers purchase thy products for diverse reasons, requiring the creation of more than one buyer persona.
Why, thou may ask, doth such tools prove useful? One cannot possibly know each customer or prospect individually. Yet, one can create customer personas to stand in for thy customer base.
Endow each buyer persona with a name, demographic details, interests, and behavioral traits. ‘Tis essential to delve into their goals, pains, and purchasing patterns. If thou wilt, give unto them a visage using stock photography or illustration.
Speak of and contemplate this model customer as if they were real, that thou may craft marketing messages tailored specifically to them.
Keeping thy buyer persona (or personas) in mind doth ensure consistency across all endeavors, from product development and brand voice to the social channels thou dost employ.
Verily, there be 7 benefits to embracing buyer personas:
1. A deeper understanding of thy ideal customer
Creating a useful buyer persona requireth a thorough delve into thy target market. ‘Tis vital to possess profound knowledge of those to whom thou selleth in order to fashion thy ideal buyer persona.
On this journey, thou shalt uncover what drives thy prospective customers, what they seek in life, what they fear, and what vexes them. Such knowledge can aid thee in crafting tailored solutions to thy most valuable customers’ greatest challenges.
2. Evolved, intentional product development
When thou knowest what doth work, what doth not, and what is desired, thou art equipped to optimize every customer-facing aspect of thy business, be it thy product, website, or apps.
3. Better ROI through personalized marketing campaigns
The better thou knowest to whom thou marketeth, the more personalized thou can become. Crafting content for a specific individual can bolster thy marketing ROI.
Offering personalized product recommendations based on customer preferences can increase conversion rates and customer retention. ‘Tis all about making it simple for thy customers to make a purchasing decision by presenting them with marketing aligned with their interests and needs.
Moreover, once thou dost know who thou marketeth to, thou can segment thy campaigns more effectively. Well-segmented campaigns do present thy ads to an audience receptive to them.
4. Better-informed sales efforts
Thy sales team shall rejoice at the mention of buyer personas. They (or thou, if thou art a solopreneur who handleth thine own sales) can utilize buyer personas to comprehend how the audience doth make purchasing decisions.
Personas can illuminate what influences the customer and which external factors are in play. Armed with this knowledge, thy sales team can discern which prospects to target and which sales tactics to employ.
5. Improved customer acquisition and retention
Should thou know what thy customers desire, then thou can provide it unto them. This shall aid in customer acquisition and retention.
6. Cross-department alignment
All departments—product development, sales, marketing, design, and leadership—must comprehend whom they seek to target. Thus, all may row in unison toward a common goal.
7. Negative personas
Knowing whom thou dost not desire as a customer can inform thy marketing strategy.
Suppose one of thy business goals be to attract and retain higher-value customers. Perhaps thou dost aim to shift thy primary client base from start-ups to mid-level agencies. Thou can adjust thy marketing language from “We can aid thee in getting off the ground and scaling up” to “We can assist thee in streamlining workflows to achieve greater savings.”
What every buyer persona should entail
Nevertheless, one doth find similarities among successful customer personas. By studying these similarities, thou shalt gain insight on how to create buyer personas for thy own business.
Several categories may be included in thy buyer personas:
Demographic and psychographic profiles
Demographic profiles focus on the who and what of thy buyer. They encompass objective data points such as age, gender, and income.
Psychographic profiles consider thy buyer’s subjective data, including beliefs, values, goals, and attitudes.
Herein lie a few attributes thou may consider for thy buyer personas:
– Name: The appellation used to describe the persona, like Marketing Manager Mable.
– Photo: A visual representation, such as a simple stock photo—this humanizes thy persona.
– Background: Key background information, such as career or family status.
– Demographic data: Age, gender, location, income level, education, number of children, marital status.
– Interests: Hobbies, activities, or interests.
– Personality traits: Is thy buyer an extrovert? Are they open-minded? Possess a sense of humor?
Should thou seeketh further enlightenment, here be over 100 social media demographics valued by marketers.
A word of advice: Thou needest not conjure these details from naught—in truth, thou shouldst not. Read on as we delve into how to unearth these attributes.
Values, desires, and pain points
What doth thy ideal buyer hold dear to their heart? Comprehending thy buyer’s values and desires shall reveal motivations and illuminate the decisions they maketh.
Whether they harbor a fervent concern for the environment or harbor a fondness for animals, their values shape their desires and thereby influence their actions.
In similar vein, what doth thy persona long for? Seek they more leisurely hours or greater purchasing power? Equally significant are their pain points. What be the source of friction within their lives?
Inscribe these attributes in thy persona:
– Values: Document the core values and principles they uphold.
– Goals: What are their aspirations in life? Their day-to-day endeavors? Career goals, relationship goals, personal goals—list them all.
– Challenges: What obstacles do they frequently encounter? Wherein lie the sources of their daily discord?
– Purchasing-specific: What prevents thy buyer from making a purchase? What motivates them to procure products?
Affiliations
Take note of the groups, organizations, social platforms, and social circles to which thy buyer persona pertains.
Do they dwell on LinkedIn but shun Instagram? Affiliated with a book club or fitness center? Where do they prefer to procure their provisions?
Business-specific attributes (for B2B customer personas)
B2B customer personas warrant more specificity than B2C, as they must consider both the business and the buyer.
B2B customer personas may encompass:
– The size of the target business: Note the dimensions of thy ideal business client. Are they fledgling enterprises? Do they amass over a million in annual revenue? Count themselves among the Fortune 500?
– The decision-makers: Identify the individuals (or group of individuals) tasked with making purchasing decisions. Are they CEOs or marketing managers?
How to add thy business to thy buyer persona
Having detailed thy buyer persona particulars, it proves beneficial to contextualize them for all who utilize thy guide.
Make note of:
– Voice and tone: What be the manner of communication that resonates with thy persona?
– Where to reach them: Upon which social platforms do they tread? Do they patronize Amazon? Welcome email marketing campaigns?
– Preferred content types: What form of content doth engage them most? Do they peruse lengthy articles or prefer bite-sized videos?
How to create a buyer persona in 4 steps
Thy buyer persona must not merely be one thou wouldst enjoy the company of; rather, ’tis founded upon real-world data and strategic goals.
Herein lies how to craft a fictional customer seamlessly aligned with thy real-world brand:
1. Do thorough audience research
‘Tis time to delve deeply. Thou must peer into who currently frequents thy establishment, who comprises thy social audience, and who thy competitors have set their sights on.
Psst: For an in-depth study of these themes, peruse the comprehensive guide to audience research.
Compiling audience data from thy social media analytics (especially Facebook Audience Insights), customer database, and Google Analytics shall uncover crucial insights about thy existing audience and social followers.
Audience data may also be gleaned from surveys, interviews with customers, and consultation with thy sales team, for they possess invaluable insight into quality leads.
Competitor and audience research play their part in a well-rounded social media strategy. For detailed strategies, peruse our exhaustive discourse on conducting competitor research utilizing social tools.
Keep these data at hand, for they shall serve thee well in crafting a buyer persona that faithfully represents thy current audience and potential future clientele.
2. Identify customer goals and pain points
Thy audience’s goals may be personal or professional, contingent upon the products and services thou offereth. What motivates thy customers? What be their endgame?
Complementing thy audience’s goals be their pain points. What quandaries or hindrances do thy customers seek to resolve? What obstructs their path to success? What barriers impede their progress toward their goals?
Thy sales team and customer support department offer valuable insights into these questions, yet another avenue of exploration is through social listening and sentiment analysis.
Establishing search streams to monitor mentions of thy brand, products, and competitors furnishes a real-time window into the public discourse surrounding thy business.
Thou may come to understand why customers adore thy products or which facets of the customer experience prove lacking.
3. Understand how thou canst help
Once thou hast grasped thy customers’ aspirations and tribulations, ’tis time to ponder how thou canst intercede.
This entails looking beyond features and delving into the tangible benefits of thy product or service. (A feature, mind thee, is what thy product is or doth; a benefit is how thy product or service enriches thy customer’s life. This knowledge should be familiar to thee!)
It behooves thee to lead with benefits over features, for none careth about the RAM capacity of their phone. They care about capturing myriad cat videos, indulging in Candy Crush, and streaming Netflix concurrently. Take heed to discern the benefits thy customer doth seek.
Consider thy audience’s principal obstacles to purchasing and their position in the buying journey. Then ask thyself, “How can my business serve them?” Articulate the response in a single, lucid sentence.
4. Compile thy buyer personas
Gather all thy research and identify commonalities. As thou consolidate these characteristics, the foundation of thy unique customer personas shall emerge.
Bestow upon thy buyer persona a name, a designation, a dwelling, and the other defining traits elucidated above. Let thy persona embody the semblance of a real individual.
For instance, suppose thou ascertain a core customer group as 40-year-old, professionally accomplished urban-dwelling women devoid of progeny, enamored of fine dining.
Thy buyer persona may well be christened “High-Achiever Haley.”
She is 41 years of age.
She frequents spin class thrice weekly.
She resides in Toronto, serving as the founder of a PR agency. Presently, her client roster overflows, and she strives to amplify her brand’s renown.
She owns a Tesla.
Annually, she and her companion embark on two sojourns abroad, favoring boutique lodgings.
She is a member of a wine club.
She engages on LinkedIn but eschews Instagram or Facebook, maintaining a TikTok account solely for #WineTok. Her PR agency’s social accounts are overseen by an internal team, yet she stays abreast of social trends to delegate marketing strategies effectively.
Do comprehend: this is not a mere list of characteristics. ‘Tis a detailed, explicit depiction of one potential customer.
Personas such as this enable thee to envision thy forthcoming buyer in a human light, rather than a collection of data points. These attributes may not universally apply to every buyer in thy audience, yet they serve to epitomize an archetype in tangible form.
The quantity of information thou doth include shall hinge on thy objectives for the buyer persona. Doth this form the cornerstone of an elaborate new product development? Then thou may require greater detail than if thou wert utilizing the persona to inform thy dialogue with thy audience on Twitter.
As thou flesh out thy customer personas, be sure to delineate not only who each persona presently is but who they aspire to become. This fosters contemplation of how thy products and services can facilitate their progression toward their ambitions.
Consider incorporating how thy buyer personas have bolstered thy business in thy subsequent social media report.
Buyer persona examples
Desire to witness buyer personas in action? Here lie a few persona examples to inspire thee in crafting thine own:
Adobe’s buyer persona examples
Adobe hath streamlined the creation of buyer personas by furnishing several ready-made examples, categorized by character traits such as competitive, spontaneous, and humanistic.
ChatGPT
We took the liberty of fashioning a buyer persona using generative AI and the example shared hitherto. Behold the buyer persona for “High-Achiever Haley.”
Contemplateth upon these examples, and mayhap they shall serve to illuminate thy path in capturing the essence of thy ideal customer.
Free buyer persona template
Eager to embark upon the creation of thy first buyer persona? Our complimentary buyer persona template in Google Docs doth provide a splendid starting point:
To employ the template, click upon the “File” tab and select “Make a copy” from the dropdown menu. Thereupon, thou shalt possess thy exclusive version to populate as thou seeth fit.
Ponder upon thy buyer personas with each decision regarding thy social media content and overarching marketing strategy. Honor these personas, and thou shalt forge a connection with the genuine customers they epitomize, fostering enhanced sales and brand loyalty.