Why Bother with Buyer Personas?

Although often not included in discussions about market research, creating a buyer persona is the obverse side of the market research coin. Where traditional market research can identify the value of a gross market, a buyer persona attempts to determine who’s participating in that market. Spending time to characterize this mysterious person can seem daunting, but here’s a free behavioral brand strategy secret – If you want to know what people will do, examine what they’re already doing. Creating a buyer persona is an essential step in identifying your ideal customer. Here are a few steps to create your buyer persona.

Who

Start by identifying the demographic characteristics of your ideal customer, including age, gender, location, education level, occupation, and income level. The more specific, the better. If you’re stuck on where to begin, think about your current clients and describe them as accurately as possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be deliberate.

What 

You don’t have to practice statecraft or counterintelligence to identify a list of customer habits. For example, if you’re an app developer, you’ll want to know how your target audience behaves around making a certain decision or confronting a pain point. If you correctly identify friction points in their life, you have a treasure map to the gold. Luckily, you can take advantage of many behavioral data sources out there.

Be Specific

No human behavior happens in a vacuum. Create profiles from classes of behavior because you may find your existing customer base is a blend of buyer personas. The more habits you identify, the more specific you can be about their personalities. Determine their personality traits and communication styles, including how they talk and interact with others.

Where do they Hang Out?

Buyer personas aren’t static. If you have a pile of data about behavior, it isn’t a stretch to start guessing where they spend their time. In addition, popular social platforms likely have groups created and populated by the personalities that make up your buyer persona. So not only do you get feedback on the accuracy of your persona, but also a ready-made audience.By creating a buyer persona, you can better understand and target your ideal customer, ultimately leading to increased sales and brand loyalty. We’re creatures of habit, and that’s a good thing. So use these habits to target your marketing and get your products and services into the hands of people who will be thrilled to have them. Contact us if you’re stuck, don’t have time, or want a professional to handle it. We’re glad to help. We’re Art of Strategy.