.svg)
Making assumptions can be dangerous.
But, as inbound marketers, we need to be in tune with who our audience is (even if it means making some assumptions) in order to reach them at the right time in the right way with the right message.
This is why buyer personas are critical to your company’s inbound marketing strategy. In order to get the results you crave, the customer must be at the center of your marketing strategy. Cue the importance of buyer personas.
What is a buyer persona?
Buyer personas help you understand your ideal customer better. They are representations of the real people you do business with.
Buyer personas include information like:
-
Customer demographics
-
Behaviors
-
Motivations and goals
-
Pain points
-
Common objections
By studying your current customers as well as researching the key identifiers of your ideal customer, you can begin to develop your persona.
How do I create a buyer persona?
Creating a persona is a process - from research to team alignment to documenting the information on your buyer persona.
Follow these steps to get started:
-
Identify your target audience(s). These are the people you want to do business with and will be your personas. You can have more than one persona.
-
Conduct research. Study both your existing customers and market research on your ideal customers.
-
Get team buy-in. Encourage everyone to contribute relevant information about your target audience and final buy-in on your personas.
-
Create your persona(s). Document the information you’ve gathered about your buyer persona(s) using free tools like HubSpot’s Make My Persona or Xtensio’s Persona Template.
-
Share your final personas. Having documented personas will benefit everyone on your team - from sales to marketing to service. Share the final buyer personas company-wide to ensure everyone’s efforts target your ideal audience.
Why do buyer personas matter?
A ship that sails without a compass will wander at sea and may never make it to its final destination. But, a ship that relies on a compass to guide it will arrive where it was headed.
Buyer personas are like the compass for your company. Without them, your company’s inbound sales and marketing efforts will be direction-less. Personas put a name and a face to your target audience and shed light on who you’re marketing to and how. Bottomline: Personas will get you the results you need.
Personas help your marketing team develop robust and strategic content strategies that are designed with your target’s customer journey in mind. They help your sales team determine which prospects to pursue based on the company’s goals and ideal customer.
Every touchpoint of your business, from ads to email to your website, should be designed with your buyer persona top-of-mind.
So, make assumptions about your audience. Take the time to understand who they are, what motivates them, and what overwhelms them in order to best support their needs. Personas have the power to increase your customer loyalty and your bottom line.
Are you a HubSpot customer? Add your persona to HubSpot following these steps.