So this has been going on your mind, right?
Before making things complex for you, let me put it in simple words: what is a buyer persona, and why do we need it?
Okay!
In simple words, it is a replica of your ideal customer for whom you’re creating the products/services.
Before going into the market and shooting arrows in the dark, you know what your customers look like, what behavior they share, what interests them the most, and likewise…
Now, why do we need it? Having a buyer persona helps in aligning our offering with the needs of our target audience, which ultimately leads to a better marketing strategy, customer satisfaction, and a loyal set of audience in the long run.
Sounds convincing.
But why do we even need a buyer persona when we can easily run paid ads with detailed targeting?
Okay, read again the above part on “why do we need it?”
It’s for the optimal utilization of our efforts, I guess.
Now you know a lot about the importance of knowing your customer, even before making products and services available in the market.
Your customer decides; whether you will have a business or not.
This is the reason you need to know your target customer first.
Who Is Your Target Customer?
Let’s conduct a survey, as simple as circulating google form links among our defined set of people.
Out of the survey we conduct for our product or service, the majority who align with our offerings and find it relevant to their expectations is our customer, and our goal should be to delight them with our offerings.
The target market has few things in common, which makes it easier to craft our goals.
Extensive things of the target market are based on customers’ Demographic and Psychographic distinctions.
What is Demography?
In marketing, demography is segmentation based on the target customers’ age, gender, family size, income, and education, to name a few.
What is Psychography?
In marketing, psychography is segmentation based on the target customer’s lifestyle, beliefs, personality, and preferences, to name a few.
Let’s get a little closer to our curiosity
How to Find Our Target Audience?
Well, this can be summarized in the following points:
Start with the niche(opportunity/ a very particular segment) selection; it will narrow down your audience search.
Carry out a survey that includes the customer’s demographic and psychographic belongings.
Based on the survey result, create the persona of the customer, which includes every necessary detail of the person.
Based on the customer avatar, reach each one at a time.
Communicate with them on one on one basis and try to establish a relationship which not gets limited only to the selling of products but is more like a friendship.
These people are your audience. Now you can formulate your marketing strategies according to the need, and It would be much narrow.
Create a customer avatar based on the information received from the survey.
What Is Customer Avatar?
It is a customer profile that has all the data related to the individual customer. It helps you to target the right people with more precise marketing tools and strategies.
For every individual, there is a unique customer avatar, aka — the buyer's persona.
Buyer Persona: How It Should Look?
Let’s take an example of a girl, who is interested in learning digital marketing from the scratch.
Key Inputs:
Demographics: information about the person, such as their age, gender, income, education level, and geographic location. Needs: what our target persona is looking for.
Hobbies: what interests them the most.
Goals: what they’re going after in life.
Barriers: what’s stopping them from going before their goal.
Based on this persona, all my offerings would be personalized, and the customer would be communicated with based on the information I have.
It would be personal, one on one, and it will create a sense of personal touch, what more does a customer need?
As David Ogilvy said:
“Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.”
Research is essential to find what your customer needs and what you can deliver.
You will win if you can provide your customers with what they want in a compelling way.
After going through the market research and creating a buyer persona, now is the time to formulate the marketing strategies to get our customers on the board.
With data and personalization comes responsibility too, it’s important to keep in mind:
“Respect your customer, and they will take care of your business.”
As your business and target audience change, your buyer persona should be updated and refined. You should revisit your persona regularly and make any necessary updates based on new data.
If you want to improve your customer engagement and conversions, you should create a buyer persona today.