Making Your Marketing About People, Not Numbers

Marketing is about more than numbers and data. The best marketing talks to real people. When you know who your real customers are, you can make marketing that speaks to them. This helps your business grow. How can you get to know your customers? By making customer profiles called buyer personas!

What is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a pretend person that represents your real customers. It has details like:

Name and picture

Job and life details

Goals and needs

Pain points

By studying your customers and learning all about them, you can create buyer personas. These personas help you make marketing that connects with real people.

Why Are Buyer Personas Important?

Buyer personas help in many ways:

You know what your customers want to see. You can make content they like.

You know how to talk to them. Your messages sound natural.

You know what problems to solve. This shows you can help them.

You can target marketing to each persona’s needs.

With buyer personas, your marketing is about your customers as people. It shows you care.

How to Create Great Buyer Personas

Follow these steps to make useful buyer personas:

Gather data about real customers
- Talk to your sales team. Look at customer files. See who is buying and what they care about.
Separate into different persona groups
- Look for patterns in your customer data. Group similar customers into different persona types.
Make profiles for each persona
- Give the persona a name and picture. Add personal details, needs, goals, and pain points.
Use personas when making marketing
- Refer to personas often. Make sure your marketing fits their needs.
Update personas as you learn more
- Talk to more customers. Adjust personas to match new things you learn.

Examples of Good Buyer Personas

Let’s see two sample personas for a pretend bike shop:

Persona 1: Jeff the Commuter

Jeff is 35 years old. He lives in the city and rides his bike to the office every day. Jeff wants a fast, light bike for his work commute. He also wants safety features like lights and reflectors.

Persona 2: Sarah the Cyclist

Sarah is 40 years old. She loves long bike rides on weekends for exercise. Sarah wants a comfortable bike with smooth gears. She also wants accessories to carry water and snacks.

For Jeff, the shop can market fast city bikes. For Sarah, they can market durable bikes for long rides. The messages fit each persona.

Tips for Making Personas Work

Here are some tips to use personas:

Share personas in your company so everyone understands customers.

Limit your personas to 3-5 so they are usable. Too many is complicated.

Give the personas real details to make them feel like real people.

Refer often to personas when making any marketing.

Be ready to update personas as you learn new things.

Buyer Personas Help Your Marketing

Creating buyer personas takes work. But it helps you know your real customers. This lets you make marketing that speaks to real people.

Your marketing feels more real, helpful, and caring. Customers notice when marketing fits their needs. This helps turn more people into buyers.

So take the time to get to know your customers through buyer personas. It will make your marketing much more powerful. Your business will thank you!

Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Human-Centered Marketing