By Sylvia Mukami
Do you remember your first crush and how taken you were with her? You carefully studied her so you could be aware of her preferences. If she liked Wildlife Club, you would go on and on preaching the “protect endangered species” gospel.
If she liked Christian Union, you would attend those meetings without fail and piously cross yourself when they were looking. Her favourite subjects and friends became very important to you much to the surprise of your friends and family.
Having a buyer persona for your business works pretty much the same way, and you must explore them like one possessed. What are their likes and dislikes? What are their shopping habits? What do they do for fun? How do they earn a living? These are very important questions to ask because it has become harder to make a sales pitch to your target customers. We are exposed to as many as 3,000-5,000 marketing messages a day!
Every efficient marketing campaign rests on a detailed buyer persona because it allows you to narrow your marketing efforts to clients who meet your criteria. A buyer persona presents the location, consumer behaviour, mind-set and pain points of an ideal buyer. Understanding your ideal buyer will help you:
- Target your ads right
- Create relevant content
- Improve website rankings on search engines
- Make better pitches,
- Improve customer service
- Improve product development
Research methods
There are many ways to carry out research on your customers:
- Market research: One on one interviews, questionnaires and focus groups with your target customers
- Website and social media analytics: Number of visitors, sessions, keywords used, bounce rates and social media listening
- Customer facing employees: They can give you interesting perspectives on their customer data
Once you have decided on the research method, the following information must be gathered:
Personal background
Give your buyer persona a name that would most likely suit them to make them get into character. Let’s assume that your product is ChocoPuffs Breakfast Cereal. Let’s also imagine that your target market is a boy and girl named Brian and Brianna respectively. You should ask the following questions:
Start by asking the following questions:
- How old is Brian? How old is Brianna?
- Where do Brian and Brianna live?
- What language do they speak?
- Are they in lower, upper primary or high school?
- What is their parent’s relationship status? (Single mother, nuclear family, polygamous family)
Economic background
Include in your questionnaire a field for job title, type of business and company size. This will enable you to know what purchasing power your ideal buyer has.
- What is their parent’s job title?
- What is their parent’s education level?
- What are Brian and Brianna’s interests and hobbies?
- What is their parent’s income range?
Watering holes
- What media sources do Brian and Brianna frequent?
- What is their favorite TV show?
- What websites, blogs and social media pages do their parents frequent?
- Which media sources do their parents trust most?
Shopping preferences
- What motivates their parents to buy your product?
- What do Brian and Brianna value?
- How do their parents search for products and services? (Is it online, referrals or mainstream media?
- How do they prefer to shop? Online or at the shop
- Do they or their parents have any concerns about my product?
- How much time do their parents expect to spend with a sales person?
Challenges
What challenges affect them from day to day? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and employ empathy in your approach.
- What challenges does Brian and Brianna face?
- How does my product help them overcome these challenges?
- What does success look like for Brian and Brianna?
Keep your enemies closer when creating your buyer persona. Similar Web can analyse website data of your competitors as compared to yours. You can also check your competitor social media pages and stalk their profiles to learn more about them
Would you like a little help with identifying your ideal buyer? Reach out.
