As a small business owner you understand that digital marketing is key to achieving your revenue goals in this digital era. You understand the importance of a website presence so your future customers can find you, and that you need to give people a reason to choose you and not your competition.
You get it. But do you know where to start?
As a marketing professional I’ve been fascinated with the growth, and success of inbound marketing compared with traditional marketing.
Why is the inbound approach so successful in helping businesses grow? The first step in the inbound methodology is crucial, its understanding your buyer persona.
All organisations have a buyer persona even if they don’t know who they are. Many have what they deem a “target market” but they have not really narrowed that market down to truly understand who they are trying to reach.
A common trap people fall into is not putting enough importance on understanding their buyers, from the buyers’ perspective. I have had discussions with people who tell me their product appeals to many people and they want to publish content that is generic enough to appeal to all potential customers. If this is your approach this is wrong, you will waste time and money. What happens is that your ideal buyer won’t find your content relevant. They don’t realise its for them, they think its for someone else. By going through the process of developing personas for your buyers you can learn what it is they’re looking for and publish that information using words that will get their attention and compel them to take action.
Yes you will have more than one persona, however start with one. The one most likely to buy from you, and/or the one that is most lucrative for your business.
Below is the What, Why and How of Buyer Personas
WHAT is a buyer persona?
A buyer persona is a comprehensive description of a person most likely to buy from you. More than a vague target market description, a buyer persona will tell you their story from their perspective; why they buy, what’s important to them, their pain points, motivators and their buying process.
WHY do you need a buyer persona?
Identifying your buyer personas will help you to attract more visitors and convert more visitors into leads.
Attract
An accurate buyer persona will help you attract the right audience to your business. It will influence the content and offers you publish on your website, social media and other online channels. By publishing content that is aligned with what’s important to your buyer personas they are more likely to find it online, when they are looking.
Convert
Understanding your buyer persona will give you an insight into what information they need along the buying process known as the buyers journey. Today a person is approximately 70% of the way through the buyers journey before they’re ready to speak to a sales person. This means they’re looking for information to help them decide on the right product or service for their need. If you don’t provide this information, your competition will.
HOW to create accurate buyer personas
The best way to develop accurate buyer personas is to talk to people who have bought from you, and haven’t bought from you.
Here are some questions to help you get started
- Job title
- Company description / industry
- What are they responsible for?
- How is their success measured?
- What are their frustrations or pain points?
- What would make their job easier, or help them be more successful in their role?
- Where do they go for information? Who do they trust?
- What is important to them when researching/buying a solution for their problem?
- What is their primary challenge and why do they need your product or service?
- How do you solve their challenge?
- How do you help make their life easier?
- Why can’t they live without your product or service?
- Why would prospects choose you?
- What makes you unique to the competition?
- What are the common objections your persona will raise during the sales process?
- What words do they use to describe their need?
Next steps – what to do with this information.
The next step is to align your content; blog articles, website pages, books, videos, podcasts etc. with the information that your buyers are looking for online.
Tip: Use words they use – not industry jargon. Keep it simple, relevant and helpful.