In previous posts we reviewed the TAM (Total Address Market) and the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). Now we need to fill out details on our ideal buyer or decision maker.
First, we need to define what a Buyer Persona is?
A Buyer persona is a simplified fictional depiction of your customers and the primary roles this “person” performs at your Ideal Customer. These personas will apprise Marketing to the types of individuals they will create content for, who to identify as prospects (the MQL), and Sales should be able to “pitch” to the persona in a venular that would resonate with this prospect.
I want to reiterate; the development of these Persona will provide your company the details to map your Marketing content specific to these personas’ motivations and challenges, and arm your sales teams with the structure and context needed to “sell” to these roles.
There are a lot of schools of thought on what is the right number of persona’s, but there is no ‘right‘ number. When trying to determine the number of buyer personas you develop, it would be a mistake to have a persona for every job title. Look at your current sales history and the titles and roles your buyers have. This provides the foundation of the type of characteristics you will expect each Buyer has.
Focus on these and not their title. Look at their motivations and goals, their fears, and challenges. Your personas should focus on the day-to-day challenges they face, and how your product can solve them.
These Buyer personas are developed with real data using your existing customer and market research (think survey’s), which includes customer, former customers, and prospect interviews.
Take your data and separate it into three categories.
Demographics
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- Location
- Age
- Education
- Personality type
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Firmographics
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- Industry,
- Time in business,
- Number of employees,
- Revenue
- Overall health of the business.
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Psychographics
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- What motivates then?
- What drove them to buy this product or service?
- How do they define success?
- What would they do if their business disappeared tomorrow?
- What would drive them to stop using your service?
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Armed with this data you can begin to group into a few (3-5 to start) personalities. This semi-fictionalized persona is based on real people and provide insight at a high level.
Now review at your marketing content. Have you developed customized messaging in your campaigns to attract these personas? Do you have applicable content tailored for them as they enter the buyers journey? Consider things such as your company blog, do you use key words to continue to keep them engaged throughout the journey?
The development of these buyer personas will create an understanding for Marketing and Sales, as well as Customer Success and Product teams to become laser focused on generating creative content to garner more qualified leads. This leads to a more effective sales to pitch to the prospect with a message that resonates. It will enhance your Professional Services team by providing effective implementations that align your product/service to your customer expectations.
You will use these personas to shape your messaging. This process will require you to look at your product and how you will ‘pitch’ your product to each persona.
Final thoughts
Do not let this process be daunting, you may wonder how do I start? I recommend that you review the blog from HubSpot to start. There are quality tips an tricks to start this process. Remember this is not done in a vacuum and you will need to have participation from Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Products to define your Buyers Persona’s.
I think this quote from the 310creative.com blog sums this up best “buyer personas are a clear depiction of the customers that generate the most revenue with the least resistance over the longest period of time. Without this vital information, you’ll never truly understand what is working best to attract leads and drives them to becoming customers”
Additionally, look at Niklas Dorn’s on filestage.io blog to help jump start this process
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