Create Buyer Personas Painlessly

With the rise of inbound and content marketing, you likely hear the term “buyer personas” more than ever. While clearly identifying your buyers in a way that enables you to reach them in a meaningful way and motivate them to action is extremely important, the term itself is almost guaranteed to make the eyes of all but the most dedicated marketer glaze over.

So, how can you create (or help your clients create) a detailed profile, outlining a specific set of traits, behaviors, goals, and motivators, without becoming overwhelmed by the technicalities? It can be as simple as thinking about an actual favorite customer (or two or three).  So, do that now – think about one happy customer you really enjoy working with. Then ask some specific questions about him or her, and you’ll have your personas in no time!

Don’t yet have a favorite customer? You can still try this exercise with a little imagination, but it will be a little tough. Do you have a personal friend or relative who would make a great customer? Try modeling your persona after him or her. Don’t forget to give him or her a name to make the person more real to you. Sounds odd, right? But it makes a difference as you start to put these personas to use.

Since we’re talking about real people here, the questions will be similar no matter what your industry (Business to Business or Business to Consumer), but to make it even more simple, we’ll break it down into two specific examples.

Business to Business Buyer Personas

We’ll assume you’re a software provider, and one of your favorite customers’ names is Thomas. Here are some questions to ask (of yourself, or of Thomas directly):

• What makes Thomas a good fit for your services?
  • What industry does he work in?
  • What is the size of his company?
  • What is the company’s annual gross revenue?
  • How old is Thomas, and where is he in his career (entry-level, management, owner)?
• What are Thomas’ goals and challenges?
• Where does he get information related to his goals and challenges? Online? Trade publications?
• What is important to him personally? Finding more time with family? Planning for retirement?
• What does he like to do in his spare time?

Now you can start to tailor all your marketing to his specific needs, knowing that you’ll draw in more people just like him (and keep him interested at the same time). See the process illustrated:

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