How to Enhance Your Marketing Strategy by Building a Buyer Persona
Have you ever gone to a shoe store and felt like Cinderella trying out a glass stiletto? The one where you finally find the perfect fit?
If yes, congratulations—you're probably part of the store’s Buyer Persona.
For those who aren't aware, a Buyer Persona is a solid customer profile that details your ideal clients. If you want to be an effective marketer, you need to build this before deciding on marketing funnels and branding strategies. This understanding helps you reach the audience you want by knowing how to fulfill their desires.
Once you know who you want to attract, it’s easier to craft ways to draw the leads you want. After all: if the shoe fits, consider it sold!
What is a Buyer Persona?
Before building your Buyer Persona, let's talk about what it is a little more.
As a fictional representation of your target customer, the Buyer Persona shows the relationship between them and what you can offer. Essentially, it's an in-depth profile that includes the following:
Their character
Their goals
Their hobbies
Their behaviors
Their pain points
Knowing all this helps you improve your products so they address your customer’s needs. But it shouldn't be some dry, transactional process. You have to bond with your Buyer Persona like they're a real human being—to empathize with their problems and consider how your brand can help solve them.
Why We Need Buyer Personas
When you genuinely understand the lives and needs of your customers, you don't just benefit your business—you also gain your customers' trust. Building this foundation makes it easier for people to choose your brand.
But how? It may seem obvious, but it's easier said than done: the most effective way to earn that trust is to get to know your customers. It's no different than listening to a friend who recently lost his job: you become present, show concern, and think about the best solution.
It’s only when you’re attuned to their concerns that you can deliver what they want. Once you’ve proven that you can deliver, you can build up that trust and satisfaction. Happy, satisfied customers are likely to buy from you again. They may even share their experience with friends and bring them along!
So, how do you create a Buyer Persona for your business?
How to Build a Buyer Persona
Research your target customers.
Before you design a profile, recognize the people you're trying to attract. Get the necessary data to help figure out customer patterns until you can visualize your persona.
If your business has been running for a while, you can rely on past and existing customers. But don't limit yourself to this—you can still do competitor analyses, surveys, and social media (i.e., LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, etc.) analysis for the latest trends and discussion forums.
Make your persona human.
Now that you've done your analysis, it's time to create an actual customer profile. Be detailed as possible when filling in your persona's biography, ambitions, challenges, and hobbies. This way, you and your team can deeply understand who you want to target.
Remember that this profile must come from your research, not theories. Your Buyer Persona will only be valuable if you get the facts straight.
We recommend you paste an actual character image on the profile so you can easily visualize your persona—especially when the team starts employing marketing strategies.
Develop your brand based on your persona.
Congratulations, you've already created a Buyer Persona. So what now?
To make the most of it, look at your brand's products or services and determine if they satisfy what your persona needs, wants and demands. There’s no point selling something they don’t desire—you won’t solve their problems and you won’t get any sales.
When you’re confident your offerings can solve their problems, you’re ready to create marketing messages that resonate with your Buyer Persona.
A complete description of your target buyer makes it easier to address their problems. This information is the key to understanding what kind of 'shoes' your customers want.
So when deciding anything business-related, ask yourself: "Will our persona like this?" or "Is this the perfect fit?" If it's a yes to both questions, you're on the path to attracting the right customers.