Customers Hate to be Sold but they Love to Buy!

Creating a buyer persona seperates you from your competition and improves the purchasing experience of your customers.

Your daughter has just turned sixteen and you have promised to buy her a car.  She is so excited and she has her dream car all picked out.  You on the other hand have a lot of mixed emotions.  Your little girl is all grown up and will be out on the road all by herself.  The new insurance bill will be coming soon and you know it isn’t going to be cheap. This is a big purchase and this is one of those memory creating experiences that you remember with your dad. Having her on the road also means independance and freedom. Her excitement is contagious and you are really proud of her. Overall, this is going to be great.  Then you remember you have to go to the dealership and listen to the “sales pitch”.

We love the buying experience but don’t like to be sold or pressured into making a purchase.  As a small business owner you have to promote your products or services without over selling.

Developing a buyer persona allows you to create targeted message that appeals to your potential customers without putting pressure on them.

What is a Buyer Persona?

In one sentence: It is the semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. It can be the most valuable marketing tool you have. Using your market research – and your savvy and general knowledge – you can decide how to approach potential or existing customers. The real data, like demographics, behaviors, motivations, and goals can provide incredible structure and crystal clear insights for your company and its goals, but a buyer persona can help you laser focus your time and guide product development to new heights.

Why is it Important to Create a Buyer Persona?

Understanding your customer is key. Only by getting into the shoes of who is using your product or service will you begin to understand who your customer is.

What they value or how they will benefit is key. Creating a buyer persona will help you focus your ideas and energy in a positive way that will drive sales and better communicate with your customers.

How does a Buyer Persona Help My Business?

The key to understanding how people decide to buy something will help you understand the how and the when as you start to approach them.  Let’s say your persona does 95% of their research online before ever approaching anybody to buy anything. If you know this about your target, then you can communicate with them beforehand, with information that they will consider valuable. That’s the only way they will consume/buy what you’re offering.

Finding ways for your product to be relevant in your customers’ lives is what it’s about.

A buyer persona can help you get to that vital info.

Segmentation

Simply put – if your email marketing is based on the personas you have developed then your potential or existing customers will be consuming content that is specific to them. Very rarely is there a one size fits all message. People want to feel that you are talking to them directly. Be as personal as possible. We all want to be acknowledged as separate and viable parts of whatever we are being sold. If you can identify the specific people, you can deliver them the content they need without them having to seek it out – that is gold. Treat your customers that way, and they will notice.

There are also regional geographic considerations.  Someone in Boston is going to have a different approach thatn someone in Omaha.  Using local input you will be able to create those localized personas and then target with Local SEO.

Customer Interviews and Profiles.

Who your customers are and what they want can be discovered by conducting customer interviews. Customer interviews take into account market and user research and can help you decide how and where your customer might be using your product or solution. Understanding your customer and the way they interact with what you are selling is what really matters here.

Once a Persona is Developed, How do I Develop the Message?

A marketing message is not as simple as a slogan. It’s not a mission statement either. You must grab attention, tell people:

• Why they should trust you
• How you can solve their problem
• Why they should choose to do business with you
• Why they should choose you over someone else

Where and How to Use Your Buyer Persona?

Striving for authenticity is number one. If any one of your customers feels that you are just generating sales, it’s all off.

Use buyer personas to shape your web design, copy and content, and always keep in mind who you are targeting. Busy parent? Short and sweet with bullet points. Recent graduate? Up to date content with relevant terminology. Follow this kind of flow, and you’ll be on the right track.

A Short Word on Social Media.

Social media marketing allows us all to engage with products or brands in a profound way. To be authentic though, we all must feel that we can really relate to that something we are consuming.

What do people want to see on their feed? You can add credibility to your brand with content that is curated and real, therfore allowing the consumer to connect with you. Valuable information – based on original content – shows that you are engaged and close to your people.  

Strategy First!

As you develop an in-depth strategy for your business and integrate your online marketing efforts, be sure to include the Buyer Persona.  Including the buyer persona into your communications will also help with your content marketing efforts driving the ideal customer to your business.

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