Buyer personas

What is a buyer persona?

The more insights you have in your target audience, the more you can help your buyers. How to get it done? By drawing up buyer personas. A buyer persona is a detailed profile of an example buyer, that represents part of your target group. Based on these insights you of this buyer persona and their buyer journey you can develop your content. It will also help you make better decisions on investments, content promotion and the choice of channels. Bring your personas to live? Let’s get started.

The reason to work with buyer personas

In B2B the buying process can be long and complex. To pivot a lead to a customer it helps to understand why a buyer buys, and what keeps them up at night. B2B marketing success starts with genuine interest in your buyer. With insights and knowledge about your buyer you can sympathize with your buyer. You then have a better understanding about:
• What information your buyer needs
• What the relevant contact moments are
• Which success factors, goals and challenges the potential buyer has

Your buyer personas in 4 steps

1. Listen to your target audience and ask questions

Together we step into the shoes of your target buyer. We use the ‘5 rings of buying insight’. This is how we gain an understanding of their priorities, we uncover what their success factors are, which barriers they perceive. In essence we look at their buying process and we get to understand what drives their decisions. Obviously we use digital data as part of our research, we use tools such as Google Alerts, Twitter and LinkedIn. But personal interviews are the real key to success. This way we uncover deep insights in our buyer.

2. Analyse, cluster and unite the needed information

After collecting the information we search patterns and similarities in the behaviour of the buyers. We cluster the data on which we base buyer profiles. Above all we create the buyer journey map. This is the foundation for your content marketing strategy.

3. Select important buying criteria and contact moments

We create a vivid story of each persona, and include a photo, name, attributes, challenges, and goals. We map their ‘digital body language’. What does your buyer do on the Internet for both their work and personal life? How does he use a smartphone? Then we validate and refine each persona at least once a year. By using personas as a guide, you can create relevant content that fits each stage of the buyer’s journey, from awareness through decision.

4. Launch your marketing campaigns

Introduce your personas in your organization, ensuring that everyone in sales as well as customer support understands the buyer and their needs. This can improve marketing and communication at every touchpoint. Working with personas is a dynamic process; marketers must maintain, enrich, and change them as new information about your buyer becomes available.