So here we are. You have successfully created a product that people want and are willing to spend money on. You have thought about the product itself for hours on end, the packaging, marketing, and so on. Now what? How do you make your product stand out among the millions of others out there. The answer? Buyer Personas.
A buyer persona is essential in any successful product. It is a research-based profile that defines your ideal customer. Determining your company’s buyer persona allows you to zero in on who exactly you want to market your product to, and how you will market that product. It cuts out marketing waste and saves your wallet from unnecessary marketing toward the wrong audience.
Before we dive into the five simple steps to create a buyer persona, we first need to understand the difference between a buyer persona and the target audience. Simply put, a target audience is a group of consumers within your market that will care about your product the most. So the main difference is a target audience is a broad group of people and a buyer persona is one specific type of person. Still with me? Great. Let us dive into how to implement a buyer persona into your business.
Step One
In order to create one specific ideal customer for your product, you need to put your boots on the ground to understand your consumer. A helpful tip to gather market research fast is to interview your current consumers. Who are they? Why do they consider your product? This interview can be conducted face-to-face or over an email. Make sure your questions are well thought out and specific so your data is more accurate.
Step Two
Put Your Persona Together
You have hundreds of responses in front of you from your interviews. Some similar and some vastly different. Now you have the task of compiling your data together and creating your persona. You should finish this step with one specific persona for your product.
This specific persona should include the following info:
Demographics (Age, gender, location)
Interests
Habits
Needs
If you sold basketballs that came in fun colors, for example, your persona might look something like the following:
Athletes (all genders), Ages 15-25, play basketball at the gym, like trends and parties, are very confident and proud to be an individual, need gym tools that are easy to use, portable, and fashionable.
Step Three
Implement Your Persona
Where should you implement your persona? Everywhere. Your website, social media postings, marketing materials, talks, and any other thing you can think of that pertains to your business. This persona is the key to simple, direct marketing straight to your target audience.
Step Four
Analyze
You’ve implemented your persona into everything, hopefully, now you step back and analyze. Continuously sending out surveys and conducting research into your target consumer allows you to tweak your persona and continuously make it better.
Step Five
Repeat
Yep, you read that right. It is important to continually keep up with your persona, making sure it is current and still relatable to your audience. Your persona could change with the day, season, or year so keep on your toes and stay relevant.
That’s it. Five easy steps that can help you identify and implement your buyer persona. It might seem overwhelming but it is worth it for your business and your wallet. Feel like you might need some help or have questions? Reach out to Monkey VA today and we can help you implement these five steps into your business.
