How to Create A Buyer Persona for Your Business.

Have you ever gotten a marketing message from a brand and wondered how they were perfectly able to call out who you are, your struggles, and the type of help you need to make life easier for you? Well, you might think they have invested in some crazy artificial intelligence technology; even if they have such technologies, they must have also done some background work of really knowing who they are creating a product for and who should be the recipient of their advertising messages. They have created a buyer persona for their business; you should create one too.

A buyer persona, also referred to as customer avatar is a representation and description of who your typical customer is, what makes them unique to your business, and how they fit into your brand. It helps you know what problems your customers are facing and how your products or services can fill that gap. A buyer avatar can be used in the areas of product development (while you are still mapping out the features, benefits, and USP of your product), as well as when sending out marketing messages and running an advertising campaign to launch or promote your business. Do all businesses need a buyer persona? Yes, they all do and you’ll find out why soon.

Benefits of Creating A Buyer Persona for Your Business

Thankfully, we have established the fact that all businesses need a buyer persona. We also need to help you understand that if your business offers more than a single product or service, you are expected to create a different buyer persona to cater for each ideal user of such product/service. Some benefits of having a buyer persona for your business are not limited to the following:

• It helps you know who your ideal customer is which guides you in creating products that directly/specifically addresses their needs.
• With a detailed buyer persona, you can create marketing messages that clearly show what your product offers, and how it is the prefered solution to liberate them from their struggles or frustrations. 
• Knowing your ideal customer is great; however, with a customer avatar, you can also identify those segment of the population that your business doesn’t need. Some people refer to this as the ‘Negative Buyer Persona’. This set of the audience are those who do not make any impact on your business because they do not need your product at all, they have specific needs your product doesn’t cater for, or they simply don’t have the budget to make a purchase. 
• Every business is trying to maximise their resources and remain profitable, a buyer persona helps your business to achieve better ads targeting which leads to a higher conversion rate at a lower cost.

Now your big question is:

How Can You Create A Buyer Persona for Your Business?

You might need to know the components of the buyer persona before you head out to create one. When interacting with your ideal customers to create your buyer persona, you are expected to ask them questions that help you find out 6 major areas of their lives.

• Demographics (information about their name, age, location, gender, occupation, education level, marital status, income)
• Personality (information about their likes and dislikes, hobbies, habits, beliefs, and desires)
• Goals and Motivations (information about what they aim to achieve with regards to your products or services. It could help you identify how your product can help them achieve their life goals.)
• Source of Information (what platforms they read on, or get the information they consume, e.g magazines, newspapers, fashion blogs, Instagram, etc.)
• Pain Points / Frustrations (information on what makes them unhappy or unsatisfied. With this information, get ready to create products that address these challenges they face)
• Objections (information on what is likely to stop them from using your product. An example is their budget or a similar product they have used in the past that left them worse than they initially were.)

Now that you know the component of your buyer persona, how do you actually get the type of information you need?

First, be open to your current customers i.e people that have actually patronised your business. Inform them that you are carrying out research and trying to find out how you can improve your services/products to serve them better. Once they are aware of this, they will be more sincere when discussing with you or responding to questions you ask them. You can also give them a copy of your questionnaire in case they do not appreciate a physical conversation or do not have the time for one. If you are a new business that hasn’t made any sales yet, do not be afraid to speak with your competitors’ customers. But, do not ask them questions that will in any way seem like an attack on your competitor’s personality or business.

Another way to know your buyer is by speaking to your sales team and customer support reps. They are the group of people who directly interact with your customers on a regular basis so they are likely to know their fears, frustrations, and gaps which your product should fill. Furthermore, the place of research must not be forgotten. You can gather some useful information by reading online reviews on what customers are saying about your competitors’ business as well as other important information regarding your product and similar products.

Digital Marketer has done a great job of creating an effective buyer persona template; feel free to see what it looks like and start creating yours today!