How to Use Buyer Personas to Find Customers and Prospects

Small companies and business owners are missing new customer acquisition opportunities by not clarifying who their customers really are.  Sure, we all say we know our target audiences and customers. But how well do we really?  I always say that I feel like I am starting at square one when a business owner or marketer tells me “I know who my buyers are.  They are women (or men) between the ages of 45 and 60.”  The end.  Humm…Since this description covers a massive portion of the population, let’s try to narrow it a bit. (I say smiling…)

Building Buyer Personas is the (new) marketing approach to what we called (back in the day) profiling customers.   David Meerman Scott, the well-known and respected author, blogger, speaker and my favorite evangelist of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” (the title of his newest book) does a fabulous job of explaining why small businesses, really all businesses, can benefit from building “The Buyer Persona Profile” (David’s explanation begins on page 118 of the new book).

David reminds us we want to know as much as possible about our buyers.  And we want to know in detail the things that are important to them.  Interviewing them is the best approach.  (What business person doesn’t want another chance to talk to their customers?)

David recommends using such questions such as:

• What are their goals and aspirations?
• What are their problems?
• What words and phrases do they use?
• What sorts of images and multimedia appeal to them?
• What web sites, blogs or Podcasts do they subscribe to?

David quotes Adele Revella, expert in buyer personas: “A buyer persona profile is a short biography of the typical customer, not just a job description but a person description… The buyer persona profile includes information on the typical buyer’s background, daily activities and current solutions for their problems.  The more experience you have in your market, the more obvious the personas become.”  Adele Revella’s blog is here.

I would add these questions to your list:

1. What print publications do they read?
2. What print and online analysts, journalists do they follow?
3. What industry associations do they belong to?
4. What are their personal views on the industry direction?
5. Who do they go to for recommendations when they’re considering a purchase? 

(This last question sets the stage for you to find out who influences your target market.  A key piece of information you’ll need to start your own word of mouth marketing program.)

Once you have assembled this information, you use the Buyer Personas to create/revamp individual marketing programs for each one of your ‘personas’ (think of them as categories).  David suggests having sections on your web site with specific content for each persona. 

It’s important for you to capture and document detail about each persona.  The goal is for each persona to recognize themselves and their needs when landing on your web site and finding your content.  It will be easier to craft messages that appeal to each persona.  David says, each buyer should say: “Yes, that’s me.  This organization understands me and my problems and will therefore have products that fit my needs.”

How many personas do you need?  David suggests looking at the factors that differentiate them. He suggests companies might have US personas, and European personas.  Or, if you sell in the automotive industry to both the private sector and to the government, these would be different. 

I think if you’re selling IT products and services, you might have personas that cover your decision makers and key influencers.  You must also cover the different sizes of companies, because in smaller companies some people wear many different hats, such as:

• IT Manager (small company)
• CIO (Chief Information Officer)
• IT Manager/Director (mid-size company)
• Software engineer (might be an influencer that does research on products to buy)
• Small Business Owner (that does all of her own research and purchasing)
• Company Accountant or Controller(that influences IT purchases)

Building Buyer Personas is a tall order, right?  I agree. It is hard work, but crucial.  Anyone have examples of companies with web sites that are clearly based on their buyer personas?