Many business owners design a marketing strategy and put it into action without any real returns. They put in massive effort and hear crickets. Frustrating, right?

Why do so many marketing strategies fail?

They fail because the marketer does not fully understand their target customer.

Enter the Buyer Persona.

If you are a business owner who’s carrying out your marketing strategy with no ROI, this post is for you. 

This post will cover:

• What is a Buyer Persona?
• Why is a Buyer Persona crucial to a marketing strategy?
• 5 Tips for using your Buyer Persona to create content that drives brand recognition, engagement, and customer loyalty.

*Be sure to scroll to the bottom and download your free Buyer Persona Research Guide.

What is a Buyer Persona?

A Buyer Persona is a full description of your target customer. 

It includes details like:

• Groups she is a part of.
• How she spends her workday.
• How she relaxes.
• How she spends her days off.
• Her responsibilities.
• Her family life.
• Her hobbies.
• Her challenges or struggles.
• Her favorite types of movies or television shows.
• Her favorite websites.
• Her favorite influencers.
• Her job title.
• Her goals and dreams.
• Her achievements.
• Her values.
• Her personality.

Why is a Buyer Persona crucial to a marketing strategy?

Using a Buyer Persona as a guide for creating content for those who want what you are selling allows your brand to:

• Show up in the right social media groups and forums, where you can place lead magnets that drive traffic to your website. Meaning, your prospects begin their customer journey with your brand, and you portray expert status that creates a loyal following and results in a sale. 
• Create content with a central theme to aid your brand in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
• Understand the needs of your target customer.
• Understand the desires of your target customer.
• Understand the struggles of your ideal customer.
• Create products and services that solve your ideal customers’ problems. 
• More significant ROI on ads, since you narrow the target audience, so your ads go to the right people in certain groups, opposed to the whole group. Since your product may not appeal to everyone in the group, it makes sense to avoid placing an ad in front of people who won’t respond. 

“Many people think a Buyer Persona is solely for marketing strategy and content creation, but it is more than that. Having a Buyer Persona is essential in product development. Using it as a guide allows you to zoom in on what you can do to help your target customers- now and in the future.” 

Fortune telling

Understanding your target’s future needs or her next steps, following using your product, places you ahead of your competition in product development. That’s because many brands focus on what their buyers need now, but they don’t consider what their buyers will need. Meaning, you are one step (or many) ahead of your competition by focusing on future struggles and desires. 

If you do not understand who you serve,

• You won’t know what they need and want.
• You will not know where to place lead magnets that pre-qualify your customers.
• You might attract people who are not likely to buy from you. 

You need to get into your ideal customer’s head so that you can satisfy their needs and desires. So you can truly serve them and create a connection that improves your know-like-trust factor (KLT).

What is the know-like-trust factor?

People buy things from people they know, like, and trust. The know-like-trust factor is a measure of how much your target knows you, likes you, and trusts you. Since trust is what makes them comfortable buying from you, creating a connection that improves your KLT is crucial in business.

Example of marketing without a Buyer Persona:

Sally sells shoes that are comfortable and fashionable. She thinks combining these two traits is something no woman can resist, so she quickly starts posting ads on all social media outlets, but doesn’t get the conversion she thought she would. 

What went wrong in the marketing strategy?

• She didn’t have a clear understanding of her target customer. 
• She didn’t know what her ideal buyer wants and needs. 
• She didn’t consider which platforms are most popular for her target market. 
• She didn’t do her research to find where her prospects hang out online. 

Example of a marketing strategy that starts with a Buyer Persona:

• Sally sells shoes that are comfortable and fashionable. 

• She decides to focus on how fashionable they are in her marketing efforts. Then, she creates a business Instagram account and starts posting pictures of her fabulous shoes using hashtags relevant to her target market.

• She decides to target working moms in her marketing. She knows many working moms want to wear fashionable shoes, but their busy, active lives do not support wearing stilettos. Have you ever tried chasing a toddler in stilettos? It’s not easy and can be an accident waiting to happen. 

• Before creating her marketing plan, she researches her target customer to get crystal clear on her buyer persona. She starts by paying attention to what she does, because she is a working mom. She got the idea for the shoes when she broke her foot chasing her two-year-old son. She wants to help as many moms as she can by giving them a way to be in-style and ready to run when necessary. 

• She cross-references the Facebook groups she is a part of with the Facebook groups her friends who are working moms are in. She finds the common groups and starts paying attention to what people are posting in the group, so she understands their thoughts, struggles, achievements, wants, needs, and deepest desires. 

• She uses their struggles to create simple solutions (lead magnets) presented as a free download in exchange for their email address. 

• Then, she creates Facebook ads that offer them the lead magnet, and she targets the people that fit the description of her buyer persona.

• As a result, she builds her email list and sends emails that offer tips on wearing stylish fashions that are comfortable. 

• She creates an email sequence that leads to presenting the shoes to her target, with a preferred customer discount code attached. 

• The result is a successful product launch, and her brand becomes a household name that represents style and comfort. 

Why was this marketing strategy more effective than the last?

• Sally had a target customer in mind.
• She researched her target customer.
• As a result, she knew what they wanted and needed, and she knew their problems.
• She found out where they congregate online.
• She created lead magnets, so she could give her target customers something free that helped them, which resulted in building an email list.
• She emailed content to her list that was valuable to them, labeled them “preferred customers”, and gave them a discount.

Strategy for identifying and understanding your target customer.

Start within and work your way out.

*Use this strategy with your Buyer Persona Research Guide to optimize your Buyer Persona. Simply, click the link and print the guide to aid you in your research.

Starting within allows you to understand the person you are closest to (yourself), because you know yourself better than you know anyone else. 

Moving outwards allows you to cross-reference your answers with the answers other possible buyers might have to the Buyer Persona Research Guide’s questions. If you know your connections would not need, want, or buy your product, don’t include them in your research. Studying your close connections is usually a little easier than studying others in your target market because you probably know many of their answers to the questions on the Buyer Persona Research Guide. Plus, they might be more open to answering questions than other target buyers.

If you have customers already, you know they are your target buyer because they want what you have. Use the Buyer Research Guide to understand them. 

When you continue moving outwards (to people part of the larger part of your target market), you will find that there are some similarities between all of the people you researched. You will also identify outliers or traits and preferences specific to you and your inner circle but not the average target customer. 

• Start within.

You might be or might once have been your ideal customer. If so, go through the Buyer Persona Research Guide attached and answer the questions about yourself first. 

• Look at your connections.

Who are you connected to that might be your ideal customer? Pay attention to their social media, and consider asking them a few questions. You can use the Buyer Persona Research Guide attached as a blueprint.

• Look at your current customers.

What are they like? What do they have in common? Use the guide to assist you in your observations. 

• Hang out with your target on social media.

Being in a Facebook group with potential buyers is like peeking in a window (but less creepy). It can provide valuable information.

• Surveys.

Create a short survey with up to three questions that will help you pinpoint your target’s struggles and desires. Then, run a short ad with it attached to a lead magnet. You can also send it out to your email list with a discount attached. 

5 Tips for using your Buyer Persona to create content that drives brand recognition, engagement, and customer loyalty.

• Ask questions. While in their social media groups, ask questions that help you understand them better. Your buyer persona is something you will want to revisit periodically, because people change.

• Connection. When you understand your buyers, you know what they need so you can give it to them. When they know you care enough to solve their problems, you can build a connection that leads to customer loyalty.

• Be authentic. People can tell when you are only presenting a perfect image. Show a few of your values and flaws in your content to build a stronger connection with your audience.

• Be polarizing. Be clear on your values and beliefs, and respectfully state them. Some people will love you for it, and others will hate you for it. That doesn’t mean that those who hate your beliefs won’t listen to you or buy from you. Sometimes, a person is so polarizing that they pull you to them instead of repelling you.

• Be attractive. If you haven’t read <a href="http://<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=dellaobrien-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B08B9ZHVVG&asins=B08B9ZHVVG&linkId=394ee1f15ad7ff38297b8e8b64ed0eae&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff"> “Dotcom Secrets” by Russel Brunson, I urge you to do so. He has incredible, proven tips for being an “Attractive Character.” In short, an attractive character is someone people like to listen to, watch, and interact with.

The takeaway

Creating a Buyer Persona is essential to your marketing strategy. Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can find out what they need and want, so you can present your products as a solution to their problems. Understanding your target customer helps you with product development and marketing and gives you clues to where they hang out online, so you can offer a lead magnet that gives them a quick win. Meaning, they will see your value and become loyal customers.

Get your free Buyer Persona Research Guide.

Cheers!