People are like layered nachos - NOT just chips and queso!
Dig into some content that can help you better target your primary market!
By definition, “A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. When creating your buyer persona(s), consider including customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. The more detailed you are, the better.” (Kusinitz, 2018, Hubspot).
Zzzzzz (you’ve already bored me into a nap). Sure, all those data points are crucial to forming your buyer persona, however, sometimes we can get lost in a sea of data and lose track of the reality of it all - those data points represent HUMANS.
So how can you cut to the nitty gritty of buyer personas without falling asleep? By learning the who, what, where, how and why of your target audience. When you formed your business you more than likely asked the questions, “What problem am I solving?” and “Who am I helping?”. By answering these questions you scratched the surface of your buyer persona, but just like a plate of nachos, your target audience isn’t just a chip with cheese; they’re full of gooey layers of guacamole, sour cream, some spicy jalapeños.... Mmmmm nachos - You get the point.
Some of the most basic questions you can figuratively and literally ask (through questionnaires, contact lists and forms, email analytics, etc.) are:
Age, Gender, Income, Location, Favorite Interests, Position and/or Company Name, Education.
These types of questions lend themselves to segment your target audience into primary and secondary audiences (and can even lead to tighter segmentation for even more personalization).
Now, let’s layer on some more cheese and hot sauce, maybe some meat (if that’s your thing) or some veggies…
The big who, what, where, how and why questions you REALLY want to answer are:
Who are you targeting?
What are their wants, needs, likes, dislikes?
Where are they spending their time in the digital world, and when?
Why should they care about you?
How can you help them?
Through answering these questions (even figuratively), you can create your buyer persona. You can even create a few of these for the different market segmentations you may have. Give them a name, put yourself in their shoes and go through the typical day they may have. This type of creative and logical exercise can help you tap into personalizing your content and products to keep a captive audience.
Now, let’s dig in!
*After snack mint: Think about what keeps your audience awake at night. How can YOU help them?
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