Buyer Personas: Marketing in the Voice of your Buyers, Not Your CEO

De @GulfCoastHUG • @sproutcontent

Buyer Personas: Marketing in the Voice of Your Buyers, Not Your CEO

Debbie Williams, CCO

AGENDA① Welcome and Introductions② INBOUND Conference ③ Buyer Persona Overview④ Buyer Persona Questions⑤ General Q&As⑥ Closing

@GulfCoastHUG • @sproutcontent

What are Buyer Personas?


What is a Buyer Personas?


Buyer Personas represent:

1. Common behavior patterns2. Shared pain points and challenges3. Universal goals, wishes4. General demographic & biographic information


Buyer Personas are NOT:

1. Target markets2. Job titles3. Specific real people


Identifying Your Buyer Personas

• Personas should represent the essential people involved in the research phase, as well as the overall solution, technical and financial decision makers.


Identifying Your Buyer Personas• Don’t just focus on the C-Suite! • A recent Google study revealed that Millennials now make up 46% of

B2B buyers.


Identifying Your Buyer PersonasMillennials are bringing their buying preferences into the workplace:

• The Google study showed that 34% of purchasers used their mobile devices throughout every stage of the purchase.• Of those researching business purchases in 2014, 70% used video across the purchase path.


Buyer personas are the essential first

step to creating content and design

that is relevant to your audience. @GulfCoastHUG • @sproutcontent

Knowing your audience is crucialat every point in the

sales and marketing

process. @GulfCoastHUG • @sproutcontent


Content to attract visitors

Content to close

customersContent to

convert leads

Content to attract visitors

Content to close

customersContent to

convert leads

Personas help you create the right content.

The right content will most effectively attract your ideal visitors,

convert them into leads, and close them into customers.FLICKR USER INPRAISEOFSARDINES


Buyer Persona Development:

Guide product and service development.If you know what your personas are trying to achieve, you can create things to help them reach their goals and overcome their challenges.

2 Buyer Personas 101


Identify questions to ask to develop your persona (see handout).1

STEPS TO CREATE BUYER PERSONAS

Determine how you’ll research your personas and how you’re going to get those persona-building questions answered.

Conduct research, and interview real current and past customers. Look for trends in the responses.

Use buyer persona-building best practices to transform your research into a complete persona.

.

2

3

4

5

Identify your core personas based on their role in the research and buying cycle.

Buyer personas must be based off of research, not assumptions.

FLICKR USER SEEMINGLEE

Interview current customers.Persona research technique:

Persona Detail Questions to AskRole What is your job role/role in life? Your title?

How is your job/role measured?What is a typical day?What skills are required?What knowledge and tools do you use?Who do you report to? Who reports to you?

Company/Organization What industry or industries does your company work/is your role in?What is the size of your company/organization (revenue, employees)?

Goals What are you responsible for?What does it mean to be successful in your role?

Challenges What are your biggest challenges?Watering Holes How do you learn about new information for your job?

What publications or blogs do you read?What associations and social networks do you belong?

Personal Background Age, Family (married, children), EducationShopping Preferences How do you prefer to interact with vendors? (email, phone, in person)

Do you use the internet to research vendors or products? If yes, how do you search for information?

PERSONA RESEARCH GUIDE

.

Always focus on the ‘why’..

FLICKR USER E-MAGIC

Motives, not actions.

Focus on the motives behind behaviors.

Not just this…

This, too!

IMAGE CREDIT: FLICKR USER TIMOVE

When doing research and building a persona, pay attention to WHY someone is using a particular tool, looking for a specific solution, or trying to reach a certain goal—and not just the tools, solutions, or goals themselves.

Bucket research findings.

FLICKR USER SHEEP R US

As you do your research, collecting all data in one place reveals trends and

similarities in the types of responses people give.

These trends or common responses are what should

make their way into your Persona.

Persona Development

Worksheet

Tell your personas’ story.

Don’t just list facts about them; weave those facts into a detailed representation of who this persona is as a person. Stories provide context and deeper understanding of who this person is than a list of facts ever could.


Sample Personas

Add your new buyer persona in

HubSpot:This can be used to

track leads and allows your prospects to

identify on your site, so you can create more targeted content for

them. Owner Ollie

Add in persona details.Put your research to work: input details obtained from persona research.

Type in your persona’s main goals: what are they trying to accomplish? What can you help them accomplish?

Persona contact property automatically created

New persona now appears in Persona contact property

Any time this property appears on a form, contacts can self-identify.They’ll then be added to your Contacts database as a member of the correct persona so you can better segment and target your marketing to them in the future.

Put Your Personas to Work:① Audit your existing content to be sure you are answering your personas

questions and leading them on their journey.② Develop your editorial calendar around topics they are interested in.③ Connect with similar personas in social media.④ Develop a lead generation campaign with this persona in mind.⑤ Segment your contact lists by persona.⑥ Match personas with lifecycle stages to map content ideas.⑦ Create Smart or personalized content to display different messages for each

persona.


THANK YOU!



Save the Date

Save the Date for our Next HUGWest Florida Main Library Thursday, October 15, 2015Topic: INBOUND Conference Insider Scoop5:30pm-7pm

Buyer Personas: Marketing in the Voice of your Buyers, Not Your CEO

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