Your customer today knows all about you and your business.  They do their research, check reviews, and educate themselves on all aspects of your goods and services.  But do you know them?  Do you know who they are? Where do they come from?  How old are they? Why do they need you?  You need to understand your customers (and prospective customers) better to make it easier for you to tailor to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns.  Your customer has a problem to solve and you could potentially have a solution. You can’t provide a solution unless you understand what your customers are looking for. Understanding fully why your customers come to you can go a long way in increasing your conversion rate and also driving organic traffic back to your website. When people search for your website in Google they are looking for something whether it’s clothes, food, money or entertainment. Understanding your customers needs can help them find you much faster than if you didn’t understand their wants and needs. The people who find your business are doing research on you and you should do the same on them. Understanding each other can help establish a much stronger relationship between company and customer.

In order to better understand your customers, try creating a buyer persona.  What is a persona? A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on market research and real data about your existing customers.  Depending on the nature of your business, you could have as few as one or two personas, or as many as 10 or 20.  Our suggestion is that if you are new to personas, start small.  You can always develop more categories later if needed.

How to Create a Buyer Persona?

Buyer personas are created through research, surveys, and interviews of your target audience or customer base.  That includes a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside of your contact database who might align with your target audience.  Here are some methods for gathering the information you need to develop your buyer persona.

• Interview customers either in person or over the phone to discover what they like about your product or service. Your previous customers, especially if you filled a need or provided a solution to a problem, are a wealth of knowledge of how you helped them and how they found you. If you filled a need and they are satisfied with your service they will let you know how you did so. This will help you improve your procedures in the future so you can improve the experience.
• Look through your contacts database to uncover trends about how certain leads or customers find and consume content about your company.
• When creating forms on your websites, use form fields that capture important customer information. (For example, if all of your customers vary based on company size, ask each lead for information about company size on your forms.  You could also gather information on what forms of social media your leads use by asking a question about social media accounts). Different offers on these forms may vary for what people look for. It’s important to focus on one thing, gather data and then adjust.
• Solicit feedback from your sales team on their customer interaction. (Which ones serve you best) Your sales team spends hours talking with potential customers and should have a good idea of what they respond to.

These are just a few steps to get you on your way to creating your own buyer persona(s).  When these groups are created you will be able to target and utilize Internet marketing materials  for your business, to get the attention of the exact customer base you have a solution for. You can provide answers to complex problems they may experience or have experienced making it easier for them to buy you and your product.

Interested in learning more about creating and developing your very own buyer personas?  Our marketing experts can help!  Click the button below for your free marketing analysis.