BUYER PERSONAS - Cdn2.hubspot

BUYER PERSONASMARKETING THROUGH THE VOICE OF YOUR BUYERThe Business of Conversation

BUYER PERSONASMARKETING THROUGH THE VOICE OF YOUR BUYER3461113Introduction Why personas?Chapter 1 What is a buyer persona?Chapter 2 How do you create personas?Chapter 3 How do you put your personas to work?About SPROUT Content

INTRODUCTIONJust like the best journalists, listening is one of the greatest skills a marketer can have.And, now that every company can and should be a publisher, the crossover betweenmarketing and journalism has never been more blurred. Like publishers, businessesmust have a deep understanding of their audience to create the right content for them,at the right time. It’s not a fluke when the content that a company publishes feels likeit was written just for you! It’s like they are in your head and understand exactly whatyou want and need.That used to be true mostly for consumer goods companies that exhaustivelystudied their buyer. But today, the smartest B2B businesses are marketing not just tobig corporate companies or industries through boring jargon and “techlish,” but to theactual people who are making the decision to buy their products or services. Thesecompanies are breaking out of the old habit of talking to themselves, and taking thetime to really understand the needs and challenges of their customers and answertheir questions through helpful content.How do they do this? By developing buyer personas.page 3

1CHAPTER ONEWhat is a buyerpersona?According to HubSpot, Buyer Personas are: “fictional, generalizedrepresentations of your ideal customers. They help you understandyour customers (and prospective customers) better, and make it easierfor you to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concernsof different groups.”Buyer personas are not just traditionalbuyer profiles based on gathered demographics, but hypothetical archetypes ofactual customers. They are in essenceimaginary, still based on actual insightsthat are discovered in the interviewand investigation process. Their names,images and personal details are the onlythings that are actually fictionalized.According toHubSpot, BuyerPersonas are:“fictional,generalizedrepresentationsof your idealcustomers.”A buyer persona is not just anothermarketing buzzword, but a usefuland strategic tool that will help youcreate content that builds trust with youraudience and lasting, meaningfulrelationships. Buyer personas set thefoundation for your content marketingand inbound strategy and are essential tosuccessfully developing content for thepage 4

right people you are trying to reach. After all, how can you educate your buyers and lead them on their journey withoutknowing who they are and what they need?Once you really get to know your buyers, what their challenges, needs and pain points are, creating content for them will beas easy as talking to a good friend. Taking the time to create researched buyer personas ensures that you’re speaking throughthe voice of your buyer, not your CEO or copywriter.Today, the buyer is in the driver’s seat, and the companies that adapt to a culture of buyer understanding will be empoweredto truly meet their customers’ needs.“We put a picture to ourbuyer personas and printthem out before we createcontent, always referringback to the person behindthe scenes, who is actuallymaking a decision.”Building Personaspage 5

2CHAPTER TWOHow do youcreate personas?Step1Buyer personas are created through actual research of and interviewswith your target audiences. These interviewees can include a mix ofcurrent or past customers, internal teams, and researched prospects thatmight align with your target audience. Here are the essential first stepsthat will lead you in the right direction to creating buyer personas thatare on target:IDENTIFY YOUR KEY PERSONASFirst, you must decide, who are the mostimportant people involved not only in thebuying or decision making process, butfrom the very beginning of the researchand prospecting phase. This is your buyer’s journey. Many companies make thebig mistake of identifying their buyers asonly the C-Suite. But is the CEO or CFO“We always also tryto focus on notjust peoples’ jobtitles but their rolein the decision. So,it’s not just theMarketing Directoror the CFO, it’sthe person whois making thebuying decision.”the one identifying the need for a newsolution, and the person actually seekingout the right information? Chances arethey are not the ones hitting Google tofind solutions. The CEO may identify thechallenge and be the financial decisionmaker, but will likely assign the researchphase to someone else.page 6

Identifying your true buyer personas upfront will save a lot of time and effort in the long run. We’ve worked with severalcompanies that were certain who their personas were. As an example, one time a new client was sure that one of their toppersonas was the CIO of a particular type of company. Once we got into the investigation process, we identified that the CIOwas the finial decision maker, but not the one vetting companies or seeking the actual solutions.There was someone in the middle of that process who was the researcher and initial facilitator of the discussion that was thekey persona to target with great content. This realization changed their entire marketing approach and our entire contentmarketing and inbound strategy.And, according to a study published by Google and Millward Brown Digital in March, 2015, nearly half of all B2B researchersare Millennials. So focusing on the C-Suite or only senior-level executives may not be the best buyer persona strategy.While 64% of the C-suite have final say indecisions, so do 24% of the non-C-suite,81% of which have a say in purchasedecisions. So, if you’re marketing to onlythe highest level executives, you’re notreaching those who are looking for you.Focus on PeopleDon’t focus on titles. There’s often noone-size-fits-all title structure in mostindustries. The important thing is toidentify the different roles and layersin the research and decision makingprocess. The Healthcare ComplianceManager in one company is the Directorof Health Information Managementin another. It’s essential to think throughthe layers in your buying funnel and allof the decision makers involved.page 7

Once you decide on this overall persona’s role, give him/her a name, such as Compliance Catherine or Financial Qualifier Fred.This way they have a name and you know who they are, but you’re not trapped by titles.Start broad. Some companies could feasibly create 10 personas based on all of their industry verticals and the many peopleinvolved in their buying process. Starting with 3 key personas to start is a good foundation to build on. You can always getmore granular as you embark on your content and inbound marketing strategy.Step2Pinpoint your interviewees. Think about your current and past customers who are ideal fits for these personas, as well asyour internal subject experts, and set up interviews with 2-3 people per persona.DEVELOP STRATEGIC QUESTIONSYour buyer persona interviews shoulduncover:Who are they? While persons are notbased on demographical data, someessentials help paint a picture of thisperson such as whether they skewmale or female, education background,approximate age and where they arelocated.“A pain point is something about their jobor a task that they are assigned to dothat they are having a challenge with.”Identifying Pain PointsWhat are their job responsibilities?Detailed information about a person’sjob role and function is crucial for B2Bbusinesses. Understanding your persona’s job level, knowledge, goals, responsibilities and experience is essentialfor getting to know them and creatingcontent that will address their needs andhelp them do their jobs better.page 8

What are their challenges and needs? The main premise of content and inbound marketing isn’t just about selling products or services, but solving a problem or fulfilling aneed for someone. How does your offer help solve a problem in your buyer’s day?What are their perceived barriers? Why would they NOT choose a solution likeyours? This “bad news” insight reveals what prevents buyers from choosing you overa competitor.Step3What are their decision criteria? What specifics about your product or service willbuyers use to evaluate as they compare options?USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INSIGHTSThere are so many options out there when it comes to social media analysis that it canbe hard to know where to start. Start with some of the research you have already conducted and look for holes. What kind of information are you lacking details about? Onceyou know what you are looking for within social media intelligence, the easier it is tonavigate. A few tips: Facebook Audience Insights – A tool designed to help marketers learn more abouttheir target audiences.LinkedIn profile searches – Search by company, industry, title and user groups.LinkedIn Navigator is a great tool if you want to go more in depth.Twitter Analytics – Measure engagement and learn how to make your Tweets moresuccessful.Followerwonk for Twitter – Followerwonk has so many uses in inbound marketing,including growing your audience and reaching out to influencers. It also has a placein building buyer personas. Similar to how Facebook Audience Insights uncoversFacebook audience characteristics, Followerwonk helps you paint a picture of yourTwitter followers.page 9

Step4Step5CONDUCT INTERVIEWSInterview customers either in person or over the phone or via Skype or GoToMeeting. If you can, record the calls so you canconcentrate on the interview rather than taking notes. Plus, it will give you a record to refer back to when developing thepersonas.DEVELOP PERSONASFollowing the actual conversations andresearch, you’ll mine your interviews forkey insights and organize the story thatway. We use a fairly standard templatefor creating our actual buyer personas,and a handy tool from HubSpot: MakeMy Persona.Here’s a visual sample of one page froma buyer persona:Engineer MusheerGOALS: Improve communication between departmentsIncrease transparency to keep people on track andbuild trust between team membersOptimize processes and shorten release cycleDeliver better services/products than competitionImprove customer relations with faster, moreflexible deliveryFacilitate the move to AgileCHALLENGES: Logistics: working with distributed teams in varioustime zones and environmentsEducation: Explaining benefits of Agile and gettingmanagement’s supportHR: Working through fear of change to become afaster organizationCOMMON OBJECTIONS: Location: “We prefer to work with regional vendors”Cost: “We will just work with someone in-house whois Agile Certified”Other Training Resources: “We will just take acourse and figure it out.page 10

3CHAPTER THREEHow do you put yourbuyer personas to work?1. Audit your existing website2. Develop your blog editorialcalendar3. Connect with similar personas4. Develop a lead gen campaignAt SPROUT Content we feel that buyer personas are so important wecan’t work with a client without them. We’ve tried in the past, and thecontent eventually falls flat. Personas are the anchor that groundsthe content and inbound strategy and prevents it from drifting intounchartered territory, or worse, sinking.So, don’t do all that work and then leavethem hanging on the wall (or worse inyour document files) collecting dust.5. Segment your contact lists6. Create videos7. Combine personasanswering their questions and leadingthem through their journey effectively.Here are a few specific ways toimplement your buyer persona strategy:2. Develop your blog editorial calendararound topics they want to know about(include Persona as a column in youreditorial calendar).1. Audit your existing website content toensure you are speaking to each persona,3. Connect with similar personas onsocial media channels.page 11