Personas are fictional characters representing specific audience segments that are interacting with a specific brand. They typically represent the primary decision-makers and/or influencers in a decision to buy a product or services. They are described using a specific set of demographics, attitudes, values, and behaviors to depict the typical customers. A business typically has three to five very detailed buyer personas that they use for their marketing strategies. Why do businesses bother creating these fictional characters or rough representation of target customers?
With buyer personas described in great detail for your business, you will develop a better understanding of your customers' needs. Humanizing your target customers helps you develop a greater sense of empathy towards them. By considering their demographics, attitudes, values, and behavior, you can better gauge their demands and needs. In turn, you can also have better product development that truly provides value to your customers.
Buyer personas also help you create a better content that increases your leads and customer conversion. You can produce individualized contents catered for each of your marketing personas that are dispersed throughout the different stages of the customer lifecycle. Personalized contents provide more value towards your customers. Send these personalized contents through email or blog posts. With the high-value contents you provide, you increase your credibility as a go-to brand and increase conversions in the long run. As you consider their status in the customer lifecycle, you also make the right timing in your contents and marketing programs in general.
Ultimately, having buyer personas also increases marketing effectiveness. First, you'll know where to find the most lucrative market segments. You can identify the most appropriate social media platforms where you can place your ads and allocate most of your marketing campaigns. For example, if your buyer persona is a housewife looking for ways to update the home through DIY projects, Pinterest is the appropriate platform to reach for your primary target market. Beef up your marketing campaigns in just one or two platforms where your buyer personas lead you and you'll surely realize a greater ROI for your marketing efforts.
Simply put, buyer personas matter for marketing because they bring you closer to your target market. You empathize with their needs, create products/services and content based on these needs, and reach them effectively through the right platforms. Buyer personas streamline your marketing efforts, making them simpler and more targeted.