Before getting into the subject, you must know that the buyer persona refers to the ideal or archetypal customer. In essence, it consists of developing a profile that fits a group of potential clients with similar characteristics.
However, although the buyer person must coincide with a series of qualities that different individuals can have, it must not be abstract—the more specific our description, the better.
So why is it so important to define your buyer persona? It’s simple: There are many types of prospects in the sales funnel, and we lose most of them during the process.
Only a tiny part provides us with conversions that materialize in sales. The fundamental issue is that if you have a well-defined buyer persona, the leads that most closely resemble him will be most likely to buy. In the process of qualification of leads, they will receive a higher score or at least be allowed to prioritize some leads over others.
How do you define your buyer persona?
There are different ways to define your buyer personas, but the process mainly consists of asking questions about the type of customer we should address and answering them.
The surest way to do this is by conducting a small study among your customers, which you can carry out, for example, through surveys.
The questions you can ask to create a buyer persona profile may vary depending on the sector, your sales process, etc. Below, I have included a model form so you can get an idea.
Buyer persona: Demographics
- Sex
- Age
- Education
- Civil status
- Purchasing power
Buyer persona: Personal profile
- What is his hobby?
- What does he need to be happy?
- How does he measure success?
- What people influence his life the most?
Buyer persona: Professional profile
- What is his position within the company?
- Does he have dependents?
- Who does he report to?
- What are his responsibilities in the company?
- What are his career goals?
Finally, after answering all these questions, you can develop the profile of your buyer persona more clearly.
Why create a Buyer Persona?
Creating a buyer persona is fundamental in a digital marketing strategy for results. We create the Buyer Persona to send the right message to the right individuals and thus generate greater chances of success.
Without a defined Buyer Persona, your strategy may be lost, and you may not be in tune with your potential customers.
What is the difference between buyer persona and target audience?
There is expected confusion in the concepts, but there is one thing we can say for sure: Buyer Persona and target audience are not synonymous. Let’s go to a practical example:
Target audience: Men and women, 24 to 30 years old, single, graduated in architecture, with an average monthly income of $3,500,000, who plan to increase their professional training and like to travel.
Buyer persona: Pedro is 26 years old, a recently graduated and autonomous architect. He plans to develop professionally by doing a master’s degree abroad because he loves to travel, he is single, and he always wanted to do an exchange. You are looking for an agency to help you find European universities that accept foreign students.
At first glance, they may even sound very similar. However, it is different to think of a digital marketing strategy directed at Pedro and not to a large target audience.
Also, if you think you’ve segmented very thoroughly, you don’t have to limit yourself to just one Buyer Person. It is common for businesses to have more than one defined Buyer Persona. But don’t overdo it. If one can limit your audience too much, many can cause your strategy to lose focus.
