When running a business online, everyone has different marketing approaches. However, they are mostly oriented in the same direction – more traffic, more sales, and loyal users. Although different entrepreneurs choose various ways to achieve that, they all need one thing, and that’s a buyer persona. What is a buyer persona and why it’s important? Learn now.
What is a Buyer Persona?
You can probably already guess by the name itself, but a buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer. It’s semi-fictional, based on a research you do for your niche of business, and maybe a few assumptions. And as we know, everything becomes clearer with an example.
Let’s say you have an online shop for car parts. Depending on them, you know your potential customers will be mostly men that have cars, enjoy driving, and are interested in fixing them when problems appear. Okay, so far, so good. But as you start selling products for those men, you also start following the insights you get from all analytic tools. You come to notice they are mostly men between 23 and 50. (Hey, reminding that it’s just an assumption.) After a while, you can see what countries they come from, or what cities if you are more local. Then you can see what websites they come from, what keywords they use, and what interests they have.
Before you know it, you’ll be asking yourself “what do men between 23 and 50 enjoy” and you’ll be using more women images on your site. And again, it’s all hypothetical. The point is you take your time to create the most accurate buyer persona, and then you start selling to her. Or him.
Where to Get Insights to Build it?
Before anything, you need to gather yourself with patience. Creating a website is easier than building a buyer persona. It’s a process that requires research, thoughts, and strategy, and that takes time.
Most of the tools also require time to gather data before summarizing any insights. So, while you are waiting, start exploring online.
Create accounts on Reddit or Quora where you can see what your eventual users ask, what they want, and even talk to them to get to know them. Be active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. People share enough that you can benefit from.
And then, use Google Analytics to tell you what interests your users have, how old they are, where they live, what they do, or if they prefer to visit your website on mobile or desktop.
Don’t forget that creating a questionnaire on your website is also a great way to get valuable information.
How to Create it?
There might come the point where you have too much information and not a single buyer persona that’s clear. Because you can have more than one fictional dreamed user. So, what to do with all that data?
Here are a few questions that might help you.
What do they do for a living?
Finding out this for your users and dream personas will help you understand a few things. First, approximately how much money they make – what can they afford, how much would they be willing to pay, and more; approximately what times of the day, week, and year they are free and much more.
How qualified are they?
Understanding how much they know about whatever you are selling or offering is helpful mostly for your content management (or how to write blog posts that your buyer persona will read). To sell or convince, it’s important to speak the language your users do. So, your buyer persona will give you a hind whether you need to be more professional or speak casually.
What interests do they have?
The interests will orientate you in the social media channels you will mostly find them, as well as that you will know what ads would be effective for them and what they would find intriguing.
Of course, there are many more questions that in different situations will be helpful and insightful for your online business. But that’s why you need to set your own goals, and then you’ll know what to search for.
Why are Buyer Personas so Important?
When it comes to running an online business, the buyer personas you create will help you formulate the core of your content creation, marketing strategy, and online presence when building a trustful brand. Even though it is an online world, it’s important never to lose sight of that actual people are behind it, using it, linking, or disliking it.
So, as long as you remember that “increasing traffic” means “attracting people” and “growing sales” means “people liking what they find on your website” you will know why it’s important to build buyer personas and trust them to be the ones that drive your decisions in the right direction.