While it may seem like a nuisance at first, creating personas allows you to make decisions from the perspective of your customer. It's a great way to see the situation from the eyes of the person purchasing your product or service.
This blog post is part of “Your Definitive Guide to Lead Generation” blog series.
As designers, copywriters, developers, and marketers, we sometimes get caught up in our own ideas of what is right and what will work. In reality, it doesn’t matter what we think. When our job is to create something for the consumer, their opinion should be first in mind. A persona allows you to take a step back from the work you are so invested in, and take an objective look from that character's perspective.
Instead of trying to market to everyone, personas give a more specialized target demographic to place your focus. They let you adjust your sights and aim in on one particular person, rather than shouting at the crowd.
Rob Peterson, an experienced advertising and marketing executive, notes the importance of personas when saying, “In my experience, 3 to 4 Buyer Personas usually account for 90%+ of a company’s sales.”
If this is true, then well-done personas will provide you with the specific knowledge you need for cost efficient marketing.
It’s hard to develop rapport when you don’t know who you’re talking to. It’s a lot easier when you can write or speak in a manner that is specific to one person.
You can use the language they would and write like you were talking to them in person. Personas allow you to use the slang they use, crack jokes that will humor them, and generally speak to them as a friend.
For more on thoughtful content creation, check out this article.
That may sound creepy, but let me explain. You won’t really know exactly where your customer is, but at least the type of places they might hang out, live, shop, or websites they browse.
If you can guess where they’ll be, you can market and advertise in the right areas to get their attention. Using this knowledge, you can reach them at touch points throughout the buyer’s journey.
With accurate placement in places they associate with, they will assume that your beliefs match theirs and will be more likely to support you.
In general, personas give you a much better idea of who you are trying to connect with. They create a straight path to better communication and provide the necessary customer insight for anyone from managers to copywriters. If personas sound like they would benefit your business, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to create your own effective buyer persona without mistake and identify the right marketing channels to promote over.