For content marketing to be an effective tool in promoting website traffic and conversions, it must speak to the company’s target audience. Customers have specific pain points and challenges, and capturing their attention and interest requires content that has a particular buyer persona in mind. Marketers who use persona-based marketing obtain a better return on marketing investments and higher levels of audience engagement. Here’s how to develop and define personas to present a detailed picture of exactly who your audience is and what motivates them to buy.

Defining Your Buyer Persona

How do you go about clarifying your buyer persona? A buyer persona is a representation of your actual customers, based on detailed research. Social media is one of the most powerful mediums available for getting to know your customers, including their primary challenges and what solutions they are hoping to find. Using social media, there are a variety of tools you can use to help create a buyer persona, including:

• Interview customers and encourage feedback
• Anonymous surveys
• Interactive content
• Reviewing current trends and statistics
• Social Media Intelligence
• Lead intelligence

Data is gathered using the above methods, in combination with understanding trends in the overall market. The information you gather will help develop an image of your ideal customer. You can learn background information and various demographics such as family size, career title, household income, and interests outside of work. With this information, you begin to understand their needs and pain points. Via data collection, you may end up with any number of different buyer personas, each of which may correspond to distinct products or services.

Is Your Buyer Persona a Team?

For some products and services, you are actually selling to a team, not an individual. This is especially true in B2B sales where you are not likely to be selling to individuals. In this case, your buying persona is a team that consists of several different personalities, each with a different title, job function, and pain point.

Persona-Based Content and The Buying Cycle

Whether you are marketing to individual buyers or buying teams, you should realize that both types of buyers make purchases in a linear fashion. A buyer starts with awareness that there is a problem to be solved and looks for content that addresses their problem. When the prospect finds content that demonstrates an understanding of their problem, they begin considering solutions proposed by the content. They will review different options and demonstrations, comparing information and possible solutions. Ultimately a buyer approaches the decision phase. Once they have been convinced emotionally and logically by at least some of the content they have discovered, they decide to buy. If you want the best chance of developing content that leads to a purchase, you’ll need to clearly understand your buyers’ persona(s).

Delivering content based on buyer persona equates to recognizing exactly whom you are talking to and what problem(s) they need solved. The time it takes to research and define your personas may seem cumbersome, but it tends to be worth it when it comes to marketing ROI. That’s because, as alluded to above, persona-based content is developed with a much clearer understanding of the buyer. Hence, it speaks more directly to your audience’s problems and can more effectively convince them that your products are the right solutions.

Persona-based content is becoming increasingly more important to remain competitive. For help with targeting your audience using personas, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business.  Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.