You probably have a robust suite of marketing material—perhaps a web site, a social presence, brochures and media kits. You manage telemarketing, email, display ads, and paid search. All of these serve to inform and educate your audience, keep your brand top-of-mind, and most importantly (drum roll please) they serve to influence prospects to become buyers. That’s what it’s all about!
So what’s the catch, you ask? While you may run a very well-oiled marketing machine, you could also be making a very common mistake: treating everyone the same. The truth is, your buyers do not all come in the same shape and size. They have different needs, different motivations, and come from varied backgrounds. You need to understand your buyers, and position your content so it has the greatest affect. In marketing, just like most things in life, one size does not fit all. Your material may do a wonderful job of positioning your brand and products on a general level, but does it connect with the human element of the individuals you’re trying to influence? Even if it doesn’t today, it can (and should)!
The best way to give definition to your buyers is to develop buyer personas. What the heck is a persona? Think of it as a mental model of a typical buyer: the profile of a real person that buys your product or engages with your organization.
It’s true, personas sure don’t sound very high-tech in our digital world, but the tools available today allow you to leverage personas more than ever before. Implementing personas can have tremendous results:
• When combined with a sound data strategy, personas can be the cornerstone of personalization and customization. (Just add content and automation strategies here!)
• A persona development exercise can reveal overlooked truths about your buyers. You may even find buyers you didn’t know you had!
• Personas help identify gaps in your marketing strategy. Are you missing a key content type? Perhaps your buyers have influencers around them you should be speaking to.
Whether you’re a battle-hardened marketing veteran, or a newbie trying to figure out how the ever-evolving world of marketing fits together, personas are a great foundation that inform your entire marketing program. It doesn’t matter if you’re a large or small organization, selling B2B or B2C, understanding your buyers is key to marketing success.
Want to discuss this topic?
The Marketing Cloud Success Program’s Facilitated Discussion on Buyer Persona Development can help. This one-hour session is available as part of your subscription to the Oracle Marketing Cloud, at no additional cost. All you have to do is request it , and we’ll follow up and have a marketing advisor lead you through this interactive session. In the session, the advisor will not only walk you through the value and benefits of personas, you’ll develop your first persona together. At the end, you’ll receive a summary that includes the completed persona, along with a project plan containing steps on how you can dig deeper.
