Do you want to learn how to build a buyer persona?
Even the best copywriting can fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes) if you aren’t sending the right message to the right people. That’s why it’s crucial for businesses to create a buyer persona.
Doing so will help you attract better leads, build deeper relationships with potential customers, and dramatically boost your conversions.
That’s why, in today’s post, we’ll look at how you can create a buyer persona in 5 simple steps.
But first, let’s get clear on what buyer personas are and why they’re so crucial to your content marketing strategy.
A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. This person has true needs, challenges, and goals—as well as specific likes and dislikes that are unique to them.
A buyer persona will help you know what type of content to create and how best to market it. It’ll also give you a clear idea of the demographics your ideal customer belongs in, as well as their online habits.
But you may be wondering, “Why does a buyer persona REALLY matter?”
For one thing, knowing who is on the other end of your marketing efforts will help you make better decisions about the content, channels, and messages you use.
Also, knowing who is on the other end of your marketing efforts can boost conversions dramatically.
Creating buyer personas increases conversion rates by as much as 20%. That’s because it helps businesses speak to their customers in a way that’s not too pushy, but also gives them the information they need to buy.
And finally, buyer personas help businesses stand out from the competition by focusing on what differentiates their product or service from competitors’.
But what does this really mean for your business?
A few things, really.
Here’s what having a concrete buyer persona can do for you:
So, now that you know what a buyer persona is and its importance for copywriting, let’s look at how to create one.
The first step of creating your own buyer persona is identifying the benefits that matter most to them and they’re likely looking out for when buying a product or service.
For example, if you’re creating a buyer persona for buyers of your eCommerce store, something like “convenience” might be an important consideration.
The second step is to list the qualities that describe them and their situation (e.g., age group, marital status, home size). Again, with the eCommerce store example, this might be “early 30s,” “married without children,” and “rental apartment.”
The third step is to describe their personality. For instance:
As you continue building your persona, you might also consider their goals and challenges. For example: “They’re interested in trying new things (so they’ll be receptive to your offers for a membership program) but not open to large commitments just yet.”
The fourth step is listing their buzzwords or phrases that describe them best. These will usually comprise of things they like to talk about, things that excite them, and what they’re passionate about.
For example: “I love my new shoes” or “I’m so tired after work.”
You can find these from reading reviews about your competitors’ (or your own) products. I the example above, using phrases like “love,” “new,” or “so tired” can be quickly used to connect with your audience.
The fifth step is incorporating the persona you’ve created into your content marketing strategy by using it throughout all of your interactions with potential customers.
That means when you sit down to write a blog post or advertisement, you should be thinking about your buyer persona, who they are, what language they use, and what they’d be most attracted to.
This level of personalization will be HUGE for increasing your conversions.
Yes, it will change over time.
Your customer’s tastes and preferences are always evolving with the times. This means that you’ll need to keep your content up-to-date by adding new posts or changing headlines based on what they’re currently interested in.
You can also use the steps to create buyer personas as a way to determine what your customers are looking for. This will help you stay on top of trends, like new technology or social media platforms they’re spending time on now.
It’s important that businesses keep their content fresh and relevant so buyers (aka your target market) can find what they’re looking for.
A blog is a great place to start with these updates because it’s simple and easy for you to add new posts.
Though be warned: Creating content that speaks directly to your customer may feel like work at first, but the more personalized approach will help make sales easier over time. It’ll also establish a lasting relationship between buyer and seller.
Yes, you can.
But before we get into this too much, remember: A buyer persona is not your target audience or a niche market. Instead, it’s the specific group of customers that are most likely to buy from you and make up your ideal customer base.
For example, if you’re an eCommerce store selling men’s clothing, you might have two buyer personas:
Both of these personas are likely looking for different things and might have differing opinions on what’s trendy or stylish.
That means your content marketing strategy will need to cater to each group accordingly. One way you can do this is by ensuring that the copywriting used in each individual blog post is tailored to a specific buyer persona.
Otherwise, you may not be targeting the right segment of your audience who’s ready to make a purchase.
The answer to this is, it depends.
It’s not possible for a copywriter to be able to write in the voice of an individual without knowing any information about them personally. And the same is true when writing on behalf of a business.
So if you’re looking for a writer who can do that with no prep-work, then no – but they will be able to write personal sounding content based on research and what you give them.
The key to working with a copywriter is that they’re able to identify the voice of your buyer persona and write in it.
They should be able to do this based on research into your business, what you offer, and who your target audience is – backed up by their experience as a writer. That way, when someone reads your content, they’ll be able to tell that you know what matters to them and are speaking directly to their needs.
Remember, the key to content marketing isn’t just content but strategic content.
That means having a writer who doesn’t know “what” or “how” to write, but has a clear idea of who they’re writing to. This needs to be figured out before you outsource any of your copywriting as, again, even the best message in the world won’t be effective if it’s not seen by the right people.
So, there you have it! You now know how to create a buyer persona and how to make your content marketing strategy more effective.
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