Getting to know someone for the first time can seem quite daunting at first. It is normal to rely on your assumptions to make decisions on a day-to-day basis and theses shape our personal views and opinions, but when it comes to buying personas it’s important that you keep them fresh.
But what exactly is a buying persona?
Well, they are a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer which is based on real data about your existing customers. When creating them, you should consider demographics, behaviour patterns and goals. However, a buying persona is not merely a description of your buyer. When you KNOW what they think about and how they behave, then you have yourself a buying persona.
Different buying personas look for different things and you should treat them with care. Not only in sales, but your marketing situation too. There are simple steps to follow to make profiling your persona much easier and specific:
1. Gender: In some cases you may have to be gender specific of a buyer persona, but only if it is possible.
2. Age: The age of a buyer persona is probably the easiest part of creating the portfolio. The age of the personal tells you a lot about them. What they have experienced and how they see the world depends largely on age.
3. Profession: Although this may not be obvious, if you can find a common profession or status of your buying persona, then you can make it a lot more accurate and specific.
4. Financial situation: This part of the profile is particularly important and you need to make sure that you get it right, otherwise you could weaken your profile. The best way to do this, is to look at how much they spend on certain products and how easily persuaded they are to purchase them. Also take into mind what else they buy as this could have a great influence on your product.
5. Education: If you know how well-educated your buying persona is then this will make your profile more accurate. This will help you to identify how well they can interpret and understand results, statistics, graphs etc. This way, you will be able to create information which is best suited to them in a way that they can best digest your information and products.
6. Free time: What are their interests and hobbies? Being aware of the small personal details of your buying personal will ensure that you know every little detail about them, which can provide to be valuable as you’re getting to know them on a personal level and you can relate to them more easily.
7. Purpose: Why do they buy your products? Do they need or want them? If you know what they use your product for, then you will be able to improve it effectively which makes it more valuable to your client.
At the end of the day, getting to know your buying persona in every way and to the tiny, gritty details, will have a positive impact on your products. Don’t forget that you make assumptions every single day, whether you realise you are or not. When you know how to help buyers approach your products, you build a bond of trusts that competitors can’t.