Buyer Persona - Putting traction into your segmentation and targeting

You created this entire business keeping in mind a certain type of customer . Why, then, do you want this fact to be known only to a few in a specialized language?  Why not paint a vivid picture of your target customer and display it everywhere so that everyone knows exactly what kind of customer you are after.  

Who is your target customer is a very important decision in your marketing strategy. Therefore do not take this decision casually. Bookish Product Managers define it in classic text book terms in terms of

• age group (these shoes are meant for school going children) 
• income group (these garments are for premium customers)
• function (this machinery is for crushing stones for construction industry). 

But such superficially definitions do not allow you to take practical decisions like 

• what should be the specifications of the product that the customers expect
• what kind of people will be needed to convince such customers effectively 
• what delivery mechanisms the customer will prefer 

That is why I recommend you go deeper and beyond such traditional segmentation tools actually create Buyer Personas ! If you see different types of customers for you, create different personals. And then let it be widely known what type of customers you are doing business for.  Let your research, manufacturing, supply chain, sales and advertising know clearly who they are really working for and how can they satisfy the customer. Do not let the "Target Audience Definitions" be defined by Product Managers alone and to be used only in the conference rooms. Let your technicians, telephone operators, salesmen and workers know them too. 

Here is a fictitious example of who the target customer is - at the Buyer Persona level - for a software company. You will see how, knowing the customer in such detail, will automatically improve your decision making. 

For a database software company

Buyer Persona of Mrs Suchitra Shetty

Typical of who our target customers are

BACKGROUND:

• Head of Human Resources
• Worked at the same company for 10 years
• Worked her way up from HR Associate
• Married with 2 children (10 and 8)

DEMOGRAPHICS:

• Age 30-45
• Dual HH Income:  Rs 50 Lakhs
• Suburban

IDENTIFIERS:

• Calm demeanor
• Probably has an assistant screening calls
• Asks to receive collateral mailed/printed

ROLE AND GOALS

• keep employees happy and turnover low
• Support legal and finance teams

CHALLENGES:

• Getting everything done with a small staff
• Rolling out changes to the entire company

HOW WE HELP:

•       Make it easy to manage all employee data in one place
•       Integrate with legal and finance teams’ systems  

      REAL QUOTES:

•      “It’s been difficult getting company-wide adoption of new technologies in the past.”
•      “Don’t have time to train new employees on many different databases and platforms.”
•       “It was painful integrating  with other departments’ databases and software.”

     COMMON OBJECTIONS:

•        I’m worried I’ll lose data transitioning to a new system.
•        I don’t want to have to train the entire company on how to use a new system.    

      MARKETING MESSAGING:  Integrated HR Database Management      

     
ELEVATOR PITCH : We give you an intuitive database that integrates with your existing software and platforms, and lifetime training to help new employees get up to speed quickly.

FOR CREATING BUYER PERSONA IN YOUR OWN BUSINESS YOU MAY FIND THIS ARTICLE USEFUL. CLICK ON THIS.