A buyer persona is a representation of a typical buyer profile. It’s a fictional customer inspired by the real thing, designed to correspond to the target of a new or developing company.
A buyer persona is an imaginary customer inspired by the profiles and expectations of real customers. It enables us to better define the target of future sales strategies.
To design a buyer persona, we need to make it as real as possible. We research information and data about this fictional consumer to assign the following:
- a name,
- an age range,
- a situation,
- interests,
- a salary,
- constraints,
- goals,
- etc.
This representation of the ideal customer is used in many situations, not least in marketing, when developing a sales or inbound marketing strategy, whether involving B2B, C2C, or other kinds of business models.
Fictitious but inspired by reality, a buyer persona will represent the target to which the strategy in place must address and is essential for successful implementation of the 4 Ps of marketing.
To determine its buyer personas, a business needs to perform market research, if it's just starting up, or an in-depth study of its customer portfolio, if it's already in business. Typical profiles will then emerge, which must be linked to a specific need in order to be exploited.
Buyer personas are at the heart of virtually all corporate strategies.
Whatever the content created, the products developed, the marketing campaigns launched, or the working methods implemented with customers, everything must be linked to the buyer persona profiles.
This technique helps you to keep in mind that there's always a human behind a marketing target. Buyer personas enable us to better identify them and thus to understand their constraints, objectives, and obstacles to purchase—all this with the aim of proposing the most appropriate product or service.
In digital marketing, buyer personas are particularly used as part of inbound marketing strategies. They help us to anticipate the expectations of people shopping online and to gain a better understanding of their buyer's journey.
This precise knowledge of internet users makes it possible to create sequences of content on a website capable of encouraging them to make a purchase or contact us online.
For companies, the creation of buyer personas is essential. When you know who you're talking to, it's easier to create a lasting bond of trust.
