According to HubSpot, a buyer persona is a semi-fictional, generalized representation of your customers that account for the demographics, goals, motivators, and challenges they are facing. I like that they differentiate between a persona and an ideal customer profile (ICP) because the two are not necessarily the same. You may think your ideal customer fits certain criteria, but you can have a completely different type of persona that represents one of your actual customers. I think that is an important point for all businesses to understand because it can also help uncover gaps in content and digital marketing strategies. Additionally, it can give added insight that may provide ideas that target industries that can become new profit centers for a business.

Data-Based Personas

One of the aspects of working in the digital marketing sphere that I thoroughly enjoy is utilizing data and applying it to marketing strategies. A company’s RFQ forms and/or contact us forms hold a wealth of information in them. Who is contacting a business (job title, industry, etc.), what they are buying, and what quantities they are buying are all important to understanding a buyer and essentially, their persona. Coupled with data from Google Analytics, the picture becomes clearer as to who should be targeted and how a message should be conveyed.

Ideally a B2B company will have a few personas, reflecting different stakeholders (who are also most likely to be different stages in the buyer’s journey). These can be as detailed or simplistic as you would like, however, I would caution against getting extremely bogged down with a detailed persona. Personas, like content, will change. Therefore, spending an exorbitant amount of time deciding the salary range for a persona or their personality traits might not be the best course of action. What your personas look like in 2019 might not be the same in 2020.

Personas + Content Marketing

What role does a persona play in content marketing? Personas can be the foundation by which a content marketing strategy is built. Knowing and understanding who you want to target can keep you one step ahead (or several) of businesses whose primary content is based on selling. We already know not all content is good content and if you are just selling on your website, you might want to think twice about how that is received by potential customers.

The B2B customer is evolving, with the lines of B2C and B2B blurring. While the buying cycle for B2B is still longer, and having multiple stakeholders adds another level of complexity, buyers still want a great customer experience, and that includes having content that they can connect with. It might seem strange and even downright silly to create meaningful content but being able to connect with a buyer can be what sets you apart from your competitors. It can show that you truly understand their pain points and along the same lines, that you have a solution for their problems.

To Infinity and Beyond (or maybe just 2020)

It is never too early to think about the upcoming year. What are your marketing goals? What are your sales goals? How can your website help facilitate meeting and exceeding those goals? These are questions I like asking our clients because it helps us understand what the focus will be for the new year and how we can align our marketing strategies to meet those goals. While personas and content marketing are not new concepts, they are increasingly integral to any digital marketing plan/strategy.

Contact Ecreative

Having focused content that connects with your audience in a meaningful way can turn an ordinary website into an extraordinary one. Contact Ecreative to discuss content marketing strategies for your business today.