Content Development: Fiction Fans Take Note – Creating Personas Enhances Local Search Strategies
For marketing purposes, the term “persona” refers to a composite amalgamation of the traits your primary customers exhibit. Much the same as the process law enforcement uses to develop criminal profiles, astute businesses build personas that embody the needs and tendencies of their ideal clients and buyers.
When you have a good construct of your ideal customer, you can more easily design your product offerings, services, and website around their interests. Personas allow you to separate your preconceived notions from those of reality and to fine tune your local search strategies.
As a result, it’s important to build your personas from the traits of your buyers, not from those who just visit your website. This enables you provide products and services that are virtually certain to create demand.
Persona Criteria
Here are some common elements that successful persona builders use to create profiles. These are very general but are likely to stimulate aspects that are more specific to your particular market.
-
Age – This is really more of a generational grouping than any particular age. Millennials vs. the middle-aged vs. seniors, for example. It makes little sense to target your marketing for a mobile app towards AARP members, but they’re a perfect audience for hearing aids.
-
Gender – It’s amazing how often this trait is ignored or incorrectly assessed. It’s a mistake to conclude that your buyers are androgynous clones beyond stereotypical behavior. They are not — they are human.
-
Income – Mercedes Benz will get better results running TV ads during golf tournaments than on NASCAR broadcasts. On the other hand, products such as cell phones cut across this demographic.
-
Profession – If your company is B2B, the profession is usually a given. If it is B2C, you will have to mine that from other sources. If you sell homemade preserves, you likely have no interest in your buyer’s profession. If you sell medical records software, you care very much about it.
Other general headings might include education level, number of hours spent working each week (indicating how much leisure time they have), and other buying habits they exhibit.
How to Begin Persona Building
It’s easy to see why companies so often ask for this information when they request you to fill out forms. Maybe your company should, too. Consider providing a discount coupon or an inexpensive gift to anyone who completes your contact form. Ask for a few persona traits when you offer to send a free newsletter or a list of monthly specials.
Strategic eMarketing is a Eureka CA marketing firm that specializes in helping clients develop personas as part of a well-rounded marketing campaign. Contact us to help you get started.