The Power of Personas Part 2: Who Is Your Customer — Really?

To help you grow your business, we’re bringing you a four-part series on personas — fictionalized representations of your real-life customers. Learn how using personas generates more leads, sells more products and increases your bottom line. Links to the rest of the series are below this blog.

The concept of figuring out who your customer is sounds simple. You can sit with a piece of paper and your computer and write down all the things you know about a person you target. That’s not a bad place to start. But how far can it get you?

How do you know you’re marketing to the right customers?
Can you be sure you’re creating business products and messages that close the sale?

There’s more to know about the people you want to service, sell to and partner with — and the key is personas data.

Strength in Data

The strength of a persona depends on the extent of the data used to create it. So the more thorough your research, the better. Choose a segment of your business and delve into the world of your customers. But don’t get overwhelmed. A little data is better than none. Do what you can as time allows.

Types of Data

Demographics: What is their age, education, occupation, gender, relationship/family status, location and income level?

Psychographics: What is their personality like? What do they believe, value and care about?

Goals: What do they want to achieve personally and professionally?

Pain Points: What problems are they trying to solve? What obstacles do they face?

Buying Habits: Where do they shop — brick-and-mortar or online? Is there a seasonality to their habits or a particular time of day they shop? How much do they spend?

Preferred Channel: Where do they prefer to get their information? Is it through search engines, social media, peers, influencers, email marketing or in-person contact?

Online Behaviors: How do they browse online? How much are they willing to read, and what tone of writing do they gravitate toward (helpful, informative, direct, friendly, concerned, appreciative, assertive, etc.)?

Personal Behaviors: How do they unwind, socialize and manage their household?

Gather the Details

Start with low-hanging fruit, then branch out to learn what you need to know. When you stop uncovering new insights or run out of time, there is no need for more research. You can always revisit the process at another time. In fact, if your data gets stale, it’s a good idea to research what’s new.

Begin with what you already have. Review your sales reports, customer interactions and comments. What do your social reviews say? What other information do you already have that you can gain insight from?
Consult online tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Audience Insights and artificial intelligence.
Analyze third-party data, consumer research, ethnographic studies and competitor data.
Gather additional information about your customers through surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews and feedback forms.
Talk to others who work with you. If you work with people who are in your target market, what do they like and do? What have they learned about your customer?

Make Research a Team Effort

As you can see, there is a lot you can learn about your customer. If you are a small, two-person team, do a little research when you have the time, starting with what you think is most important. If your company has staff, share the work with them and uncover insights together. It reduces the task and aligns everyone. When it comes to communicating with customers, all of you will be better equipped.

Taking the time to research who your customer really is allows you to better serve, promote to and communicate with them. With data in hand, join us in Part 3 to learn how to turn your insights into persona profiles.

The Power of Personas

Part 1: How Fictionalized Characters Improve Business Outcomes
How creating fictional representations of your customers can positively impact the outcome of your efforts

Part 3: Making Customer Data Easy To Share and Use
Turn your customer data into a shareable tool that helps everyone make better business decisions.

Part 4: Putting Your Personas To Work To Build Your Business
12 ways to increase your bottom line with personas