Do you know how old your ideal client is? Do you know his interests and problems… or maybe even his hair color and height? Contrary to appearances, many brands collect such detailed data about customers. This makes it easier for them to create a persona.
What is creating a persona?
First, a handful of data from the US market:
- 56 percent companies that use customer personas observe better-quality leads;
- 24 percent companies thus have more customers;
- in the case of 36 percent. of enterprises, the sales cycle was shortened thanks to the creation of a persona.
Let's move on to the definition:
"Persona is a fictional, but perfectly realistic character. It represents a specific group of people: customers or users, a market segment, a subset of employees or any other group of end users of designed services and products. " - writes Artur Urbański and Lucyna Dziewa ("Creating customer experiences", published by Helion)
As you can see, creating a customer persona is just the beginning. In the later stages of your business, you can also create personas of contractors, employees and competitors to plan your activities more effectively.
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Create a persona step by step
Creating a persona is about collecting the most general data and giving it the most specific form. The first thing you need to do is market research and getting to know your typical customer. "I don't have typical customers - they all buy from me" - you can say. However, if you collect research results, you notice certain trends and distinguish segments such as, for example, clients aged 18-24, clients from large cities aged 25-45, mature and wealthy aged 45-65, retirees. Now start getting out of the general to the specific. The easiest way for you is to use a real customer who reflects the entire group well.
Creating a persona
In the world of marketing, it's no wonder to give people names, places of residence, and character traits! This way you will complete the persona creation process and you will receive your "ideal clients", e.g .:
- Maciek from Sulejówek, 19, likes sports, computer games and news;
- Ola from Warsaw, 32 years old, has her own business, wants to relax, likes yoga, cooking and self-development.
- Bogdan, 52, looks for proven solutions, plays golf, drives a Jeep, and wisely allocates savings.
- Jadwiga, 81, appreciates tradition, manages cautiously, and only buys from Polish companies.
Don't limit yourself when creating persona description. Often it is as well photos, quotes and entire brochures dedicated to that one person. If you really identify a persona in detail, it will be an inexhaustible source of inspiration when you decide to go with it launching the product on the market, new marketing communication channels or any other bold move.
The benefits of creating a persona
Note that creating a persona will also make it much easier for you to react during crises. If it's an image crisis, then you will avert it because you know exactly what outrages your customers. If you're having trouble making a profit, just refer to your persona. It may turn out that your "typical customer" has recently changed their habits, is crazy about a new brand on the market or has revised their views. If you didn't get to know him well first by creating a persona, getting to the causes would be much more difficult.
Client path
Do you want to design a customer path or a sales funnel? Then you need to create a persona first. This is actually half the battle - then it is enough to choose the message for such a "typical client".
Many companies create several sales pages, each one designed to attract a different customer. Creating a persona allows them choose who the buyer is and segment the market. Similarly, you can hit different personas with ads targeted on social media.
Interests you personalized marketing or customer satisfaction index? Then you need to invest time first in creating the persona to which you will direct this message. Good marketing or content strategies are created based on the brief. Copywriters, graphic designers and photographers admit that a precisely described customer persona in such materials allows to create a better message. It makes it easier to "feel" in the client's situation and "step into his shoes", and thus create text or graphics tailor-made. And vice versa - if you have enough specific, shallow content on your website or in social media, it probably does not arise for a specific persona. Especially today, the message cannot be directed to everyone. If your marketing needs to be refreshed and you have no ideas for new content, after identifying the recipient and their needs, you will immediately regain inspiration. An interesting exercise can be to follow, for example, on Instagram all the pages that your ideal client is watching. You will quickly find what she likes.
Creating a persona on the example of the financial industry
It may seem that creating a persona only applies to certain industries. Meanwhile, it works everywhere - in retail, B2B marketingand even personal brand products.
Creating a persona
The financial advisory industry is a good example. Good advisers also use the customer's persona in their work. Thanks to this, when they deal with a new client, they do not start from scratch: they can refer to a set of ready-made personas, such as:
- a young married couple with an output - they care about a house in the suburbs, starting a family and living comfort.
- Lonely pensioner - such a person has probably been left alone and for the first time has to deal with their finances personally.
- Future retirees - a married couple 50+ who will soon retire and dream of traveling, peace and safe investment.
Financial advisers create up to a dozen of this type of person for their own needs. They do not stop there, because they have specific needs, fears and weak points for each of them. All this improves every day at work of a financial consultant. The same service can be used by the staff of a clothing store, beauty salon, travel agency or a second-hand car dealership. This makes up-selling very easy - you can safely assume what else the person might need. You are interested in such sales support? Still not sure how to build and use a persona in your business? Please do not hesitate to contact us.