Rushal Patel — December 22, 2016 Follow @patelrushal
Selling to an invisible audience is difficult to do. Many startup owners are shocked to discover that the real challenge of launching a brand doesn’t actually occur until that product is already developed and ready to be launched. The reality is that identifying an audience and spreading your message to the right people can be the most difficult aspect of launching a brand. You already know how crowded and competitive the market is. What you may not realize is that having the best product available isn’t a guarantee that your startup company will rise to the top. Visibility and relevance are the two deciding factors when it comes to whether or not your startup company will last past its first year of existence. Connecting with customers is the best way to be competitive. This is why more and more businesses and startup companies are actually developing buyer personas that can be used to create relevant content and effective marketing measures. A buyer persona is a relatively new concept in the marketing world. The reality is that the marketing industry simply didn’t have the technology to create such an accurate and detailed analysis of customers up until very recently. A buyer persona is heavily based on details that can be mined from data. The reality of the marketing world today is that customers no longer have to answer surveys or voice their opinions in order to tell brands exactly who they are and what they want. Brands can learn everything they need to know about customers simply by observing digital behaviors and measuring interaction levels.
What Is a Buyer Persona?
A buyer persona is essentially a composite sketch of a very important segment of your audience. This persona reflects the habits, desires and needs of your audience. A persona is developed by stringing data together to get a fact-based picture of who your customers are. The marketing approach that most companies previously took was to create customer profiles based on demographic attributes. This method forced marketers to push groups of people into single buckets. The method lacks sophistication because it fails to create a picture of an individual buyer. Research has shown that it is far more effective to approach someone as an individual than it is to simply appeal to them in a generic fashion.
How to Develop a Buyer Persona for Your Startup Company
If it’s time for your startup company to meet its customers, you should start by building a buyer persona that can guide you through the process of making marketing decisions. There are several resources you can pull from when putting together a profile. You’ll want to use a mix of internal data and market research to put a profile together. You can even reach for competitor data and social media statistics when creating buyer personas. There are some factors that weigh heavily when developing buyer personas because they allow you to get a glimpse of the motivations and behaviors of the audience you’re trying to court. The list of key features includes:
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Marital status
- Number of children in household
- Education level
- Household income
- Hobbies and interests
- Fears
- Dislikes
- Challenges
- Goals
- Career field
- Professional title
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