4 min read  | Buyer Persona

7 areas buyer persona research must uncover

If you want to build effective marketing communications, start with your buyers. Buyer persona research is a powerful way to rapidly understand WHY people buy from you. Gaining an in-depth understanding is the foundation for marketing campaigns to deliver real sales results. It lets you get the attention of buyers, speak to them in terms they understand, and connect them to your brand.

Design your web or video content to resonate with your buyer's persona. This in turn maximises your marketing ROI.

We highlight seven areas your buyer persona research should uncover. By understanding all aspects, you can leverage these insights to smooth out your entire  buyer journey.

Here's where to start:

1. What are your buyer's demographics?

Start painting a picture of your ideal buyer using key statistics. Describe them via measures like; gender, age, marital status, household income and location. What level of education did they reach? Explain their career path, that led them to this current role. This gives broad-strokes into what and how to best communicate.

2. What kind of firm does your buyer work at?

Understand the industry your buyer's employer is in, and also their clients served. More specifically, understand their employer's typical revenue, and headcount. Marketing yourself to owner-operators, is different from specific roles and influencers within large enterprises. 

3. What is your buyer's role there?

What is your buyer's job title? What does their management structure look like, in terms of direct reports, and who they report into? How is their performance measured, and how will your solution shift those metrics? What skills, aptitudes and even applications do they use? Describe what their day looks like - both at work and outside it. Build a complete picture of their hobbies, the media they consume and their lifestyle - to open the most opportunities.


4. What are your buyers' goals?

Describe how their challenges can be overcome, using your product/service. Give a quote from your typical buyer, to illustrate this further. e.g. "Our multiple platforms make data security increasingly risky. I don't have the time to ensure we are fully protected."

5. How will you optimise your content?

Beyond short-term metrics, does your buyer have bigger aspirations? Can your product/service help them reach these higher goals? Are there other supporting goals you can positively impact (or negative effects, you can minimise?).

6. How do your buyer's learn about developments?

Do they hear about new improvements in their industry through; online forums, social channels, blogs, Google, word-of-mouth? Understand where they congregate - online and off, to explore your opportunities to engage. You want to build credibility on that channel, and start influencing at those bottlenecks.

7. How does your buyer prefer to buy?

Does your buyer want a walk-in retail experience, online ordering or is it a complex decision-making process involving RFI/RFPs and tenders? Will they use the internet to research product information, and what details do you provide if so?

Ensure you can adequately describe your ideal  buyer via these 7 dimensions, before planning your next campaign. If you need further advice on tight, accurate buyer persona descriptions, get in touch with Aamplify’s expert team.