Part 1: The importance of the B2B buyer persona in Inbound Marketing
Ever come across a company that seems to talk about exactly the same kinds of problems you’re experiencing? Like you’re running parallel companies? As if they’ve been reading your mind? Chances are... they kind of were. At least in a way.
They were probably using what we marketers like to call “Buyer personas.” These magical characters delve deep into your customer’s mind in order to give you insight to better reach and help your audience.
Buyer personas are at the heart of the Inbound marketing philosophy, and these “personalities” will represent the people you want to move through your buyer's journey stages – awareness, consideration and decision – so you can connect the right way at the right time.
What is a B2B buyer persona?
Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of an ideal customer, based on real data and some educated speculation about demographics, behaviours, motivations and goals. Within a business-to-business context, the buyer persona often represents the individual who has the purchasing power for their company, or a significant level of influence.
Why are B2B buyer personas so darn important?!
Buyer personas are personifications of your ideal client or customer — and they can help you be more efficient and effective in targeting your potential customers.
Imagine if these personas came to life... How would you go about trying to help them? Would they prefer a tailored approach? Or a generic one-size-fits-all strategy? Likely the former. B2B buyer personas
It’s important to understand the individual challenges, priorities, roles and goals of your ideal customer. Why? So that you can develop strategic content that will intuitively appeal to your prospects — and align with the where they are in the buyer’s journey.
In a B2B context, this can become even more important since business decision-makers require more nurturing than B2C consumers when making a purchase. Their purchase decisions are usually more complex and require more research and education. After all, compared to buying a pair of shoes, purchasing new computer software for a large organization is a big decision and costs a lot more!
"Not only do personas allow you to generate better quality leads and customers, but they also help you work with your customers and build future products/product features to suit their needs. With well-developed personas, you can create products and services that are more closely aligned to what your customers want, allowing you to better cater to their needs. You'll be more likely to keep customers for the long haul if your products and services grow and change with your customers."
- HubSpot (Leading Marketing CRM company)
It’s not frozen in carbonite! The ever-evolving persona...
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Persona development is a worthwhile investment that could pay off in spades. The more you know your customer, the more targeted your marketing efforts will be — making it easier for your potential clients to reach you.
It should inform the majority of your business decisions — because if they aren’t right for your persona, they aren’t right for your business. Make it a priority before you begin in-depth planning of tactics and campaigns. Consider your personas (and the buyer's journey) for every type of content and communication you produce.
As the market evolves, as needs change and new solutions and considerations emerge, you'll need to actively refine and update your persona info. In the end, if you don’t know your clients, how do you expect to reach them?
Up Next: 4 key tactics to help create your B2B buyer persona
Titan One is a creative and digital agency helping clients across North America drive results.
