Enterprise Center Tips - Personas

As we begin the new year, remember customers aren’t just the people who pay for your products or services . . . there’s much more to it! Read on to learn how to identify yours!

A customer influences a purchase. Use these four categories to recognize how a customer can impact your sales.

• User: those who consume or operate the solution

• Buyers/Payer: those who pay for the solution, whether it be for themselves or someone else

• Beneficiaries: those who benefit directly from the solution

• Influencers: those who encourage the sale/decision of the solution

Be careful when considering who your brand’s customers might be, or you could miss some!

Make sure your product is able to appease to all three things your customer faces:

• Needs: an emotional desire, dream, yearning, or attitude

• Wants: a practical job that needs to get done

• Fears: hesitations to act or avoid pain

Become a storyteller and create a profile of who your targeted customers are. Personas are informed by research and can combine traits of multiple people from your observations or interviews who use, benefit, or buy your solution

Image source: Amy Wright and Shamrock Companies

Key Components of Personas:

• Picture (could be a photo, illustration, or icon)

• Name (could be a real name like Dan Edwards or a descriptive term like “The Instigator”)

• Demographic info (gender, age, location, ethnicity, education level, income level, etc.)

• Goals and motivations (what are they trying to do, what encourages them to pursue it)

• Frustrations (what challenges do they face, what needs do they have)

• Key attributes (should be comparable across all personas, like personality traits)

• Short bio/narrative

Learn more about using buyer personas for better marketing outcomes at this article here.