Creating your Buyer Persona (Ideal Customer Profile, ICP)

Oftentimes, when talking to a marketing professional, you’ll hear terms such as: “Who is your target audience?” or “What is your buyer persona?”. If you, like many others, have found yourself smiling along while pretending to know what this all means - don’t worry! In this article I break it down for you in terms that you can follow along with, whether you’re a seasoned marketer or completely new to growing your business online!

Let’s start with some common jargon that you may or may not have found yourself searching up after chatting with a marketing professional:

Buyer Persona (sometimes also referred to an Ideal Customer Profile, ICP)

This is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. We create this “character” because it makes it easier to ask ourselves future questions on if the persona or personas depending on your business (which will typically have a name attached) would be drawn to the marketing efforts we’re putting out. Not everyone will respond to all marketing techniques, and it’s important to know what would work for your customers in order to focus your time and efforts.

Customer Segmentation

This is where we divide your customer base into smaller groups based on demographics, behaviors and other factors.

Demographics

These are the characteristics of your customer that are “quantifiable”, meaning they can be measured and counted - such as age, income, education level, occupation, location etc. Typically, this is where we start when creating the Buyer Persona. The problem many businesses face is that they stop here and don’t go any further  - which leads to a problem of knowing all the measurable facts about their customers, but nothing about their actual wants and needs. Which is why we need the psychographic and behavioral characteristics.

Psychographics

This refers to your customers interests, hobbies, values and in general helps you understand more about who they are and what type of marketing may speak to them.

Pain Points

Here we refer to the issues or frustrations that your customer may currently be facing, or potential questions they may have - where your product or service would ideally be helpful.

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How do I create a Buyer Persona?

When working with us here at Sunrise Digital Marketing Agency, we will help you create this persona by asking you a series of questions to gather the necessary insights. Typically, we recommend starting with 2 personas: The main persona, who would benefit most from your product, and then the secondary persona, who may not be your ideal customer, but that still might benefit from your product or service.

If you’re looking to do this yourself, here is a short step-by-step process to get your mind working:

1. Conduct your research on the competition

   Check out other companies who are doing similar things to you in either the same or a different market. Look at their websites, social media, and maybe even see if you can find any print marketing. Note that you’re just making notes on how similar companies are engaging with their audience. This does not mean you’ll need to do it the same way.

2. Identify the key demographics

   Write down the basic information like age, gender, location, job title, income, education, and maybe even civil status if you feel it’s relevant.

3. Identify the psychographics

   Pinpoint their interests, values, lifestyle, and maybe even write down their goals and potential dreams. It could be helpful to write down a “day in the life” if you’re struggling to get into their headspace. It could also be helpful to add some linguistic information here as well, as different generations will have different preferences in style of communication. You’ll want to make sure the way you write and speak in regards to your brand will resonate with your customers to create a strong relationship.

4. Identify buying behaviors

   How do they shop, where do they spend their time online, and how do they interact with your and similar brands?

5. Define pain points

   What are some of the issues or frustrations your customers may be currently experiencing? This can help you connect your product or service to a solution.

6. Refine and test

   Try out your created persona, review and adjust it based on the results and feedback you get. Note that it’s very rare for a business to have the same persona throughout its lifetime, so don’t worry if you find yourself going back to the drawing board throughout the years.

My one key tip is to not overcomplicate it, and even have fun with it. The main point is that the answer of “everyone is my customer” - while you may feel it’s accurate - is not typically true. Narrowing it down in this way will help you keep your marketing on target and reach the people who will end up making you money and growing your business.

If you’re looking for some help in getting started with your online marketing but would prefer to do most of it yourself after an initial consultation, we have a service called “Getting started in the Digital Marketing World,” where we offer a consultation on what your buyer persona may look like and provide insights on where you may find them. Not everyone will find their customers on the same channels, and knowing this is key in creating a successful marketing plan. Check out our services tab HERE to learn more about this option.

As always, at Sunrise Digital, we’re here to make sense of the digital marketing world!