If we asked you to define your buyer personas today, could you do it? Would you know where to start?

At Cloudworkz, we understand that building a successful marketing strategy can be daunting for small businesses – particularly if you’re just starting out or are new to the world of marketing. That’s why we’re on hand to offer free tips and advice through our blog, helping you to level up your brand online and scale your digital activity.

So, what are buyer personas and why are they so important?
Simply put, a buyer persona is an example of your ideal client. It takes into account crucial information such as their age, career, family, online spending habits, leisure activities and more.

Devising buyer personas helps to get inside your ideal customer’s mind and anticipate the problems they’ll be looking to your business to solve. It’s also a crucial way of making sure your marketing activity is targeting the audience you desire, and helps your brand to show up where that audience is looking.

For example: if you were a boutique accountancy firm helping small businesses, you would be looking to tailor your marketing and adverts to business owners over the age of 18 in your local area. Your content would offer solutions to problems they experience eg: how to prepare for your first tax return/how to choose the right accountancy firm.

It might seem like common sense – and for the most part, it is! – but you’d be surprised just how easy it is to get swept up in the excitement of creating new marketing materials only to realise that everything you’ve spent time creating appeals to a different demographic or fails to answer the questions your ideal customers need answering!

When should you begin mapping out your buyer personas?
Buyer personas should be at the heart of your marketing strategy from the very beginning, no matter what your business is. Whether you’re selling a product or service, providing information or even acting as a middle man, you should have a clear idea of your ideal customer in mind before you start creating.

By defining your buyer persona (or personas) before you begin your marketing activities, you can build a strategy that is geared towards meeting your ideal customers’ needs, solving their problems, and answering any questions they might have. This will give you all the information you need to build a sales funnel that meets your customers’ requirements at every stage, from initial attraction right through to purchase and beyond.

How to get started:
To get started with mapping out your buyer personas, take some time to consider your answers to the following questions about your ideal customer:

• Who are they?
• What do they do?
• How does their typical day go?
• What are their goals – and how does your product/service meet them?
• What are their problems/pain points?
• Where do they go for information?
• What are their common objections?
• Which social media platforms are they active on?

It can be useful to give a name and face to your personas eg: Karen the Accountant or Martin the HR Executive. By giving them a name and building out their profile, you will be able to identify with them and their needs on a deeper level, allowing you to communicate with them in a way that will be helpful and relevant through your marketing efforts.

If you need a little extra help, Hubspot has a great free Buyer Persona Template resource that helps you to map out your personas: click here.

If you’re looking for a little extra help with your marketing strategy and execution, we have a whole host of solutions available for small businesses from DIY to fully managed. To take a look at the full range, simply click here.