The buyer persona is the next chapter in the book on your business. Here you try to get into the head of your customers and prospects. You begin to understand them in a way that helps you build an alliance online. One that’s mutually profitable. You make money, they get their problem solved.
In the last few posts we’ve clarified who your business is by including in our content marketing plan your story, the way you do business, and the solutions you provide. Now we’ll create a buyer persona that helps you better know your customers so you’ll engage more effectively.
To help you understand what a “buyer persona” looks like, let’s look at my content marketing plan for NKB Marketing.
Buyer Persona in the NKB Content Marketing Strategy Plan
My audience is business owners and marketing managers. My “business owner” persona describes successful entrepreneurs as responsible for the administrative, service, human resources, product development, and marketing/sales of their businesses. They’re constantly thinking of selling, but everyday transactions take up most of their time. Therefore, their marketing is hit and miss.
I have my marketing manager persona pegged as the person who wants to build relationships by creating a more intimate dialogue with her marketplace. Bottom line, she wants to use her owned media (website, social media pages, blog, and email) to get more leads, sales, donations or subscriptions.
But she’s busy handling the everyday marketing duties of the business or non-profit. She’s almost too close, distorting her reality when it comes to articulating her products’ benefits, audience’s desires, and her competition.
There’s much more in this section of my plan, but you get the gist.
A 9-Step Buyer Persona Template
So how did I organize my thoughts into a coherent buyer persona? Well, I found a great template that I want to show you. It’s one that I used myself and has worked well for me and my clients.
You’ll find an overview in this article by content strategist Marcia Riefer Johnston of the Content Marketing Institute. The process is a 9 step buyer persona developed by marketer Ardath Albee of Marketing Interactions. Go to her website for excellent, in-depth info on personas that make sense and can be practically written by any business.
Ardath emphasizes commonalities, not a super-individuality as if you’re analyzing the behavior of one individual. I agree with this in that our content marketing plan needs to be specific enough to make good decisions but not lost in the weeds. We don't want to miss a good part of our audience.
So take a look first at Marcia Johnston’s summary of each part. Then see the short takes below from my plan based on what I’ve determined are the characteristics of my prospects.
I hope this helps you come up with the same for your business. (Note that I placed Part 1: Day in the Life last instead of first. That’s because that part felt better to me as a culmination of the 8 previous attributes rather than the beginning.)
Summaries from my plan on each follow:
9 Common Attributes of Business Owners and Marketing Managers
1. Specific Objectives
Owners: Get the word out about their business while at the same time handling all of the other service and administrative responsibilities.
Marketing Managers: 5 objectives are 1) create demand, 2) customer satisfaction, 3) gain market share, 4) generate profits, and 5) create goodwill and public image.
2. Main Problems
Owners: Marketing is hit or miss with the myriad responsibilities of owning a business.
Marketing Managers: May not be the best writers, too busy to produce great copy, little time for new ideas.
3. Orientation to Job
Owners: Motivated by making money and looking good to their customers.
Marketing Managers: Enjoy public relations, organizing events, and writing press releases. Focused more on graphic design than copywriting.
4. Obstacles
Owners: Difficult for owners to publish copy that works, afraid of sounding too salesy. Also, getting rest of staff onboard contributing content, sharing, and referring it to clients is difficult.
Marketing Managers: Generally don’t like to write and, if they do like writing, don’t have time to do it well. Also, budget constraints prevent them from hiring professional copywriters.
5. Burning Questions from Prospect’s Point of View
- Why do I need professionally written content?
- That’s expensive, is it worth that much?
- How do we start?
- Why should the plan include all content marketing forms and media?
- What if we decide not to install each part of the plan?
6. Content Preferences
Owners: Baby boomers who view internet marketing through the lens of traditional marketing, considering their website more a useful online brochure than an interactive money maker. They are inexperienced with most online marketing channels.
Marketing Managers: Usually younger and intimately familiar with and excited about all channels of online media.
7. Keywords and Phrases from Google Keyword Planner
Web content writer, content marketing, content strategy, copywriter.
8. Engagement Scenarios: Phrases that Might be Used by Our Prospects
Questions, hesitations, doubts, and concerns our persona might have and answers provided by my content.
Question: Why is your content better than the content we already have on our website?
Answer: NKB content utilizes the science of direct response copywriting and website usability to create content that engages and moves visitors to a sale.
9. A Day In The Life Scenario
“We know we need better content for our website. And we’d like to take advantage of the opportunities on social media, a blog, and email. But we struggle to get the words right. They don’t resonate with our audience and we’re not getting enough from our website. What does it take to improve? We’ve spent a fortune on a new website, which we are happy with. Where do we go from here?”
…End of my Buyer Persona chapter…
Read Marcia Johnston’s article first, then get more info at Marketing Interactions. By the way, I’m not affiliated with either of these marketers, but wanted to pass along their take on buyer personas because I like their approach. And I have used it successfully for my business and my clients.
Let me know your thoughts on this approach, because as you know there are many buyer persona templates out there. Do you use another one that you like? What do you think of this one? Let me know in the comments section below.
Bottom line on your business’ buyer persona: the more you know about what makes your best prospects and customers tick, the easier it is to engage them with content marketing.
Coming up, the specific content strategy for our content marketing plan. Looking forward to speaking with you then.
Until next time,
Nick
PS Save time by hiring me to help you write your Content Marketing Plan. You’ll enjoy the process as we write the book on your business. I can also help you implement the plan with client attracting copy for your website, social media, and blog.
Previous posts from first to last helping you write the book on your business, your Content Marketing Strategy Plan.
"Content Marketing Plan? Why Bother, It's All In My Head"
9 Brand Story Idea Joggers to Help You Connect
How a Business Model Sets Up Your Content Marketing Campaign
Know Customer Pain Points for Better Content Creation
Your Business Solutions: The Fun Part of the Plan
Find out more about me and my content writing services here. Subscribe to my email for tips, strategies, and online writing secrets. Also, if you Like my Facebook page, you’ll get content marketing ideas from experts all over the internet.
