Create Buyer Persona: Our entire process

Creating a buyer persona can be one of the most valuable things you do for your business. It allows you to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and understand their needs and wants. You can then use this understanding to create content, products and services that target your customer and convince them to choose YOUR solution to their problem.

In this blog post, we’ll explain how to create buyer personas, the best way to do it, and how to gain valuable insights into your target audience.

What is a Buyer Persona?

A Buyer Persona, also known as a Customer Persona, is a partially fictional archetype that combines and represents the key characteristics of a large portion of your target audience. It is based on data that comes out of user research and web analytics.

Why does every company need a buyer persona?

Most business owners believe they don’t need to use a persona because they think they know their customers. You like your own products and they serve their purpose. And somehow, after all, the goods have always sold. Probably this thought is not so wrong.

We are human beings and therefore able to understand each other. But we are also individuals and thus have different personalities, different interests and much more.

However, it is different whether you think you know what your customer wants or whether you bring their true fears, wishes, weaknesses or problems to light in the course of a structured process. Questioning all these aspects requires effort, but it also brings immense benefits.

Why does every company need a Buyer Customer Persona?

Creating a buyer persona can be very valuable for any business. In fact, it allows you to better understand your customers, which in turn helps you create content, products, and services that engage and persuade them.

Buyer personas therefore help you to better understand your own target group and thus optimize your service. They also help you make other important marketing decisions, such as:

• Choosing the right channel through which to reach your target audience.
• Choice of messages you spread through this channel.
• Choosing the right time.
• Measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
• Elaboration of your Customer Journey.

However, buyer personas are only meaningful if as much data as possible is included in their creation. Therefore, data from the following areas should always be considered:

• User research,
• Market Research,
• Surveys,
• Web analytics and
• Social Media Listening Tools.

But before you can jump into data, you need to understand how to create your buyer or customer persona in the first place.

How do you create a customer persona?

So how do you go about creating your buyer persona? First, it’s important that you understand that it should not or cannot represent every customer within your target market.

Instead, you should always think of a buyer persona as a tool to help you understand the key characteristics of your target market and audience.

Moreover, there is no magic formula for creating a customer persona. However, there are some important steps you can take to ensure your persona is actionable and provides valuable insights about your target audience.

• Step One: Gather data from user research, surveys, and analytics. This data should include information about the various characteristics of your target audience.
• Step two: Create a profile of your ideal customer. This profile should include information about the buyer’s needs and desires, as well as their attitudes and behaviors.
• Step three: Summarize the data from steps one and two to create a customer persona that is representative of your target audience. This persona should include detailed information about who they are, what they want, and why they would choose you over your competitors.

Once you have created a customer persona using this information, it is important that you update it regularly. The best way to do this is to conduct regular user research and web analytics so you can track any changes in your audience’s needs and behavior.

What should be included in customer personas

The customer personas created come in many different forms. However, most personas involve mapping the following areas:

• Pain Points: What problems do they have that can be solved by our solution?
• Goals: What goals do they have beyond solving the problem quickly?
• Approach: channels, content, social media groups or forums, where do they get information?
• The deep emotional level: fears, pain, anger, values, crises, enemies, political, frustrations, desires.

And some even go so far as to expand their persona to include these areas as well:

• Needs: What needs do they have that go beyond the acute problem?
• Challenges: What challenges does the ideal customer face?
• Common objections: What objections does the customer use to counter competitors?
• Real quotes: What could the customer say in the wording, how does he speak?
• Elevator Pitch: What would an optimal elevator pitch for this client look like?

How comprehensive a buyer persona should be always depends on your own marketing budget. It makes little sense to invest half of the budget in the mere creation of the buyer persona.

Expert tip: If the budget is not enough, but the ambitions are great, it is recommended to invest a lot of your own work in the persona and later iterate this work together with a professional.

Create a Buyer Persona

Learning by Doing: According to this principle, learning is easiest when you apply something concrete yourself. That is why we are now creating a persona together. In the course of this, I’ll explain to you what the most important aspects of a buyer persona are. We will limit ourselves to the following aspects:

The following table clearly explains how we fill the different aspects with life and which questions we have to answer for this.

This was actually a lot of information at once. Let’s therefore go into the individual points together again and use the example of our “fitness fanatic Fiona”.

1 – Persona name

So our persona is called Fitness Freak Fiona, which directly indicates her gender and passion. Sometimes, in order to find a suitable name, it can make sense to finalize it only at the end.

Because then you can use all the information you’ve already sourced before to make your persona more tangible.

2 – Demographic data

The “demographics” dimension refers to statistical data on the population and specific groups within the population. These include factors such as age, gender, place of residence, income level, education level and marital status.

Sticking with the “fitness fanatic Fiona” example, you could define the “demographics” dimension as follows:

1. Age:
   Fiona is 30 years old. This puts her in the Millennial generation, which may influence her values, preferences and buying behavior.
2. Gender:
   Fiona identifies as female. This can influence her fitness goals, her preferences for fitness products, and the fitness communities in which she engages.
3. Location:
   Fiona lives in San Francisco, Calif. Living in a city with a mild climate and plenty of outdoor space influences their fitness routine and lifestyle.
4. Income level:
   As a software engineer at a tech startup, Fiona has an above-average income. This allows it to invest in higher quality fitness products and services.
5. Educational background:
   Fiona has a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Their level of education can affect their career opportunities, income levels, and interests.
6. Marital status:
   Fiona is single and has no children. This can affect her lifestyle, such as how much time she has for fitness activities.

Knowing the demographics of your buyer persona will give you insights into their lifestyle, buying power, and needs. They can also help you segment your audience and tailor your marketing strategies to different demographics.

3 – Profession

The dimension “Profession” refers to the professional life of your Buyer Persona. This includes the job title, the industry, the size of the company and the work tasks.

Staying with the “fitness fanatic Fiona” example, you could define the “profession” dimension as follows:

1. Job Title:
   Fiona works as a software engineer. In this role, she must solve complex problems, collaborate with a team, and stay on top of the latest technology.
2. Branch:
   Fiona works in the tech industry, more specifically in a startup that develops mobile applications. This industry is known for its fast pace and constant innovation.
3. Company size:
   Fiona’s company is a startup with about 50 employees. Working in a smaller company means that Fiona often takes on multiple roles and responsibilities.
4. Job Responsibilities:
   As a software engineer, Fiona’s main responsibilities include programming, troubleshooting, working with her team to design new features, and ensuring the quality of the mobile applications her company develops.

Knowing your Buyer Persona’s job will give you insights into their daily challenges, their career goals, and how your product or service can help them do their job. This can also help you craft your messages to address their professional needs and desires.

4 – Goals and motivations

The Goals and Motivations dimension refers to the aspirations and driving forces behind the actions of your Buyer Persona. These are the outcomes they want and the reasons they seek those outcomes.

Staying with the “fitness fanatic Fiona” example, you could define the “goals and motivations” dimension as follows:

1. Fitness goals:
   Fiona wants to do regular fitness training to stay healthy and strong. She sets specific fitness goals, such as mastering a challenging yoga pose or improving her endurance, to motivate and challenge herself.
2. Wellness goals:
   Beyond physical fitness, Fiona is motivated by a desire for overall wellness. This includes mental health and stress management, for which she practices mindfulness and meditation.
3. Professional goals:
   As a software engineer, Fiona wants to develop her career. She sees her fitness routine as a way to manage work stress and maintain the energy level she needs for her demanding job.
4. Personal goals:
   Fiona values balance in her life. One of her goals is to maintain a healthy balance between her work, fitness routine, social life and personal time.
5. Motivations:
   Fiona is motivated by the sense of accomplishment she gets from reaching her fitness goals. They are also driven by the positive impact of fitness on their health and well-being. In addition, it motivates them to belong to a community of fitness enthusiasts in society.

If you know your buyer persona’s goals and motivations, you can tailor your product or service to meet their goals. It’s also a great way to find out how your offering can help them on the path to their goals.

5 – Challenges and Pain Points

The Challenges and Pain Points dimension refers to the problems, difficulties, or frustrations your Buyer Persona faces. These are the problems that your product or service is designed to solve or mitigate.

Staying with the “Fitness Fanatic Fiona” example, you could define the Challenges and Pain Points dimension as follows:

1. Finding time for fitness:
   With her busy schedule, Fiona sometimes has trouble finding enough time for her training. She is looking for efficient fitness programs that can be integrated into her stressful everyday life.
2. Maintain motivation:
   Like many people, Fiona sometimes finds it difficult to maintain her motivation to work out, especially when she is stressed or tired. She is interested in strategies to stay motivated and maintain her fitness routine.
3. Avoiding injuries:
   As an active person, Fiona is aware of the risk of injury. She is looking for fitness equipment and exercises that will help her stay safe and avoid injury.
4. Balance fitness and nutrition:
   Fiona finds it difficult to balance her fitness routine with her dietary needs. She wants to learn more about how she provides nutrients to her body for training and recovery.
5. Sustainable choices:
   Fiona is passionate about sustainability, but sometimes finds it difficult to find fitness products that align with her eco-friendly values.

Understanding the challenges and problems of your buyer persona can help you position your product or service as a solution to those problems. It can also give you insight into areas where you can improve your product or service to better meet your customers’ needs.

6 – Interests

The “Interests” dimension refers to the hobbies, activities, and topics that your Buyer Persona likes or is passionate about. This can provide insight into their lifestyle, values and preferences.

In the case of “fitness fanatic Fiona” you could define the dimension “interests” as follows:

1. Fitness and wellness:
   Fiona places great importance on a healthy lifestyle. She enjoys exercising, such as yoga, Pilates, and HIIT workouts. She is always looking for new fitness challenges and ways to improve her workouts.
2. Nutrition:
   Fiona believes in the importance of a balanced diet. She enjoys cooking healthy meals and often tries new recipes. She is also interested in learning more about different diets and supplements that can support her fitness goals.
3. Outdoor activities:
   Fiona loves spending time outdoors. She enjoys activities such as hiking, biking and paddle boarding. She often combines her love of fitness with her love of nature, such as yoga in the park.
4. Mindfulness and meditation:
   Fiona practices mindfulness and meditation as part of her wellness routine. She believes in the importance of mental health and often reads books or attends workshops on these topics.
5. Sustainable living:
   Fiona is passionate about sustainability. She tries to make environmentally friendly choices in her lifestyle, including buying products from brands that are committed to sustainability.

When you know the interests of your buyer persona, you can create content and marketing messages that appeal to them. It can also tell you about potential partnerships or collaborations that might appeal to your target audience.

7- Purchase behavior

Sure, the “buying behavior” dimension refers to how and why your buyer persona makes buying decisions. This includes their research process, decision-making factors, buying habits and post-purchase behavior.

In the case of our “fitness fanatic Fiona,” the “buying behavior” dimension would look like this:

1. Research Process:
   Before making a purchase, Fiona likes to do her homework. She reads product reviews, compares different brands and asks for recommendations from her fitness community. She values quality and durability in fitness products and is willing to invest in a product that meets her needs.
2. Factors for decision making:
   Fiona considers several factors when making her purchase decision. These include the quality and durability of the product, the reputation of the brand, the price, and the product’s fit with their fitness goals. It also attaches importance to environmentally friendly products.
3. Shopping habits:
   Fiona prefers to store online for convenience, but she also appreciates the opportunity to see and touch a product in a store before buying it. She tends to make fitness-related purchases every few months, often coinciding with the start of a new fitness challenge or goal.
4. Behavior after the purchase:
   After making a purchase, Fiona often shares her experience with her fitness community, both online and offline. If she is satisfied with a product, she is likely to become a regular customer and recommend the product to others.

When you know the buying behavior of your buyer persona, you can tailor your sales and marketing strategies to their needs and preferences. It can also tell you how to improve their buying experience and build customer loyalty.

8 – Preferred channels

Of course, the Preferred Channels dimension refers to the platforms or channels where your Buyer Persona spends their time and prefers to receive or communicate information. This may include social media, websites, emails, stores, events, etc.

The “Preferred Channels” dimension for our “Fitness Fanatic Fiona”:

1. Social media:
   Fiona is active on Instagram and Facebook, where she follows fitness influencers, yoga studios and health-related pages, including your brand’s page. She is often interested in posts that give fitness tips, introduce new products, or offer motivational content.
2. Websites/Blogs:
   Fiona regularly visits fitness and wellness blogs to get workout ideas, learn about new fitness trends, and read product reviews. She also visits your brand’s website to learn about new products and read blog posts.
3. Email:
   Fiona subscribes to several fitness brand newsletters with her email address, including yours. She appreciates receiving personalized product recommendations, fitness tips and exclusive offers in her inbox.
4. Local businesses/events:
   Fiona enjoys visiting fitness stores to see the products in person. She also attends local fitness events and workshops, where she often discovers new brands and products.
5. Word of Mouth:
   Fiona values recommendations from other fitness enthusiasts. She often hears about new products or brands from her friends or from people in her yoga class.

When you know your buyer persona’s preferred channels, you can tailor your marketing efforts to effectively reach your target audience. It’s important to be present and active on the channels your customers use most.

9 – Brand interactions

The Brand Interactions dimension refers to how the buyer persona interacts with your brand, what their experiences are, and how they perceive your brand. This includes past purchases, customer service experiences, and engagement with your marketing efforts.

If you take our “fitness fanatic Fiona” as an example, you can define the dimension “brand interactions” as follows:

1. Previous Purchases:
   Fiona bought her current yoga mat from your brand about a year ago. She chose your brand because it is known for high-quality and durable fitness products.
2. Customer Service Experience:
   Fiona had a positive experience with your customer service when she had a question about the care instructions for her yoga mat. She appreciated the quick and helpful response.
3. Commitment to Marketing:
   Fiona follows your brand on social media and engages with your content regularly. She especially enjoys reading posts about yoga tips and new product launches. She also subscribed to your email newsletter and redeemed a discount code from the newsletter on a previous purchase.
4. Brand Perception:
   Fiona thinks your brand is reliable and high quality. She appreciates that your products are designed to meet the needs of fitness enthusiasts. She also values your brand’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
5. Likelihood of recommendation:
   Because of her positive experience with your brand, Fiona will likely recommend your products to her friends and other yoga enthusiasts.

Remember that specific brand interactions depend on your brand and the unique experiences of your buyer persona. It’s important that you understand how your customers interact with your brand and how those interactions influence their perceptions and behaviors.

10 – Jobs to be Done

The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) dimension refers to the tasks or problems a customer wants to complete or solve with a product or service. This concept is important to understand why customers choose the way they do.

Let’s continue with the example of “fitness fanatic Fiona”. This is how you could define the ” Jobs to Be Done ” dimension for Fiona:

1. Main Task:
   Fiona’s most important task is to maintain her fitness and health. She uses a yoga mat to do her daily yoga exercises, which help her stay flexible, strong and balanced.
2. Secondary activities:
   Fiona also uses her yoga mat for other fitness activities like Pilates or general stretching. These side hustles also contribute to their overall fitness and wellness goals.
3. Emotional Tasks:
   On an emotional level, Fiona uses yoga to relieve stress and find inner peace. The yoga mat makes this task easier for her by providing a comfortable and firm place for her exercises.
4. Social Tasks:
   Fiona is part of a local yoga community and often participates in group classes. A quality yoga mat will help her fit in with the group and feel more confident during class.

Remember that the specific tasks of the product or service your brand offers depend on the unique needs and desires of your buyer persona. It’s critical that you understand what tasks or problems your customers are trying to solve and how your product or service fits into that equation.

11 – Personal history

The Personal Story dimension is a narrative that summarizes all the information about the Buyer Persona and paints a picture of what a day in their life looks like. It helps humanize the persona and allows you to empathize with their experience.

Sticking with the “Fitness Fanatic Fiona” example, here’s how you could bring the “Personal Story” to life:

Fiona is a 30-year-old woman living in San Francisco. She works as a software engineer at a tech startup, a job she loves but one that can be quite stressful. To manage her stress and maintain her health, Fiona has incorporated fitness into her daily routine.

Every morning, Fiona wakes up early to start her day with a yoga session. She rolls out her high-quality, heavy-duty yoga mat in her living room and spends an hour practicing her favorite yoga poses. This routine helps her start the day calm and focused.

After work, Fiona often participates in a group yoga class at a local studio. She appreciates the sense of community she experiences in these classes and enjoys learning from different teachers. She always has her yoga mat with her, as it provides a comfortable and familiar space no matter where she is practicing.

On the weekends, Fiona likes to try other fitness activities, like Pilates or HIIT workouts, always using her trusty yoga mat. Fitness is more than just a hobby for Fiona – it’s a lifestyle. She appreciates products that support her fitness goals and make her workouts more effective and enjoyable.

This personal story helps us understand Fiona’s everyday life, her motivations and challenges, and how a product like a high-quality yoga mat fits into her lifestyle.

12 – Value proposition, benefit and profit

If your brand sells high-quality, durable yoga mats, you might define the “profits” dimension for Fiona as follows:

1. Functional advantages:
   Fiona expects the yoga mat to be durable and comfortable so she can do her exercises without discomfort and without having to replace the mat frequently.
2. Emotional benefit:
   Fiona wants to feel safe and relaxed during her exercises. A quality yoga mat can give her the confidence that she is using equipment that will support her fitness goals.
3. Social benefits:
   Fiona is part of a local yoga community. A quality yoga mat could elevate her status in the group and make her feel connected to other yoga enthusiasts.
4. Savings:
   Fiona spends a lot of time on her fitness program. Having a durable yoga mat that doesn’t need to be replaced as often can save her time and money in the long run.

So, now we should all be aware of how a first-class Buyer Persona can be designed, but how can such a persona be applied?

Areas of application of a Buyer Persona using the example of “Fitness Fanatic Fiona

Before that, we have sufficiently analyzed our “fitness fanatic Fiona” and filled her with life. All with the goal of being able to use this persona for our marketing.

And I will show how this can work with three simple examples:

1. The holistic SEO campaign
2. The fast ads strategy
3. A different pricing strategy

The holistic SEO campaign

We could use the information gained to structure an SEO marketing campaign as an example. If we know the preferred channels of our ideal customers, we need to dominate them.

We can also use the problems, wishes, expectations, fears and buying behavior of our customers for keyword ideas. We then use these keywords to write optimized articles, mapping our client’s entire content marketing journey.

Eventually, we’ll get potential customers into our funnel and, with smart mail marketing and through our other content, we can qualify them to the point of purchase.

The fast ads strategy

Each advertisement is like a bridge crossing a raging river. If you want your customer to cross it, you have to make the other side palatable to him.

Let’s turn this idea around and turn it into two questions: What does our ideal customer need to know in order to want to cross the bridge? What information does he need?

We get an answer to this question in our dimensions “Goals and Motivations”, “Challenges and Pain Points”, “Interests” and “Jobs tob e Done”. Because in these dimensions you will find the information you need to pick up your customers where they are and take them where you want them to go.

A different pricing strategy

I’ve actually been of the opinion for a while that price alone is 50% of the positioning. Because with no other thing can you predefine your target group so much.

Therefore, it is better to define the price based on the information about your target group. Using our “fitness fanatic Fiona” as an example, this would be high in any case, but how high?

Well, higher than comparable products. After all, Fiona wants the best solution for herself and this is often expressed by a horrendous price.

Likewise, a discount tailored specifically to Fiona could influence her purchase decision and paradoxically allow for an even higher sale price.

However, all these considerations can only be made if you know your persona exactly and where the “trigger points” are to be found.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the only thing that can probably be said is this: creating buyer personas can be a daunting task.

But ultimately, it is worth the effort, as our application examples and tutorial have hopefully shown.

After all, the insights you gain from creating marketing personas will help you create a customer experience that is relevant and engaging to your target audience.

So what are you waiting for?

Oh I know, on a worksheet, a persona template that helps you with that. Well, we have one for you here: Buyer Persona Worksheet.

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