We have written a great deal about knowing your customers. Today we will explore this subject in great detail. We will explain how to build targeting segments and employ customer personas.
Are you one that believes that creativity can be learned? We are among that group. We also believe in suggestions for innovative thinking can boost team creativity through effective collaboration. Through a series of sparks and not a single flash of insight. Certainly our way of thinking.
What’s really exciting about the possibility of targeting in real-time is that it suggests we can market in real-time as well. As our consumers respond, we will be able to create products that can fit their needs better, communicate those improvements and continue the cycle.
Through enhanced targeting technology, marketers will be able to more effectively perform their primary function as consumer insight professionals within their organizations. In the course of promoting their products, they will also be able to learn about the consumers who covet them.
So let’s get started on this kind of thinking:
What is a customer persona?
As defined by Ardath Albee, a buyer persona is a composite sketch of a key segment of your audience.
For content marketing purposes, you need personas to help you deliver content that will be most relevant and useful to your audience.
Personas are digital profiles of your best customers — the ideal visitor you want to have to take a specific action on your site. Many personas are based on demographics — gender, age range, education, monthly disposable income, etc
But this kind of classification is far too restrictive – who’s to say that only women under 40 with young children and a master’s degree are all going to flock to your product?
While you can tailor your marketing efforts toward a certain kind of persona, it’s short-sighted to think that this is the only strategy you need to amplify your landing pages’ messages.
Instead, consider psychographics — segmenting your audience according to deeper, more meaningful points including:
- Aspirations — what they hope to achieve or dream of doing
- Attitudes — Their perspective and how they feel about specific ideas
- Lifestyles — Their choices relating to health, wealth, family and work
- Opinions — Their point of view on a potentially controversial matter