What Is a Buyer Persona?

Before you create an online or offline marketing campaign, you need to know who your buyers are. When you know who buys your product or uses your service, you receive an excellent return on your marketing investment.

One of the best ways to understand the people who may become your customers is to create buyer personas. These fictional characters build a picture of your ideal customer group. Personas encompass demographics (such as age, geographic location, gender and income). They also include information such as hobbies, career, reason for purchase and product concerns.

It is important to remember that your buyer persona will change over time, and that is okay. Begin with a broad, bold persona and perhaps narrow it down to a more specific buyer (or several buyers for that matter) later.  This gives you added flexibility

Researching your buyer persona is the tricky part. If you already use social media, this is an excellent resource. Follow the profiles of your “fan base” on the major social media sites and note the patterns you see. Additionally, reference any surveys or information you have gathered personally about your customers. This “real ” data is valuable and will make it easier to help you build your buyer personas for future use..

While the process of building these personas will take time, it is something that pays off in a big way. Don’t overlook the many benefits personas can bring your business—no matter what your preferred methods of advertising.