How to Build a Better Buyer Persona

Written by Kira on .

Buyer personas are key when it comes to marketing your business. Instead of you generalizing your customers and trying to sell your product or service to a crowd, you’re selling to a singular person, who you have an excellent and detailed understanding of. There is a strong connection between high ROI on your marketing and creating a strategic buyer persona, and that’s because you are creating content that speaks directly to the customer and gaining their trust.

Think about it. YOU are someone’s buyer persona.⁠ Have you ever experienced reading an email or blog post and feel like it was written just for you? ⁠That’s likely because the creator carefully considered their audience and made sure their words would resonate with you by talking to people like you!⁠ 

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⁠What is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a made-up person that embodies your target audience or ideal client. Marketers use buyer personas to ensure all their marketing materials and content resonate with their potential buyers. Think about it. A buyer persona helps you get into the head of who you’re speaking to, and double check your strategy and messaging to make sure it’ll actually land with your customers. Humans are driven by emotions, and in order for your marketing to connect with them, it needs to reflect their desires, motivations, and fears. 

What Separates a Good Buyer Persona from a Bad Buyer Persona?

A good persona is:

  • Objective
  • Includes customer goals
  • Lists customer pain points
  • Identifies where customers hang out online
  • Considers every stage of the customer journey
  • Built from actual data
  • Used to create content that resonates

A bad persona is:

  • Subjective
  • Demographics only
  • Only thinks of people as customers
  • Excludes details that influence decision making
  • Built without data
  • Collects dust in a Google Folder you never check

What Should You Include in your Buyer Persona?

The most important aspects of your persona are their motivations, fears and desires. You should be able to pinpoint exactly what their problems are and where they get the information to solve them from. You should have your target persona so nailed down you practically know their deepest darkest secret. 

We come across so many buyer personas (AKA ideal client avatars) that read something along the lines of, “Claire is a woman in her 30s who enjoys morning hikes with her dog and mimosa brunches with her friends.”⁠ And we don’t like these personas! Why? Because while Claire sounds like a ton of fun, this description doesn’t give us any insight into WHO she is. Demographics and behaviours can be helpful, but don’t make this same mistake, and get stuck on them. Instead, get to know your persona on a deeper level by understanding their emotions, motivations, and fears. 

So, Where Do You Start?

Easy! First step is to make a copy of our free buyer persona template and then work through the following steps! 

Step 1: Start With What You Know About Your Audience

Start by putting yourself in the shoes of your past and current customers or clients. Think about the questions they’ve asked you and take a first stab at filling out the template. 

Step 2: Talk to Your Customers

Get out there and TALK to people who fit your ideal client profile and LISTEN to the words they use to describe their goals and pain points. Find out what makes them tick. Use this information to revise your initial thoughts.⁠ 

Step 3: Back Up Your Persona With Data

This step is often overlooked and undervalued. But it often means the difference between creating content that lands, and content that falls flat. You should always back up your buyer persona’s with real data from a survey, or from target audience research. Not sure how? Check out our post on How to Research Your Target Audience.

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