Buyer Personas

Let’s say that you own and manage a children's daycare centre.

You already know that your customers have young children, it’s likely that they are employed because they need your services, and you might also estimate that all of your customers are at least 21 years old.

This information is helpful for understanding how many potential customers you might have. However, it doesn’t give you the kind of insights you need to target customers effectively, or to craft messages that will really speak to them on a personal level. 

Using Personas To Inform Better Targeting

It’s likely that you use digital and social media advertising as part of your digital marketing mix.

Let’s say that you run a Facebook advert for the daycare centre, targeting all married women with children, aged 21 and upwards, who have full-time jobs and live in the local area. This audience is likely to comprise thousands of women, from different age groups, in different life-stages and with vastly different values and priorities.

Alternatively - you can try to target “Kate” by using the buyer persona above to narrow down your audience to one that closely resembles her.

In this instance, you might look to target those women who are around the same age as Kate, who show an active interest in running & fitness, and/or own a dog. You could even start to think about what brands Kate might like and use that to define your audience even more clearly.

Your buyer persona can also inform which platforms you choose to advertise on. For example, there is no point in setting aside a budget to advertise on Instagram if it is unlikely that Kate will be active on this platform. 

Using Personas To Craft Better Marketing Messages

Before looking at your buyer persona, the message used for your Facebook advert may look something like this:

“Sunflower Daycare Centre is open from 7.30am - 6.30pm every weekday for children aged 4 to 11 years old. We have state-of-the-art facilities and friendly, professional staff. 

Call now to arrange a no-obligation visit!”

This simple marketing message actually includes many essential elements - it provides key information, communicates what the centre can offer and features a clear call to action.

However, let’s try to write a new message using the buyer persona for Kate. We know that Kate is motivated to ensure her children progress at school, but we also know that household finances can be a challenge.

Using the buyer persona as a guide, we are able to create a marketing message that directly appeals to Kate:

“Introducing the “Homework Club” at Sunflower Daycare Centre, where our trained professionals will help your child complete their schoolwork to the best of their ability.

Call us now and quote “Homework Club” for 25% off your first week with us.”

Summary

While buyer personas are not a golden ticket to better marketing campaigns, they are essential tools to help you define your audiences, while giving you the level of insight required to deliver effective marketing messages.

We’ve put together a list of 30 questions to ask your customers which will help you to define the buyer personas for your business.

As the business owner, you need to understand the answer to the key questions. Underneath each one, are the specific questions you might ask a customer in a survey.

As always, remember that this is not an exhaustive list and you are free to add your own questions. You can also download our buyer persona questions template below.

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