There are many elements of B2B marketing that are important to achieve business goals and generate revenue. At the core, having clear buyer personas is key to ensuring that the most relevant audience is being targeted for your product, solution or service.
In our first installment of “The Basics of B2B Marketing” blog series, we are highlighting the basics of buyer personas and their importance in B2B marketing.
What Are Buyer Personas?
Buyer personas are actual, but fictional, composites of people that represent your organization’s ideal audience. They include the key characteristics of who your specific audience members are so that marketing and sales efforts are focused on those individuals who are most likely to buy. A company should have at least one buyer persona and depending on who you want your offering to target, you could have three or more. Ideally, keeping it less than five is a good target.
Buyer Personas and Marketing
Buyer personas hold key information that informs messaging, content marketing and sales efforts. Who you target and how you target your ideal buyers also matters. The data that is collected for your personas can help you determine what messaging and marketing activities would best serve your buyers. Reaching them with relevant and impactful messaging will earn their trust.
What do buyer personas consist of? These four categories include essential characteristics that should be defined and gathered when creating each of your buyer personas.
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1. Demographics
Demographics are the distinct characteristics of a population. These data points give insight into the personal traits of your buyer personas. Here, some common characteristics for B2B buyer personas include age, gender, education level, role/job title and geographical location.
2. Firmographics
Firmographics are the attributes of organizations, companies, corporations and any other firm where each buyer persona works. While these are like demographics, they focus on the characteristics of the organization rather than the individual. Here, some common characteristics include the company’s annual revenue, number of employees, number of locations and more.
3. Behavioral
Behavioral data points are related to the behaviors and patterns that a buyer persona displays during the buying cycle. Here might be examples of the types of marketing or sales materials they choose to engage with. It can also capture the products or services that they purchased or used and how much they used them.
4. Psychographics
Psychographics are individual characteristics that focus on cognitive and psychological factors. These are important as they can oftentimes influence behavior. If you can identify and understand these aspects of a potential buyer, you can better cater your messaging and content to fit. Take note of their values, business pain points and point of view on certain topics or discussion areas.
Create Your Buyer Personas
Buyer personas drive all components of marketing and are crucial in guiding your business in the right direction to reach your goals. Do you want even more insight and detail into what to include in your organization’s buyer personas? Check out our Target Audience and Persona Development Course for step-by-step guidance combined with expert coaching in buyer persona creation.
