What the Heck Is a User Persona?

Do you know who’s buying your services and products?  I don’t mean you have to be on a first-name basis with all of them, though if you are, that’s pretty cool and “personal” of you. Unless you have a really small business or a really big memory, knowing every individual is impossible. But you can know everything there is to know about the types of buyers who love your brand.

The Importance of a User Persona

So, what’s so important about understanding your buyers? Can’t you just put the product out there and let whoever wants it make a purchase? You can if selling stuff is all you want to do. If you want to build and strengthen your brand, though—if you want to cultivate a following of die-hard fans and grow a true empire—then you need to know who you’re talking to.

The more you know about the people who will most likely buy your products or services, the better you can create messaging that will actually reach them. The words you use, the images they see when they encounter your brand, even the colors and sounds, these all add up to create an experience the buyer will remember long after making a purchase. That experience is the reason he’ll come back for more and bring his friends.

How to Build a Persona

Obviously, you can’t go out and interview all the people you think will buy your products or use your services. Instead, you have to imagine all of these people as one person. One person who has all the characteristics that may be found in a wide cross-section of your buyers. For instance, are most of your buyers between the ages of 20 and 30? Are they mostly female? Is fashion extremely important to them, even if they don’t have the budget to buy the biggest names?

You’re probably starting to get a firm picture of your buyer, aren’t you? Maybe he’s actually an executive male in his 50s who likes playing golf and taking his wife out to cutting-edge restaurants. Or perhaps you’re trying to reach the housewife in her 30s or 40s who’s exhausted from taking care of the kids and the house all day.

With that image in mind, start to explore their pain points. What challenges or needs do they have that you can solve? What objections will they have when faced with the need for a purchase? How will you craft your message to let that buyer know you’re the solution they’re seeking?

Here’s Where We Begin

Once we know you have a firm grasp on your brand, we move straight to your buyers. We’ll ask these questions and many more to make sure we understand the people you’re trying to reach as much as you do. We can’t take a single step toward helping you grow your business and reach more customers if we don’t start right here.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to build user personas so that you can grow your brand, give us a call.