Personas or Ideal Target: 4 questions to determine it

Before starting any marketing activity, be sure you have determined your “personas” or, in other words, your ideal target.

By dividing your customers into categories, you will address their specific needs and wants and you will wisely direct your marketing strategy.

The 4 questions to create personas:

1. WHICH? Segment your customers based on basic information

Name, function, company, age, gender, preferred methods of communication (meetings, phone, email).

2. WHAT? Identify their needs and behaviors

What are their main objectives? What are the challenges they face? How can you help them achieve their objectives? What will they look for on the Internet? Do they use social media?

3. WHAT FOR? Determine the reasons and obstacles to achieve objectives

Take care about what your personas are saying to concretely understand them. For example:

“I spend too much time meeting our partners that I never have time to concentrate on our visual communication.” In this way, you can also understand the reasons why they might not buy your products or services. For example: “My annual budget was reduced and does not allow me to make some expenses.”

4. HOW? Know how to describe your offer to your personas and sell it!

Now that you know your different targets and you understand their needs and behavior, put yourself in their shoes and give them what they need.

However, remember not to base the answer to these questions on mere assumptions. Real data are essential and you can count on sharing experiences and opinions from your current working partners or your actual customers.

Put together a coherent and complete research about your target audience and make sure you offer them effective and relevant solutions. By determining your personas in detail, you will lead your marketing, so that each of your targets will have a unique experience on your website and find the right solution to their needs. And here, you do your first step in the Inbound marketing world.

by Séverine Duprat