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Buyer Persona Creation Template

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What Is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a description of your digital marketing target customer, including demographics, behaviours, and goals.

Why do you need a Buyer Persona?

A digital marketing strategy with no target customer is like trying to spray a water hose at an invisible wall. You can see where your digital ads are being show, but that's about it. A digital marketing strategy with specific digital marketing targets allows you to measure success, respond to campaign feedback, and scale digital marketing efforts.
Having a digital marketing buyer persona allows you to get into the mind of your customers. It gives digital marketers insights into what makes their customers tick so that they can better tailor digital content accordingly. Having digital marketing buyer personas allows digital content accordingly.
In other words: a digital marketing buyer persona allows a digital marketer to plan for their digital marketing, messaging, and social media strategies. A digital marketer can use a digital marketing buyer persona as a tool to help them segment potential customers into categories with similar interests, behaviours, and goals. 

Where do you find your digital marketing buyer persona?

For well-defined digital marketing target customers, the information is probably already available in your company's digital marketing data. Find commonalities in digital marketing targets, and add external sources when necessary to round out the digital marketing profile of your buyer persona. Here are some common digital marketing buyer persona sources:

  • digital marketing metrics (page views, time on site, length of stay)
  • digital marketing demographics (age, gender, location)
  • digital marketing behaviours (search keywords used)
  • digital marketing psychographics (hobbies and interests)
  • external digital market data (demographics/psychographics/behaviour digital marketing data for similar industries or business that are most like the digital marketing target customer)
  • digital marketing personas (if your digital marketing budget is low, look at competitor digital marketing personas to find commonalities with your digital marketing targets)

As you can see, your digital marketing buyer personas are based on current digital marketing target customers. You may already have digital marketing buyer personas that you created for your digital marketing campaigns. If not, use your digital presence to gather insights into what your digital target customers like and dislike about the digital content you provide. Alternatively, if you don't have an existing digital footprint, use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to gather digital marketing buyer personas.

How do you create a digital marketing buyer persona?

Create your digital marketing buyer personas based on current digital target customers and what they like and dislike about your digital content. Then, tailor digital content based on those insights. Use digital marketing buyer personas to improve digital marketing campaigns.
Digital marketers can create digital marketing buyer personas based on social media data and analytics, user research/interviews, or digital marketing analytics. You can use digital social media to gather information, such as answers to survey questions, demographics, data, and behaviour data. You can conduct digital marketing user research/interviews to collect digital marketing buyer personas. You can gather data from digital marketing user research/interview to collect digital marketing buyer personas. You can gather data from digital marketing digital analytics such as digital marketing website tracking and digital marketing email campaign reports.
Once you have collected data from digital marketing digital analytics, social media websites, and/or digital marketing user research/interviews, you can analyse it and create digital marketing buyer personas based on the patterns you find in the data.
You can create digital marketing buyer personas based on digital social media analytics, digital marketing user/research interviews, or digital marketing digital analytics. You can use the data to create digital marketing buyer personas based on patters you find in the data.
It is important to listen, understand and research your digital marketing target customer's digital life before creating a digital marketing buyer persona. While not every digital marketer will have the same goals, behaviours or interests as their customers, it is essential that digital marketers try to encapsulate these similarities into digital marketing buyer personas to increase the likelihood of digital marketer success.
Digital marketers should research digital customers' goals, who digital customers trust for information, and how digital customers make decisions. Behaviours questions may include: where do your target customers shop online, what social media sites do they visit, do they read reviews before buying or review irrelevant, what are digital customers' favourite digital marketing tactics.
To create a digital marketing buyer persona, you need to gather digital marketing data about your target customers. You can do this by creating digital marketing personas based on the following elements:
#1

Demographics

- Age group - Income level - Geographic location - Gender - Occupation / Title - Education level

#2

Behaviours and buying preferences

- Digital habits - Social media usage - Goals

#3

Challenges and pain points

- Digital marketing challenges faced by your digital marketing target customers - Digital marketing pain points experienced by your digital marketing target customers 

Once all digital marketing data is gathered, digital marketers should prioritize digital marketing buyer personas. You should prioritize digital marketing buyer personas based on how much digital marketers know about the digital marketing target customer and what digital marketers plan to achieve with a given digital marketing buyer persona.
Finally, you should develop a creative brief for each digital marketing buyer persona and share digital marketing buyer personas with digital and social media teams.

Why Should Digital Marketers Have Buyer Personas?

Digital marketing relies on knowing your target customer to maximize digital marketing results. A digital marketer without buyer personas has no way of knowing which customers are most likely to buy their product or service, thus creating a digital marketing machine that is less effective than it could be. Digital marketers should have digital marketing buyer personas so that they can use digital analytics digital social media data to figure out how to position digital products and services in digital marketplaces where digital customers are most likely to see them. Digital marketing buyer persona information can also tell digital marketers the types of messages that will resonate with digital customers, what social media outlets digital customers prefer, and which digital targets digital customers trust for digital marketing advice. Digital marketing buyer personas make digital marketers more efficient, help digital marketers understand digital customer behaviour, and create digital products that resonate with digital customers. 

What is the difference between digital marketing personas and buyer personas?

Digital marketing personas are based on research into digital customers' interests, digital habits, preferences for specific types of digital marketing tactics, digital customer opinion of digital marketers and digital companies. digital marketing personas are also based on digital customer demographics, such as age group, income level, geographic location, gender, occupation/title.
Buyer personas are based around digital research into digital customers' goals in relation to the target digital marketplace. They focus on digital interests, digital social media habits, and digital trust of digital resources in the specific digital marketplace.

Why are buyer personas important?

Choosing digital marketing strategies is hard because you need to know who exactly your digital marketing efforts are targeting. If you don't, you will not be able to achieve any results so it will just waste your time and money.
The solution is having buyer personas that describe these people that are most likely to take interest in digital marketing.
While digital marketing has a lot of different digital channels, your digital marketing efforts will be divided into two main groups: paid digital marketing and organic digital marketing. Your digital marketing budget is the deciding factor here because if you have a large digital marketing budget, you can do digital marketing in both groups whereas if you have a small digital marketing budget, you will probably need to focus on one group.
Every digital channel is divided into two buyer personas that are most likely to use the digital channel: brand buyers and non-brand buyers. To make this easier, let's assume that you have a digital marketing budget of $5,000 per month and that your digital marketing channels are: Google AdWords (paid digital marketing) and Facebook (organic digital marketing).
Non-brand buyers use digital channels mostly for research purposes because they do not need to buy the product immediately. A common example of this is someone looking to buy a new digital camera. They might go to Google and do a search for digital cameras. Then they will look into the search results and visit different digital channels that provide more information about digital cameras such as digital camera reviews, digital cameras comparisons (reviews of digital cameras between two brands) and the like. This person is called a non-brand buyer because they are not willing to buy digital cameras now.
Brand buyers use digital channels to actually buy digital cameras. A common example of this is someone who wants to buy digital cameras for their business so they need digital cameras urgently and therefore only bother with digital channels that will help them do the purchase immediately (so things like online shops). This person is called a brand buyer because they are willing to buy digital cameras with their own money.
These are the non-brand buyers and brand buyers that digital channels target:
Non-brand buyers = digital channels used for research purposes (for example Google)
Brand Buyers = digital channels used to actually purchase digital cameras (for example Amazon)
You don't need digital marketing channels to target both buyer personas at the same time because digital marketing can be heavy on your budget if you try to do so.
You should not go digital channel by digital channel trying to find out who is using it and how they use them because this will not provide you with a complete enough view. That's why we recommend doing buyer persona research instead which will give you a much better digital marketing strategy.
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How do you create buyer personas?

You should always start off by making a list of digital channels that you plan to use for digital marketing purposes. After that, it's time to find out who uses these digital channels so you should go through the digital channels yourself.
You should also talk to your digital marketing team or digital agency in order to know what data they have on the digital channels that you are using. For example, if you are using social media for digital marketing purposes then it's safe to assume that digital agencies have collected some data about online users who use social media platforms. If they have not collected the data then you should be asking if digital agencies are doing digital marketing on social media. If digital agencies don't do digital marketing on social media then that's another bad sign.
Once you have collected enough information about your target audience, make a buyer persona out of this information. For example, if one of your digital channels is digital billboards and your digital agency has collected data that the majority of digital billboard users are white males between 25 and 35 then you can label your buyer persona as digital billboards: white males between 25 and 35.

Why should I create buyer personas?

The whole idea behind digital marketing, social media marketing and digital PR in general is that digital marketing is people-centric. That means that digital marketing success boils down to how digital marketers interact with their target audience and digital agency consumers.

Without knowing who your digital agency's clientele is, digital marketers and digital agencies struggle to create effective digital strategies and often struggle to meet business goals. There are a number of reasons why digital marketers should know digital agency clientele.

Firstly, digital marketing should be people-centric and digital marketers should focus on how digital strategies will affect their target audience in order to generate digital ROI. If digital agencies do not have buyer personas then digital marketers cannot create effective digital marketing strategies because they don't know who the digital agencies want to target.

Secondly, digital marketers should know digital agency clientele in order to create digital strategies that digital agencies can actually execute. Digital marketers want digital strategies that will help them generate digital ROI and if digital agencies don't have buyer personas then digital marketers cannot create effective digital marketing strategies because they don't know which digital channels digital agencies should use.

Finally, digital marketers need digital agency clientele to understand digital PR, social media marketing, and digital marketing in general. Digital marketers often work with digital agencies on digital PR but without knowing digital agency clientele digital marketers cannot predict what kind of news will engage their target audience. For example, if a digital agency represents a luxury fashion brand and digital marketers want to make a digital PR campaign for this fashion brand's new digital jeans then digital marketers need to know digital agency clientele so they can choose digital channels that their target audience uses.

What is the process of creating buyer personas?

The first thing you should do is review your website traffic statistics and find out what channels your digital marketing is based on. If you don't have digital marketing data then you cannot create effective digital marketing strategies because digital marketers will make decisions according to their gut feelings and existing plans rather than going with the data.

If you do have digital marketing data based on analytics, look at this marketing data and find out what demographic groups are using digital marketing channels. For example, digital marketers who use digital out-of-home advertising should look at digital marketing data and find out what demographic groups are most likely to visit billboards. You can also review social media statistics but you should keep in mind that social media is often about engagement whereas digital marketing is not.

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How do buyer personas benefit digital marketers?

When you know who your digital marketing target audience is, it's far easier to come up with digital marketing ideas that appeal to your digital marketing audience. Furthermore, by creating digital marketing personas for each digital channel or social media platform you use digital marketing on (e.g. digital marketing new social media platform), you can tailor your digital marketing messages to be more effective for each digital channel or social media platform. You can of course still create digital marketing personas that apply across multiple digital channels and social media platforms, but digital marketers often like to make the most of new digital marketing platforms by tailoring digital marketing messages to these channels or social media platforms.

How do you create a buyer persona?

A buyer persona is a detailed description of your ideal client. It's important to know who you're marketing to, but it's also important for digital marketers not to get carried away with the idea that they need to appeal to everyone. Putting together a buyer persona means understanding your client deeply, from their location and age through to what makes them tick.

Thanks to digital technology, marketers now have more information about customers than they ever did before. Everything from social media posts and digital footprints through to shopping habits now contributes to a digital footprint of personal data.

In order to create a buyer persona, you need to gather as much information as possible about your client group – this includes demographics, interests, shopping habits, digital footprints and anything else that will give you the information you need to create detailed charisma.

The final stage of buyer persona creation is to take this digital footprint data and factor in the knowledge from your existing client base – this gives digital marketers a clear picture of who their ideal client should be.

How do you use a buyer persona?

A buyer persona is a type of marketing tool. It's a picture or description of your target market, the people who buy from you.

With a well-researched buyer persona, you can sell to anybody from any walk of life. No matter what business you're in.

You begin by understanding your own aims and objectives. Then, make a list of your ideal customers. Ask yourself:

What's the biggest problem they face on their digital journey? What solution is offered by my product or service? How can I help them on their journey (i.e. what value do I offer)?

You can then gather information on specific buyer personas. Look for digital footprints - Facebook posts, Twitter messages, and blog posts. Find them everywhere from LinkedIn to Pinterest.

What's their digital journey? Are they a beginner or experts? What digital platforms do they use? How old are they? Where do they live?

If you have a digital product, why not jump on Google Analytics and see who's buying from you?

Once you know who they are, how they live, what digital platforms they use, and what problems they face on their journey - that's when buyer persona becomes powerful. You can then create content catering specifically to that type of buyer.

The more you know about the digital journey, the easier it is to put yourself in their shoes. You can then create digital marketing campaigns that guide them through their digital journey.

You'll then get all of your digital marketing working together for maximum effectiveness. It's called 'marketing alignment'.

Don't forget how useful buyer personas are for digital marketing.

They're also super-useful for social media marketing, copywriting, and digital PR.

And don't forget the power of digital customer service. Any CRM or help desk program is designed with buyer personas in mind.

To sum up, digital is all about understanding your target market...and your buyer persona is your digital switch point.

When you're switching on digital campaigns, buyer personas are the lightbulb that illuminates all of your digital marketing.

They help you create digital content that's useful for one specific type of buyer - and they make a big difference to how well digital marketing actually works.

That's why so many digital marketers are now talking about buyer personas.

It's digital's hottest new buzzword. And for good reason...

Buyer persona = digital marketing magic!

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What can you do with our buyer persona template?

A buyer persona template is an easy way to help digital marketers create strategies that are tailored directly to the needs of their potential customers. What problems will this solve for you? Well, digital marketing is supposed to be about making the customer happy, but what if you don't know what your customers want?
With a buyer persona template, digital marketers will find it easier and faster to create digital marketing strategies that contain:
- Information about the digital marketing buyer persona's demographics and social media behavior
- Information about digital marketing problems and pain points your digital marketing buyer personas face on a daily basis which you can use to collect more data on the digital market for you to sell or promote digital products and services  

Who will benefit from this template?

If digital marketers can understand digital marketing buyer personas better, they will be able to reach the right customers at the right time. That is because digital marketers may be targeting people who are not interested in digital marketing or the digital marketer's digital products and services.

This template will help digital marketers convert more of their digital marketing efforts into sales.

Who is this template aimed at?

There are many different types of digital marketers, each with different needs. Our template has been designed to help digital marketers who:

- Are working for a digital marketing agency and need to create strategies that will attract more clients

- Are creating their own digital marketing strategies and want to make them as effective as possible

- Work for digital marketing companies and want to make digital marketing strategies that are effective

- Are digital marketers who want to use digital marketing data in their digital efforts

Buyer Persona Template

Whether you’re launching a business or introducing a new product line, you need to know your buyers’ personas. This document helps you do just that. Our simple fillable pdf guides you through the strategic process of learning who your ideal customers are, what motivates and challenges them, and how they make purchasing decisions.
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