Of course, some people may be hesitant to create personas because they think it is difficult and the effects are unclear.
However, recent US statistics show that companies that use personas generate more leads (24%), are of higher quality (56%), and shorten sales cycles (36%), and there are other examples that back up the effectiveness of various personas, as we will discuss below.
In addition, there are now excellent tools available to help you create personas, making them much easier than before.
In this article, we will explain why you should use personas in marketing and how to create a simple persona using a template.
What is a persona?
In marketing , a persona is a semi-fictional character profile created to represent a typical customer who might purchase and use your company's products.
As shown in the figure below, it is expressed in a persona sheet that summarizes the individual's name, place of employment, work challenges, behavioral patterns, skills, attitudes, etc. Although it is a fictional character, a name is also given to make it seem like a real person.
Persona's Story
Creating such face-to-face personas makes it easier job seekers contact phone numbers list for developers and marketers to think from the customer's perspective (persono perspective) rather than forming vague imagery of the customer or projecting their own thoughts and psychology onto them.
Sharing personas also helps all team members understand the customer better, making marketing strategies more appealing, leading to more leads, improved customer satisfaction, and many other positive outcomes.
Overview and Concept
Persona is a methodology originally proposed in the 1980s by Alan Coope, the founder of an interaction design consulting company who is known in the IT industry as the "father of Visual Basic."
Cooper believes that software engineers do not think about "how will users use this?" and advocates a "purpose-driven design methodology" that satisfies user needs. He created the concept of "persona" as a practical tool for this purpose.
Thanks to Cooper's work, personas first became known for their effectiveness in the IT industry, and have since been widely used in marketing, sales, recruitment, and other areas of various companies across industries.
Since many of the readers of this blog are in the SaaS industry, I would encourage them to also check out the following books and make use of personas in their marketing and development departments.
Cooper's book
Book "Computers are too difficult to use" Alan Cooper Hiroo Yamagata Japanese Books
(Source: Amazon )
The relationship between marketing objectives and personas
The ultimate goal of marketing is to create a system that sells. As mentioned above, creating personas will improve your marketing results and contribute to increasing your profits.
For example, when it comes to product marketing, creating a persona and clarifying "who the product is for" and determining the 4Ps (function, price, ease of use, location) will lead to the development of a unique product.
Even at the marketing promotion stage, it becomes clear to whom (potential customers) the message is to be conveyed, which makes it clear what channel to select, what marketing concept to deploy, and what type of content is desired, leading to improved marketing results.
There are various statistical results on the effectiveness of personas, but here we will pick out some recent statistics from the United States.
Companies that use personas generate more leads (24%), are of higher quality (56%), and shorten their sales cycles (36%)
90% of businesses that use personas gain a deeper understanding of their buyers
82% of companies that use personas develop better value propositions
Persona-driven websites are 2-5x more effective and user-friendly
(Source: 40+ buyer persona statistics that showcase their effectiveness )
Differences between BtoB and BtoC personas
When creating a persona, it is important to be aware that the personalities of personas for BtoB and BtoC are quite different.
Since BtoB personas are responsible for purchasing for a company, the industry in which the persona works, the size of the company they work for, the corporate culture, the scope of their decision-making authority, etc. are very important factors. In addition, profiling of the persona's own personality is necessary.
In the case of B2C, shopping is usually for individuals or families, so personal interests, likes and dislikes, values, annual income, lifestyle, etc. are important factors.
