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How to Build Buyer Persona Templates That Translate into Massive Sales

Sales are the lifeblood of any business.

Not quality products.

Not passion.

Without sales, a business is destined to fail.

Mark Cuban said, “sales cure all.”

More sales mean more money.

More money means you can continue growing your business and make a comfortable living for yourself and your family. And even make your employees happy.

Marketing is vital if you want to increase sales.

Prospects must be aware of your product before they can buy.

Marketing helps you create awareness.

Here’s the story of how Apple started marketing its Macintosh computer:

“Months before launching the Mac, Apple gave a sample of the product to 100 influential Americans to use and comment on.

It signed up 100 third-party software suppliers who began to envision applications that could take advantage of the Mac’s simplicity.

It trained over 4,000 dealer salespeople and gave full-day, hands-on demonstrations of the Mac to industry insiders and analysts.

Apple got two benefits from this network: educated Mac supporters who could legitimately praise the product to the press and invested consumers who could tell the company what the Mac needed.

The dialogue with customers and media praise were worth more than any notice advertising could buy.”

Apple Mac would change the world of computers forever.

Apple Mac changed the world of computers

Great marketing is crucial to the success of any business.

Before you start pumping money into marketing, there’s something you must do:

Create buyer personas.

In this article, you’ll learn how to create buyer personas, and I’ll also give you the link to download some nice buyer persona templates to use.

What is a buyer persona?

According to HubSpot:

“A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

Below is an example of a buyer persona.

A perfect example of a buyer persona

A buyer persona tells you everything you need to know about your ideal clients.

Your buyer persona should guide your marketing decisions and messages.

It’s difficult to convert someone you know little or zero about online.

Customers expect you to say things they want to hear.

With the right buyer personas, you’ll know what kind of messages your prospects want to read and see.

MR PORTER is an online retail store that sells men’s clothing. This fashion brand knows its customers love whiskey.

MR PORTER knows its customers love whiskey

MR PORTER has about 233k followers on Twitter, mostly men who like the content they share.

Adidas know its customers. Their customers want to work out, train harder and achieve success.

Adidas create content and launch campaigns that help its customers accomplish their goals.

Addidas know its customers

MR PORTER and Adidas match their message to their audiences. They know what their customers want to read and hear, and they give it to them.

Great marketing is about driving the right audience to your site.

It’s about the quality of your visitors. Not quantity.

Using buyer personas will help you drive quality visitors to your site.

How to Create a Buyer Persona That Drives Massive Sales

It doesn’t matter if your business is small, medium or large, you need a buyer persona.

Your buyer personas should be ready before you start marketing.

How do you create a buyer persona that contributes to more sales?

There are some actions you should take. I list and explain each below.

Talk to your current customers

Speaking to your current customers is a great way to learn about your future customers. Well, this is only applicable when your business is already running, and you have some customers to begin with.

But if your business is completely new, you may ignore this advice and move to the next action in the section below.

You probably know the emails, phone numbers, social media accounts, or addresses of your current customers.

Use these mediums to reach them.

Below are some questions to ask them:

  1. What could our company do to serve you better?
  2. Tell me about the best customer service experience you have had?
  3. What is the one thing none of our competitors do that you wish we do?
  4. What is the most recent example where we exceeded your expectations?
  5. Is there an example where we have not met your expectations?

These are customer service questions, but they also reveal a lot more about your customers.

Customers are comfortable answering these questions than when you ask them about themselves.

How can you use answers from the above questions in your buyer persona?

Let me elaborate each question.

1. What could our company do to serve you better?

There’s always room for improvement.

The answer to this question tells you how your customers use your product or service and what they do.

Let’s assume you’re a marketing company and your client is a restaurant.

If the manager of the restaurant says, he wants customers to talk about the business online.

Number one: it tells you who’s in charge of marketing. Is it the restaurant owner or manager, or someone else?

Number two: You know their goals for using your service.

For example, Baltimore pest solution service provider, On The Fly Pest Services, could also ask their customers this question. When a local company is serving its customers better, it’ll only lead to raving positive reviews which will help the business gain more customers.

2. Tell me about the best customer service experience you have had?

The answer to this question tells you the kind of customer service experience they’ll like to enjoy.

It’s a nice way to make the client get a little bit personal in their response. That reveals some things about them.

3. What is the one thing none of our competitors do that you wish we do?

Maybe your current customers have spoken or dealt with your competitors before.

This question is an opportunity to know what will make them stick to your business for a long time.

It’s a great way to get into the minds of your future customers through your current customers.

4. What is the most recent example where we exceeded your expectations?

The answer to this question will reveal what you can make a crucial selling point on your sales page.

If your current customers think you’re doing something well, your prospects should know it too.

5. Is there an example where we have not met your expectations?

Your current customers will tell you instances your business disappointed them.

Knowing the answer to this question informs you of what they hate.

Do online research

If your business is new, I assume you jumped the above section because it wasn’t applicable to you.

This action is important.

For business owners who have some customers already and willing to ask them the above questions, this action is essential for you as well.

After asking your customers questions, it’s time to move to the next step.

Google Keyword Planner

Your prospects are using search engines to find information online.

According to a study, 92% of adult U.S. internet users visit search engines regularly.

And according to Internet Live Stats, Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day.

It’s 2:48 PM Eastern Time at the time of writing this article and the Google search engine has received over 4.7 billion searches today already.

Google searches today

Every search on Google is being recorded in Google Keyword Planner.

Google Keyword Planner is free, though you’ll see more data if you’re advertising on the Google search engine.

This tool tells you the keywords prospects are typing into the Google search engine.

Knowing these keywords (or phrases) tell you more about your customers.

Let’s say you run a swimming pool contracting company.

Copy and paste the site’s address of a competitor into the “Keyword Ideas” box in Google Keyword Planner.

The tool will return all keywords your competitor is ranking for in the Google search engine.

Google Keyword Planner Keywords

These phrases tell you what your ideal customers want. They are the keywords that are sending customers to your competitors.

So, you want to learn as much as you can from these words.

A multinational company like The Armored Group, which design, manufacture, and deliver armored vehicles in the world could input a competitor’s site into Google Keyword Planner. So, whether you’re operating a local, national, or multinational company, you can use Keyword Planner to find keywords that will help you generate massive sales.

Read blogs that are related to your business

Which blogs are the most popular in your industry?

What topics are they writing about?

For example, Groove’s blog is one of the most popular in the customer support software industry.

The Groove Blog

They write about topics such as “customer software,” “customer service,” “customer surveys” and “customer care.”

HelpScout is another competitor in the industry.

Help Scout blog

HelpScout create content on topics like “customer loyalty,” “customer experience,” “customer retention” and “customer service.”

These topics are what your customers care about if you’re in the customer support industry.

Visiting popular blogs in your industry will reveal what your prospects are thinking, reading and watching. Blogs provide an opportunity to learn more about them.

You’ll need the information you get during this phase when you start creating your buyer personas.

The goal is to learn as much as you can about your customers.

After talking to your current customers and doing online research, it’s time to move to the next action.

Ask questions about your ideal customer (questions to ask below)

Let’s get into the last research phase of developing buyer personas.

This is the stage you ask yourself questions and provide answers.

Note that each action in this process is significant.

If you skip a part, it’ll surely affect the quality of your buyer personas.

While no buyer persona is ever perfect, getting it right the first time will surely have a positive impact on the quality of your marketing.

So, what are the questions?

What is the age range of your ideal customers?

Don’t target every age group when you start marketing.

Pinpoint the exact age group(s) you want to drive to your site.

Here are the common age groups:

  • 12 – 17
  • 18 – 24
  • 25 – 34
  • 35 – 44
  • 45 – 54
  • 55 – 64
  • 65+

Note that if your product is made for two different age groups from the list above, you’ll need to create different buyer personas for each.

What is the gender of most of your ideal customers?

Men and women are different, and most times they react differently to the same marketing message.

Women are the key decision makers in some markets.

For example, women are the key decision-makers for consumer goods in 85% of households.

That is why consumer brands like Nestle, Coca-Cola Co, and Newell Brands target women more than men.

Their ideal customers are women.

For example, Coca-Cola clearly shows this in the ad below.

For startups selling SaaS products, they target men because tech is dominated by men.

For example, Karen Brody offers relationship coaching. Her target customers are men.

What is the average income of your ideal customers?

The income level of your customers will determine if they can afford your products or services.

Low-end customers don’t have surplus money. Many live paychecks to paycheck.

High-end customers are different. They have more resources than low-end customers.

They want “exclusivity.” They also want something that’s “new” and “improved.”

Decide who you want to target in your buyer persona.

What do they do for a living?

One of the most powerful ways to know your customers is to know how they work.

By knowing what they do for a living, you now know what they spend most of their days thinking.

To connect with your customers, you want to talk about their work.

What is their marital status?

Living a single life is very different from being married.

If most of your prospects are married people, they may need the approval of their partners before making a major purchase that could jeopardize their budget of finances.

You should add that to your buyer personas.

What are their pain points?

Your customers have problems they want to solve right now.

What are they?

Talk about them in your marketing messages. Doing that tells customers that you truly know them. It shows that you’ve done your homework.

On the website of the Law Offices of Nicholas A. Parr, Nick Parr wrote an article titled “If I am in an accident with a drunk driver will I get a bigger settlement?” This article answers a question his potential clients may have.

Learn everything about your customers. Find more information that reveals new things about them.

The more you know, the better.

How to finally develop and use your buyer persona

You’ve gathered the data you need to learn about your ideal customer.

It’s time to develop your buyer persona.

Develop a buyer persona

Get with a sheet of paper and write out everything you’ve learned about your ideal customers.

The next thing to do is to load those data into a real buyer persona template.

Below are some amazing sites to download templates.

  1. Digital Marketer’s Customer Avatar Worksheet
  2. Xtensio’s User Persona Creator
  3. HubSpot’s Buyer Persona Template
  4. Demand Metric’s Buyer Persona Template
  5. Filestage’s Buyer Persona Template
  6. Marketo’s Marketing Persona Cheat Sheet
  7. “MakeMyPersona” Buyer Persona Generator

buyer persona template

Each of these links let you download buyer persona templates you can use and save on your computer.

After downloading your buyer persona, it’s time to start using it.

How do you use a buyer persona?

Before writing a single content, advert or social media update, you should have in mind which persona you want to target.

Ensure that you write to the fictional character in your buyer persona each time you create a content.

Conclusion

Buyer personas are never complete the first time you make them.

As Gary Vaynerchuk said, you must market in the year you’re in.

New technologies are introduced each passing year that change consumers’ buying behaviors. You should adjust your buyer personas to these changes.

Keep in mind that for buyer personas to be highly effective, you should be collecting emails on your site.

What is the best way to collect emails on your site?

GrowthFunnel popups.

GrowthFunnel offers one of the most advanced popup technology you need to convert visitors on your site.

It’s free to start using GrowthFunnel.

Sign up here today.

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