What is a buyer persona?

A semi-fictional representation of your ideal buyer(s).

Buyer personas are one of the cornerstones of creating a highly personalized buyer's journey. This, in return, results in higher conversion rates and improved sales efficiencies because the content is specific to the pain points of the buyer. 

How to create a buyer persona

1. Review historical purchases from customers. 
2. Determine criteria to segment your customers. 
3. Analyze each segment and determine: 
   1. Role within the company.
   2. Service or product purchased. 
   3. Length of the sales cycle. 
   4. Content used to nurture and educate the buyer. 
   5.  Number of touches 
   6. Marketing source that generated the contact. 
4. Describe each buyer persona. Here a couple of examples: 
   1. "Bob the Business Owner" has to manage a lot of day-to-day tasks and never has the time to focus on marketing. He knows it's important to his business. but has also been burnt by marketing agencies in the past. Bob wants to build lasting relationships with his customers and vendors. Typically conducts high-level research and will ask very specific questions during the first meeting. Bob, on average, will make a buying decision within 30 days. 
   2. "No said the Gatekeeper" has a lot of responsibility keeping up with the decision-maker and tasked with finding better solutions for their company. Always speaks to you on their terms and can be difficult to communicate with after the first meeting. Gatekeeper always wants references, case studies, and a quote before understanding the real difference between us and our competition. 
5. Develop a buyer's journey for each buyer persona. 

Knowing your ideal buyer and how they purchase from your company creates confidence in your sales team, creates a personalized buying experience, and greater lifetime value. Take the time to create and revisit your buyer personas because it's the cornerstone of your inbound marketing strategy.