Have you ever heard of a buyer persona? If not, here is a brief definition:

A buyer persona is simply your target audience who you want to reach out for when publishing your online content. Think of buyer persona as a virtual version of your target segmentation in marketing where elements such as customers' demography, behaviours and motivations are considered. Putting yourself in the users' shoes is one important lesson I've learned to deliver successful content that engages your audience and keeps them coming back for more. However, this is a brief definition of buyer persona based on my understanding working as a digital content writer. You can refer to professional site like Buyer Persona Institute for a precise definition.

Sometimes, buyer persona is neglected while other stages are prioritised. Executives keep blaming one another for campaign's failure but barely do they know the importance of getting the fundamental step right from the start.

Whether you are working for an SME, a big corporation or just creating your blog content, scan through this consolidated list to understand what important elements you need to get your buyer persona right.

1. Research and analysis should not be overlooked.

When you create a persona, keep in mind you need to do heaps of research to get it right. It means hours and hours of data analysis and reading market research papers. Why? Although you may lack the resources to conduct a proper research, you should not make any assumption on buyers' demographics. While some marketers spend most of their creativity making stuff up whenever it comes to target segmentation, you should never do so. Spending more time on the first stage of defining your buyers' demographics, interests, behavioural and motivational habits will help you succeed since you know what they are looking for.

Basic interviews and online surveys can be optimised to find out more about your potential buyers and establish a solid foundation on how your campaign will be designed upon. You don't need to start big, take baby steps to get it right and revisit it from time to time. Another way to get more information is from industry reports, analysis, news, trends, topics that your buyers are interested in to learn more about them. In the end, the more information you are filled up with, the better understanding you can get to design an effective campaign that targets the right audience later on.

2. Buyer's journey is key.

What you need to do is simply create a buyer's journey where a potential buyer will go through to make a decision which may look similar to the consumer decision-making process in marketing (figure 1).

However, buyer's journey is much simpler with just 3 stages of Awareness, Consideration and Decision as below:

Awareness stage: when a buyer recognises a problem and actively seeks for solutions.

Consideration stage: when the buyer does some online research but still considers different options and has not made any decision. This stage is the most vulnerable one for buyers and the most advantageous stage for marketers to target users with offers.

Decision stage: when the buyer makes up his/her mind on a purchase decision and finds the final solution to the problem.

Going through those stages with your team is extremely necessary. Don't do this alone because you may have a different viewpoints to the same issue which will complement one another's.

To make the practice easier, try this!

Imagine you just come to Melbourne and your skin is getting extremely dehydrated and flaky because of the horribly cold weather in winter. Now, what would you need? What would be the next steps you take? Where would you find your information?

You would probably ask for peer reviews from friends but you don't have many friends since you just move to this new city. So, you would possibly look for online reviews, read beauty blogs, vblogger's product suggestions, online magazines, etc (Awareness) . Finally, you have a list of your preferred products (Consideration) but you have no ideas what to buy. Suddenly, a famous skincare brand (from the list) offers to send you free samples if you fill in a form. It also offers 1-week free subscription to a skincare e-magazine. You fill in the form and get your samples 3 days later while gaining more in-depth information about the product through that e-magazine. Now you have become a delighted user and would like to make a purchase decision online after seeing great results from the sample product (Decision).

Is there any other journey you can think of regarding my example?

3. Revision makes perfect.

Never satisfy with your buyer persona but always revisit and edit the persona once in a while. Depending on the industry and your products/ services you involve, buyers' behaviours can change tremendously. Be aware of new trends, social changes and technological habits. Those are the main reasons for you to keep updating the personas. Sometimes, it's not trends that affect the personas but you may paint the wrong picture about your prospect buyer. If so, you need to ask yourself if the previous analysis and research data is precise and up-to-date or not. After that, reconsidering a new route for your buyer's journey may change your perspective about how your buyers make their purchase so that your team can shape the right content and deliver the right offer at the right time.

Remember: practice makes perfect. The key is to keep everything persistent and never stop improving your buyer personas. Do it again if you have it wrong this time! Have someone review and criticise it and...do it one more time!