Building Marketing Personas with AI

Ever start working with a marketing agency and get asked "who is your ideal customer" and you want to reply, "anyone willing to give us money for what we do?" When I did marketing for hotels we'd ask this question and very few hotels that weren't associated with a major brand could articulate who they wanted. Sometimes they could tell you who they didn't want which is useful to a point. At the end of the day, though, all they cared about was heads in beds.

There is a quote attributed to Confucius that says, "A person who chases two rabbits, catches neither." Chasing all the customers means you are most likely not doing enough to truly catch any of the customers.

For many SMBs, developing a marketing persona seems too abstract and pointless. They have people coming to their website and converting. If they have 100 people a day visiting and 3 people converting, the logical thing is to get 200 people a day to visit and double the conversions. Simple. Drive more traffic.

Of course, turning a firehose of traffic onto the website pretty much will just lower the conversion rate because not every visit is the same. Attracting the right traffic is key. That starts with the content and targeting to the right people. Targeting the right people starts with creating a high-level report on who the perfect person is for your product or service.

Below are a few articles to dive deeper into this concept if you need further assistance in understanding what a marketing persona is and does.

Resources

• The Power of Buyer Personas
• The Power of Personas: Why Are Marketing Personas Important?
• The Power of Personas

Note: There are tons of resources out there to help you sort out exactly what a marketing persona is, I just found it hilarious that so many people writing on the topic default to "The power of..." as a title for their helpful articles.

If you haven't paid a branding agency and a research marketing firm to interview past customers and look at your sales records to build a persona, you might not know where to start. That's where AI tools can help and I believe because AI tools are built on probability, you end up with a solid version of the most likely customer.

Where do you start though? Start with what you have. Using ChatGPT 4.0 use this prompt:

"You are a marketing professional with over 20 years of experience creating marketing and buyer personas. Please analyze this website: [URL] and create a marketing persona for the person this content is addressing."

Obviously, replace [URL] with the web address of your website.

ChatGPT Marketing Persona

I did this for https://www.odoo.com/ and got this result:

Name: Alex Martinez

Age: 35-50 years

Occupation: Business Owner / Entrepreneur

Industry: Diverse (could be manufacturing, sales, services, or IT)

Business Size: Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Psychographics:

• Values efficiency and integration in business processes.
• Seeks cost-effective solutions with transparent pricing.
• Prefers customizable and scalable software solutions.
• Interested in leveraging technology to streamline operations.
• Values community support and open-source platforms.

Goals:

• To find a comprehensive software solution that integrates various business functions (CRM, accounting, project management, etc.).
• To increase operational efficiency and reduce manual work through automation.
• To grow their business sustainably without significant overhead costs.

Challenges:

• Managing multiple software solutions that are not integrated.
• High costs associated with traditional enterprise software.
• Adaptability and scaling of business operations with existing tools.

Media Consumption:

• Engages with business and technology blogs, forums, and podcasts.
• Actively searches for reviews, comparisons, and tutorials on business technologies.
• Prefers interactive and informative digital content, such as webinars and live demos.

The next step is to not trust what ChatGPT has given you. Read this carefully and make corrections.

Content Marketing Plan Based on Marketing Persona

Take the corrected persona and feed it back to ChatGPT using this prompt: "Using this modified persona, create a content marketing plan for the website"

This output may or may not be useful to you. For odoo.com the plan came out as the following.

1. Content Themes

• Integration and Efficiency: Articles and videos on how integrating various business functions enhances efficiency.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Content focused on ROI from using an all-in-one software solution like Odoo.
• Scalability: Success stories of SMEs scaling up using technology.
• Open Source Benefits: Explaining the advantages of open-source software, including community support and customization.

2. Content Formats

• Blog Posts: In-depth articles addressing pain points like managing disparate systems and the cost of operations.
• Video Tutorials: Step-by-step guides on setting up and using Odoo for different business processes.
• Webinars: Live sessions featuring product demos, customer testimonials, and expert discussions on industry trends.
• Case Studies: Detailed stories of businesses that achieved significant growth and efficiency improvements with Odoo.

3. Distribution Channels

• Website: Host all content on a dedicated resources section.
• Email Newsletters: Regular updates featuring new content, product updates, and industry news.
• Social Media: Active engagement on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to share content and participate in relevant discussions.
• Industry Forums: Participation in discussions on platforms like Reddit and Quora to provide advice and share relevant content.

4. Engagement Strategies

• Interactive Q&A Sessions: Regular live Q&A sessions with product experts to answer potential and existing customers' queries.
• Feedback Solicitation: Encourage feedback on content through comments and social media to improve and tailor future content.
• Lead Magnets: Offer free e-books or white papers in exchange for email subscriptions to build a mailing list.

5. SEO and Analytics

• Keyword Optimization: Use SEO tools to find and target keywords relevant to SMEs looking for integrated business solutions.
• Performance Tracking: Use analytics to track engagement and adjust strategies based on which types of content perform best.

Pretty straightforward but it might spark some ideas for you. Not many SMBs have the capacity to take on all these efforts and do them well. So using ChatGPT, we are going to focus.

Creating a Content Calendar Based on Marketing Persona

In the same chat, use this prompt (adjust the timing for your actual needs).

"Create a content marketing calendar for the site's blog. We want to publish twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

ChatGPT generated this schedule:

May

Week 1

• Tuesday (1st): "5 Ways Integrated Software Systems Boost Efficiency"
• Thursday (3rd): "How SMEs Can Reduce Costs with Open Source Solutions"

Week 2

• Tuesday (8th): "Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your CRM with Odoo"
• Thursday (10th): "The Real ROI of Using an All-in-One ERP System"

Week 3

• uesday (15th): "From Chaos to Control: Transforming Your Business Processes"
• Thursday (17th): "Why Community Support Matters in Open Source Software"

Week 4

• Tuesday (22nd): "Customizing Odoo for Your Business: What You Need to Know"
• Thursday (24th): "Case Study: Scaling an E-commerce Business with Odoo"

Week 5

• Tuesday (29th): "The Future of SMEs: Automation and Digital Transformation"
• Thursday (31st): "Odoo for Project Management: A User’s Perspective"

June

Week 1

• Tuesday (5th): "Comparing Top ERP Systems for SMEs: Which Is Best for You?"
• Thursday (7th): "Integrating Sales, Accounting, and Inventory with Odoo"

Week 2

• Tuesday (12th): "The Benefits of Modular Software Architecture in Odoo"
• Thursday (14th): "Live Webinar Recap: How to Leverage Odoo for Maximum Efficiency"

Week 3

• Tuesday (19th): "Getting Started with Odoo: A Beginner's Guide"
• Thursday (21st): "Expert Tips for Optimizing Your Supply Chain with Odoo"

Week 4

• Tuesday (26th): "Security in Open Source Software: What You Need to Know"
• Thursday (28th): "User Story: How a Manufacturing Company Revolutionized Its Operations with Odoo"

As with all output from an AI tool, you need to look this over and make sure it aligns with your company. For example, this content calendar has a live webinar recap slated for June 14th. If you aren't planning on having a live webinar, then you can't have a live webinar recap. On June 28th, the plan is to have a user story, that requires coordinating with a customer and getting a writer to do an interview.

You get the point, the output isn't gospel, it is a starting point.

Using the Marketing Persona to Analyze Existing Content for Improvements

The utility of a marketing persona doesn't stop here. Now you have something that guides your marketing efforts.

Starting a new chat with ChatGPT, use this prompt:

"You are an experienced digital marketer. Using this marketing persona: [paste in the marketing persona] Analyze this page and provide guidance on improvements that could be made: [URL]."

I did this for the pricing page on odoo.com as pricing pages are normally key conversion pages for SaaS solutions. The output I got was the following.

To improve the Odoo pricing page for Alex Martinez, a business owner in the SME sector, consider these adjustments:

1. Integration Highlight: Emphasize the seamless integration of Odoo's diverse apps (CRM, accounting, project management) directly on the pricing page. This would resonate with Alex’s need for comprehensive software solutions.
2. Cost Transparency: Enhance clarity around cost implications of different options, including hidden costs or savings when scaling up. This addresses Alex’s preference for transparent pricing and cost-effective solutions.
3. Customization Options: Clearly showcase the customizability of plans, particularly in the 'Custom' plan, which allows for modifications and API integrations. This would appeal to Alex’s desire for customizable software.
4. Efficiency Benefits: Include specific examples or case studies that demonstrate how Odoo can increase operational efficiency and reduce manual work, aligning with Alex’s goal to streamline operations.
5. Community and Support: Provide more prominent information on community support and open-source aspects, which are valuable to Alex. This could be highlighted through testimonials or links to community forums directly on the pricing page.

These changes can help make the page more attractive and relevant to someone with Alex’s profile, who values efficiency, scalability, and community support in business solutions.

This needs to be stressed over and over because these outputs are convincing. A real person who has detailed knowledge of how sales are done in the company needs to review this and adjust it to truly align with the business goals and needs. Customers love transparent pricing but that may not be a great thing for the business. There may actually be too many details relating to each package to efficiently put them on the page. Design clutter may have a negative impact on conversion. Visual confusion might create choice paralysis.

At no point do you want to transform your marketing into a mindless drone following the AI. As I mentioned at the top, what makes these AI tools useful is because they are based on language probability and creates outputs that are farly standard. You will rarely get any great insight, any spark of genius from this output. The AI isn't interacting with your customers like the sales staff and customer support are. That real world input will help elevate your business above the competition. Ultimately, you don't want to be the company running with the crowd, you want to be the purple cow (hat tip to Seth Godin).