Work in sales and marketing long enough and you\u2019ll discover that the fundamentals stay the same. The words used to describe them, however, are regularly being re-invented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any marketing strategy worth its salt, whether written in 1916 or 2016, begins by identifying the customer and the customer\u2019s needs. And that starts by creating an ideal customer profile, which is often called a buyer persona.<\/p>\n\n\nAny marketing strategy worth its salt begins by identifying the customer and the customer\u2019s needs. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n All the buzz over the importance of buyer personas<\/a> is nothing more than a revitalized rush to obey the first commandment of marketing: Know your customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That doesn\u2019t take anything away from the importance of the work, but it may take a little of the pressure off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assuming your company already has a detailed marketing plan, maybe you\u2019ve already defined your ideal customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And assuming you\u2019ve been in business more than a year, maybe your key people already know who buys your goods or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We hold discovery sessions with our new clients, and one of the first things we do is present this question for the stakeholders to consider: Who buys from us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n At one session, the staff of a large manufacturing firm covered the board with 18 different personas for their customers. By walking them through a process to determine the similarities and differences in those lists, we helped management see that their lists spelled out the customers\u2019 reasons to buy, but not the personas of the customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the smoke cleared, the client had cut the list of 18 down to two well-defined ideal customer profiles. That helped them focus their marketing efforts and quickly realize stronger results from their marketing spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At another discovery session, we worked with a seller of lifestyle gear. Since their headquarters were situated in a college town, it was easy to observe that college students were their primary customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our research showed otherwise, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By analyzing sales records, we found that college students bought only 2% of the company\u2019s products. 52% of the sales were to the mothers of those students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That realization prompted our client to rethink and rewrite much of their brand story and marketing messaging. Consequently, they saw a huge boost in conversion rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may think these stories are extravagant. After all, how could a company miss the buyer persona mark that far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a fun and informative exercise: Get those who know most about your customer base together (perhaps using Amazon\u2019s principle of inviting only as many as you can feed with two pizzas) and ask them to describe your best customers. Take good notes. Then compare that customer insight gold to the descriptions in your strategic marketing plan.<\/p>\n\n\nGet those who know most about your customer base together and ask them to describe your best customers. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n You may be surprised. Developing your ideal customer profile is often overlooked, but it should be central to your marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more case studies in our book, \u201cStop Marketing and Start Selling<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll want to look at your customer base from a number of different angles. Here are some ways to do that quickly and simply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your top priority here is question design. The information will only be as good as the questions you ask. Tools don\u2019t need to be complicated. Try Survey Monkey<\/a> or Google Forms<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy an Ideal Customer Profile?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Basic Tools for Determining Who Your Customers Really Are<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Create a survey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n