Before embarking on a content marketing strategy, you first have to understand your buyer personas. Crafting buyer personas will help you in copywriting or curating meaningful and relevant content that will strike a chord with your customers.
Piecing together a complete picture of your buyer personas takes time and effort. To get the information required, you can tap on these sources:
- Market research
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Social media
- Search analytics
- Observations
Using the raw data from these sources, you can begin to build a comprehensive profile of your buyer personas.
Here’s a list of questions that can help you to get a deeper insight into your buyer personas.
Demographics
1. Gender
Is your persona a man or woman? Men and women value different things. How they shop, what they look for, what they ask, what drives them, what they are concerned with and how they make decisions are totally different.
2. Age
How old is your persona?
3. Generation
Is your persona a baby boomer, a Gen X, a Gen Y or a millennial?
4. Education
What level of education has your persona achieved? Did he finish high school or university? Did he study locally or abroad?
5. Marital status
Is your persona single, married, divorced or widowed?
6. Family lifecycle
Is your persona a teenager, a newlywed, just beginning to start a family, has several children, or is an empty-nester?
7. Size of household
How large is your persona’s household?
8. Location
Is your persona an urban dweller or living in suburbia? Does he live in landed property or a high-rise unit?
9. Income
Which income bracket does your persona fall in?
10. Social class
Is your persona affluent or middle class? Or does he fall at the poverty level?
Psychographics
11. Activities and interests
What hobbies does your persona engage in? What are her personal interests and what does she do in her free time? Does she like any particular type of sports, music or movies? Is she interested in fashion, technology or the arts?
12. Values
Does your persona value love, health, fun, comfort, happiness, success, adventure, security, family, honesty, loyalty or relationships?
13. Causes
Does your persona champion causes such as conservation, education, human rights or the environment?
14. Life stage
Is your persona job hunting, climbing up the career ladder, starting a family, part of the sandwiched generation or at the peak of his career?
15. Lifestyle
What lifestyle choices does your persona make? Is she religious, health-conscious, active, organic, high-tech or artsy?
16. Goals
What drives your persona? Does he prefer experiences, ideals, material objects or self-expression?
17. Personality
Is your persona a conformist, a leader, a trail-blazer, an achiever, a wanna-be, a materialistic person, a nurturer or a social climber? Is he laid-back or driven?
18. Attitude and opinions
What would be your persona’s attitude towards your product or service?
19. Networks
Does your persona belong to any associations, clubs or groups? Who does she mix with?
Work details
20. Career
What kind of job does your persona have? Is he a blue-collar or white-collar worker or an entrepreneur?
What kind of role does he play in his organization? Is he a decision-maker, an influencer or administrator?
21. Professional goals
Is your persona success-oriented, power hungry or fame-seeking? Or is she more concerned with wealth accumulation or work-life balance? What does she want from her career?
22. Responsibilities
What is your persona responsible for? What skills and knowledge are required for him to do his job? What tools does he need to do his job well?
23. Professional challenges
What challenges does your persona face at work and how can she overcome these challenges?
24. Purchasing decisions
Does your persona make purchasing decisions at work? Does he need to consult someone or get approval for the purchase?
Consumer behavior
25. Shopping patterns
Where does your persona shop – at the suburban mall or at luxury retail stores? Or does she prefer to shop online?
Does she prefer to pay by cash, credit card or internet banking?
26. Communication preferences
Would your persona prefer to connect with you through email, the phone or through social media?
27. Social networks
Which of these social networks does your persona use: LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+?
How often does your persona log on to social media networks?
28. Access to information
Does she tap on social media, get recommendations from friends or conduct research online in order to get information on products or services?
What publications, magazines or newspapers does she read? Which TV or YouTube channels does she watch? Which websites does she visit?
Does your persona prefer to access content online through mobile devices or a desktop computer?
29. Pain points
What are the real or perceived problems (related to your product or service) that your persona has? How would your product or service solve this?
30. Barriers to purchase
What could prevent your persona from buying from you? What would assuage his fears?
This list is far from exhaustive. The questions you ask may also differ, depending on whether you are doing B2B or B2C marketing – whether you are targeting businesses or individuals.
Once you know your persona inside out, you can bridge the gap with your audience by framing your content from your customer’s perspective. Use the same words or language that your audience would use to create that connection with them.
The words will flow easier when you are able to get inside the mind of your persona. You’ll then be able to create content that resonates with your audience and that converts better.
Leave a Reply