buyer personas: the 5 insights every marketer needs to nail

Buyer Personas: The Five Insights Every

Marketer Needs to Nail

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Chat or Q/A

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Today’s Presenters

Adele Revella President, Buyer Persona

Institute

Atri Chatterjee CMO, Act-On Software

685 SPRING STREET, NO. 200 | FRIDAY HARBOR, WA 98250 | W WW.BUYERPERSONA.COM

Buyer Personas: The Five Insights Every Marketer Needs to Nail

Adele Revella adele@buyerpersona.com

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More than a story about the buyer . . .

a buyer persona is what the

buyer thinks about

doing business with you.

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Buyer personas should clarify decisions

When

Sales people &

campaigns can engage

qualified buyers

How

To focus creative and

marketing efforts that

impact buyers’ choices

Who

Sales people & lead

generation campaigns

should target

What

To include in

messaging strategy &

marketing content

Buyer

Expert

Where

To prioritize marketing

investments

Why

Your strategy has the

highest potential to

achieve the goals

© 2012 BUYER PERSONA INSTITUTE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 7

Buyer Personas Need Five Rings of Insight

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Two parts of a buyer persona

Core Buyer Persona

• Demographic information

- Job title

- Company size

- Industry

- Education

• Job description

• Top 5 priority initiatives

Product Persona Connection

• Priority Initiative: buying triggers

• Success Factors: why we win

• Perceived Barriers: why we lose

• Buying process: which personas are

critical, resources buyers trust

• Decision criteria: capabilities buyers

consider most important

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Here’s a typical buyer personas

Core Buyer Persona

• Demographic information

- Job title

- Company size

- Industry

- Education

• Job description

• Top 5 priority initiatives

Product Persona Connection

• Priority Initiative: buying triggers

• Success Factors: why we win

• Perceived Barriers: why we lose

• Buying process: which personas are

critical, resources buyers trust

• Decision criteria: capabilities buyers

consider most important

© 2012 BUYER PERSONA INSTITUTE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 10

You want to hear the buyer’s story

Take me back to the day

when you first started looking

for a ________ solution.

What happened?

“ ,,

That need had to

have been there for

a while. What

happened to make

this a priority?

“

,,

PROBE

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This is a conversation

So what did you do first to

identify your options? “ ,,

You mentioned

that you visited

several websites.

What questions did

you find answered

there?

“

,,

PROBE

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Recent buyers will talk to you when you . . .

• Are not in sales

• Have an agenda, not a script

• Don’t talk about your solutions

• Ask interesting questions

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How to get interviews

Recent wins/losses

Lists

Conference Recruiters

Find buyers

The goal is insight

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The better the understanding . . .

the more different than

our previous thinking . . .

the more dramatic the insight.

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Clarify your unique value proposition

What aspect of ease-of-use

was most critical?

“

,,

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Messaging before and after buyer insights

AFTER

Increase productivity

with the security

software that won’t

slow you down, get

in your way, or

swallow up system

resources.

BEFORE

. . . provides easy-to-

use, enterprise-

level protection that

optimizes

performance and

system resources

so small companies

can get up and

running quickly.

© 2012 BUYER PERSONA INSTITUTE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 20

Buying

Process

Step

Key

Personas

Conv

Rate

Key

Decision

Criteria

Resources

Buyers

Consult

Sales &

Marketing Assets

Trigger Small biz owner 75% Lightweight,

Brand name

WSJ article,

LinkedIn group PR and social media

Research Office Manager 20% Battery life

Size/Weight

Online reviews

Blog posts

Use case stories,

blogger outreach

Assess Office Manager 80% Keyboard feel

Screen Resolution

Apple Store,

Best Buy

POS displays,

sales training

Negotiate Small biz owner 65% Cost trade-offs

Extended warranty Supplier websites Comparison pages

Implement Office Manager 40% Start-up time

Tech Support Using experience

Customer feedback

program

Insights clarify marketing investments

1 2 3 4 5 6

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Sales people need these insights

Who will agree to meet and how to get that meeting

Positives to emphasize, objections to overcome

What buyers say about each competitor

Which buyers are critical at each buying process step

How sales tools are targeted for distinct buyer types

© 2012 BUYER PERSONA INSTITUTE INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 22

Does this describe you?

Natural for buyer expert role

Life-long learner

Curious Extroverted

Works well with

Sales

Influencer

Confident

Empathetic

© 2012 BUYER PERSONA INSTITUTE, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 23

The only people who achieve much

are those who want knowledge

so badly that they seek it while the

conditions are still unfavorable.

Favorable conditions never come.

C.S. Lewis

“

,,

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Resources at www.buyerpersona.com

• Read e-book

• Download templates

• Subscribe to blog

• Follow me on Twitter

@buyerpersona

• Take a workshop

Within 24 hours: You will receive an email with the webinar

recording and the slides

Next Steps

Join our Weekly Demo (Tues. 10am PT)

Schedule a 1:1 Live Demo sales hotline at: 1 (877) 530-1555

email us: sales@act-on.com

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