FAQ's Around Buyer Persona's

Marcus fires questions about buyer personas at James to answer, what is a buyer persona? Why do we need one? and once it's made what do we do with it?

Show Notes

Marcus picks James's brain on his knowledge of buyer personas in this latest episode of Behind the Madness. What is a buyer persona and why do you need one, or more? James explains how to start compiling this incredibly important piece of information and who should be involved in it's conception. 

What is Behind The Madness?

A podcast helping companies grow with marketing strategies, automation and time-saving tips and creative solutions.

James: Welcome back to Behind the
Madness where we talk about business

growth, ways to work smarter and the
fundamentals of business, all geared to

unlocking your brand's peak performance.

I'm your host James Roberts owner and
founder of Method and today we're talking

about the FAQ's of buyer personas.

We've already had a previous episode
about buyer personas, but this time

we're going to try and unlock a few
questions that we've been asked and

really kind of get into the nuts and
bolts, with some simple answers to

kind of help you guys get on your way.

We've had a load of questions from clients
and we've had a few questions come in

over our email which I'll get into in a
minute and really we're just going to try

and answer those questions and make it a
little bit simpler to understand uh, your

buyer personas and get going with them.

But before I jump in, I wanted
to do a bit of admin and ways

you can contact the show.

We've got some great content
going out over Instagram, where

you can find us at hello_method.

And we also have a dedicated
email address, which is

[e-mail].

You can give us any feedback, ask any
questions and we'll try and answer

them on future episodes like this one.

So without any more delays,
let's jump into today's episode

FAQ's on buyer personas.

Afternoon, Marcus, how are you doing?

I'm very well I'm very well.

So Marcus is going to jump on the pod
today to probably throw a few questions

my way and I'm going to try and
answer them without the use of Google.

So really what we're trying to do
today, Marcus is I guess just kind of

get some basics around buyer personas.

Get the, kind of the questions that
we've had, obviously have come in,

get them answered and really just
kind of help people along the way

around buyer personas, correct?.

Marcus: Yeah, no, no, that sounds perfect.

We've got these questions here.

There's some good ones oh, I
see, there's some good ones.

I Really.

I'll be checking to make sure that you
really aren't using Google on these.

So be prepared.

James: Excellent.

So buyer personas a quick overview and
then should we just go over that to start

off with buyer personas are really where
every marketing, sales, business should

should start without them you're really
just pissing in the wind I'd imagine

Marcus: Absolutely.

James: yeah?

So we love buyer personas.

We love talking about buyer personas,
mainly because so many people still

don't have them, still struggling to
get them sorted, which then just hampers

really how they go about doing all of
their marketing and all of their sales.

But, I'm going to put a few things out
there, it's better to have something

in place, the nothing at all and
it doesn't have to be set in stone.

Buyer personas can be changed, they can
be reviewed, they should be reviewed.

Marcus: Absolutely.

James: And it's not rocket science.

We've looked at them before, and we've
had them come in here, which are you I

think I said on the last part that it
was almost like we've a binder we've got

before was about a hundred pages in it.

I didn't even read it, put it straight
in the bin, I even asked the client,

you know, who is your buyer persona
and they couldn't tell me, they said,

we've had loads of research done,
but they had no idea who it was.

It was somewhere within
this hundred pages.

So that isn't a buyer persona,
a buyer persona for me, is

something that everybody can
understand within the business.

I like to name them so it's very
simple to understand and talk

about it within conversations.

So we have Mike Marketing, for
example, which is really easy to

drop in, is this going to suit Mike?

Is this going to attract Mike?

All of that kind of stuff and
we all have a good idea of who

Mike is within the business.

So with the groundwork done do
you want to start me off and

I'll get typing away on Google.

Marcus: But Mike sounds wonderful but
how would you go about creating him?

James: So, good question.

Hold on, how quick am I searching Google?

No, look, it's the easiest way for me is
to think about your current customers.

So you can have more than one persona
as well, but, let's focus on Mike for

example, we realized that we solve a
lot of problems for a lot of marketing

managers that is who Mike is, Mike is
a traditional marketing manager now, we

realized who Mike was by looking at our
current clients, looking and understanding

who the majority of them were and who
would kind of our perfect clients.

And this applies to every business if
you can look at your current customer

base, there will be some similarities.

It's a lovely place to start.

With that, you can, then look,
there are going to be people who are

outside that, they were going to, you
know, we don't only work with with

marketing managers and we're not going
to only attract marketing managers.

But it gives us a really good platform
for everything we do to relate to Mike.

So we started looking at our, our own
customers, our own clients, and realizing

that with the marketing manager,
we solve a lot of their problems.

I would imagine the majority of the
people listening to this podcast

are Mikes because this is who we're
targeting the content with them.

They get a lot of shit that lands on their
desk Sorry, Paul, that's another expletive

that you're gonna have to put on the pod.

And all of this crap lands on their
desk and they've got to solve it.

What we do is we solve pretty much
everything in the lands on the desk,

so they can focus on the higher stuff.

So, yeah, look at your current
customers, look at your current

clients, look at the similarities
that are there and start there really,

and, and use that as your base plate.

Marcus: That sounds great, so I
mean now that you've built Mike

and you know who he is, how do you
then use him to his best effect?

James: So again, work out within the
buyer persona, keep it really simple,

you know, ours is pretty much an A4 page
anything more than that people aren't

going to bother nobody's going to read
it, nobody's going to understand it,

so with Mike or with any buyer persona
have, have their goals to start off with

how'd their goals, what are they trying
to achieve, what are they trying to

do within their business, within their
role, and really this is probably where

your product or your solution will fit.

This is hopefully or you've probably
got the wrong buyer persona.

This is where your solution, your offering
is going to help them achieve those goals.

But also not only that have
their, their pain points.

So, if you can fix some of those pain
points, either with your solution

or with the content that you're
putting out they're going to stand

up and they're going to listen.

So understand who they are, then
understand that their goals and their

challenges or their pain points.

If you can get a nice list and ours
are just bullet pointed around,

these are the challenges they're
having, and these are what they want

to achieve, these are the goals.

You will then have loads of
content that you can attract these

people with and put out and you
can go off on different tangents.

And there's always one of the
questions we often get asked around

content is, oh, you're going to
run out of content at some point.

You will never run out of content
if you've got that list of their

pain points and their challenges,
you won't run out of content.

There's always going to be content.

Things are changing, things are moving,
and you're always going to be able to

find content to put out to these people
that they are going to find interesting.

If you are putting stuff out and it's
not hitting the mark, then it's probably

the pain points or the challenges wrong.

It's probably going to
relate to that person.

So really really start to get those done
and to start off with, you know, they,

they might be slightly wrong, they might
be slightly off, but then you might put

out a post which is solving something and
all of a sudden you're getting a lot of

engagement on it, then go back to your
buyer persona and, and keep that, that

cycle going of updating your buyer persona
based on the content that we're putting

out, that's working, but yeah really
focus on those two lists don't have to

be huge, but understand them and really
understand what they mean as well and then

you can start to put out some content.

And content could be anything, you
know, it could be podcasts, it could

be downloadable brochures it could be
video content, it could be short form

video, it could be blog stories, this
goes on and on and the list so find

what, what relates to these people
as well and get that content out.

So, yeah, that's where I'd start.

Marcus: That sounds great I mean, as you
mentioned before times change with that

people change I mean, Mike eventually
might want to be called Michael instead.

James: Oh yeah,

Marcus: So how often.

James: Michelle.

Marcus: Potentially.

How often would you want update your
persona to, I guess, cater to Michelle.

James: So, this, this kind of
comes back to it, that this is the

really, really good point that.

It's a semi-fictional character,
it's based on your perfect customer

but it doesn't have to be exact.

We want to know as a, kind of, as
much about this person to help us do

the job that we need to do, which is
essentially selling to this person.

So if ours happens to be
Mike, it could be Michelle.

And we just, because we're aiming at
Mike doesn't mean that we're not going

to get any women marketing managers.

That's not what it's about right but
it's a good idea within the industry.

It's probably, it's probably actually
a good 50, 50 split now between between

males and females within that role.

So we just have a Mike and
it's just always been that way.

But through all the content we're
putting out, we know that we are not

putting off the Michelle's right.

So that's the first kind of point to
put out there, but in terms of change

absolutely right, there is so many
different things that can change mike's

opinion or any buyer personas opinion.

Our product offering might change.

We might all of a sudden be doing
something else, which doesn't

actually apply to Mike at all.

So we're going to look at a completely
new sector, we're going to look at a

completely different buyer persona or
things might change within the industry

and might change that you know, Mike,
for all of a sudden has got this bigger

problem that's come about, which, you
know, let's let's take a really good

example, which is at the moment, all of
your email tracking that we're so used

to doing with marketing emails, if it
lands in an apple mailbox, we're not

getting any of that feedback anymore.

So all of a sudden, all of these
stats that a lot of marketing

managers were relying have all
of a sudden gone out the window.

So something's changed within
the industry, which may now

apply to that buyer persona.

So we might have to tweak a buyer
persona, all of a sudden they've got a

new challenge, they've got a new pain
point and how can we solve that for them.

All of a sudden that's a new pain point
so our buyer persona is going to change.

There's so many things within different
industries or within internal, it

could be, it could be within your
own company, it could be external

within industries, within vertical
or so many different effects that

could change your buyer persona.

And I think for me, if you understand
your buyer persona, you understand

what you're selling you should
recognize when that change happens.

If not again, you're probably missing
the person you're trying to hit.

You're probably missing your target,
but also you could be selling to

the wrong person or think you're
selling to the wrong person because

there is that disjointedness.

Yeah, so that makes some sense.

Marcus: That makes perfect sense

James: Good.

Marcus: Did a great I mean, so and in
order to make sure that you're being

as accurate as possible and you're
not missing your customer I mean, this

is a fictional character that you're
creating but the data that you're filling

that's not fictional, that's not just
something you plucked out of thin air.

Yeah.

Where do you get the data from that
you populate the buyer persona with?

James: So talk to your team, we're not
huge here by any stretch of imagination,

but we've got people in different roles.

Now, if you take most organizations,
there will be sales divisions, there'll

be marketing divisions, um, and
teams and also executives there might

also be you know, company directors.

These are all perfect people who can
mold your buyer persona because they've

all got different touch points but
they all are selling or marketing or

having communication with the same
person, but at different points.

So, if you can bring in all of
these people into one room and

start just spitballing, you know,
what are these people's problems?

You will find that it will snowball,
everybody will have a slightly

different view on it, everybody
will have a slightly, well I'm

finding this dip tough, I'm hitting
these challenges with these people.

When it gets to certain points within
that whole lifecycle stage or that whole

customer journey, you will find that
there'll be different challenges and

different things that we'll approach.

So getting those people into the
room, you're going to quickly

identify what the buyer personas
need what their wants are and also

what that what their pain points are.

And I think if you remove any of
those people, for example, sales,

you know, they're at the front
line, they're going to know what

questions they're coming up against.

And there's your pain point
straight there, you know it's

too expensive, will it do?

This will it do that?

Can I do this with it?

Can I do that with it?

These are all the questions that all
of a sudden are going to actually

really go into your buyer, persona.

Your company, directors, those people who
have been maybe in the company longer or

understood the industry longer are going
to have some really big pain points and

some really good success stories as well.

Why did that person sign up with us and
why they stayed with us for 10 years?

Why have they continued to
buy this product from us?

You know understanding them again,
as you said, you know, it's a,

semi-fictional representation.

So looking at your current customers
and current clients and needs and wants,

but also talking to the teams about what
they're finding will just make it a much

better essentially a document that you
can all relate to and all understand.

Marcus: That's fantastic I mean, I'm
happy to report the James has not

touched his laptop once throughout
this process so congratulations.

Well done there I would just, I
guess I just would invite you to give

us maybe a final word on the buyer
persona and what it means to you?

James: So I think don't be scared.

It's going to help your whole
organization from front to back.

If you can all sing off the same
hymn sheet and you are all giving the

same message then your company is all
going to be stronger because of it.

So think about just getting going, if
you haven't got one or if it's a thousand

pages, throw that out and just start
again and just start, you know we've

got some great resources on the website.

I've got to give them a slight plug
which really give you a template

of how to kind of get going.

It's it's a really simple Excel document
where you just fill in a few blanks.

Perfect way to get going it's going to
start your snowball effect if you like

to ask the right questions to kind of
get something in something filled in.

As soon as you start there it's
not something that you're going to

print out and put behind a piece
of glass and hang up on the wall.

This is something which is going to
keep on changing and you're going

to keep on having to review it.

So keeping it in a place that's maybe
an active document, maybe it's a Google

Doc, maybe it's, you know something
which everybody can have access to, but

everybody can change, within reason.

Is a great place to start because
everybody then can have this feed into it.

So I think that's probably
my main point is just get

started, don't be scared of it.

And don't be worried that this thing
can't change it's better to have something

than nothing because it will just guide
your thinking in terms of the marketing,

in terms of the sales, in terms of in
fact to service everything around your

business is going to be better, even
if it's, even if it's not quite right.

Because if it's not quite right,
you can then understand why it's not

quite right and tweak it and make it
a little bit better and improve it.

So yeah, just get started
and download our resources.

That's where I'd start.

Marcus: That's a great one.

Thank you very much James.

James: No worries, thank you Marcus.

So that's it really for another week a
nice little, a snippet of an episode,

I guess, where we are just hopefully
giving you some places to start.

If you want any more information
than use our use our email address,

you use [e-mail].

We can do another episode if we want
to, or we might even write you a

blog story of based on any of the
questions that you guys may have.

So also jump on all of our socials.

I think we're on pretty much
everything I might not be on all

of them I don't know some of the
latest ones that keep popping up.

But we are across most of them.

So jump on there drop into our DMs
and drop us some messages and we will

always jump back and give you a response
on anything that you need to know.

Uh, That's it for this episode.

So thanks for listening and
we'll catch you next time.