The Buyer Persona: Who is Your Ideal Client

Your ideal client is someone who:

1) is in the market for your product or service; and,

2) is willing to buy from you.

The buyer persona (the "buyer") is the personification of your target market. With a good understanding of what your buyer looks like, you can develop products and services, and create marketing strategies that speak directly to that buyer.

Recently I was talking with a potential client whose company wanted help creating a marketing plan for a product they were developing. The first thing we discussed when it came to the target market was the customer persona, or who would be using this product. The obvious answer was "anybody," but as she talked about their particular product and how it would be used, I helped her to realize that this was not a one-size-fits-all situation. The buyer persona for this product was actually very narrow: men ages 25 - 40 who had some higher education and earned more than $50,000 per year.

Once she understood the demographics and psychographics of her buyer, I was able to help this client tailor a marketing strategy that would appeal directly to this buyer.

A buyer persona will help you understand what a buyer needs to know, feel and understand about your product or service before they call you.

For our purposes, this is a visual discovery of your ideal client's demographic data, and psychographic data (thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, addictions, desires, fears, work habits, social habits and financial habits).

When creating a buyer persona, it is important to understand the following about your potential clients:

1) Demographic information - age, sex, race, etc. The more targeted you can make your product or service for an exact demographic, the better your chances are for success.

2) Psychographic information - lifestyle, hobbies, causes that they support, etc. The more you can learn about their likes and dislikes, the easier it will be to sell them something. Today we will delve more deeply into work habits, social habits and financial habits.

3) Behavioral information - how they use products similar to yours, whether or not they seek out information about your product category, how they discover new products. This is the kind of information you get from sales data and customer service records.

4) You are also encouraged to look for trends that can help you determine their future needs. For example, if you are already gathering buying habits or customer demographics, take note of what years in your client's lifetime coincide with major milestones. If most of your clients are in their forties, and you notice that they purchase the majority of products related to fertility around the time they are trying to conceive or having kids, it may be wise to develop a counter-marketing plan.

Basically, what you are looking for is information about who this person is, why they are in the market for your product or service, what problems you can solve for them, and how this person will discover your product.

One way to pull together all of this information is to create a buyer persona worksheet like this one.

Knowing the age, race, sex, gender and occupation of your client is important, however demographic data alone will not support your marketing and sales efforts. You will waste huge amounts of time, energy and money attempting a mass-market approach.

Therefore this blog post is designed to support you in deepening your understanding of why people buy. Let’s get started!

Demographic data.

Does he/she prefer to be identified as male, female, heterosexual, lesbian, homosexual, transexual, bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, omnisexual, ambisexual, or fluid?

Age? Baby Boomers (Roughly 50 to 70 years old); Generation X (Roughly 35 – 50 years old); Millennials, or Generation Y (18 – 34 years old); Generation Z, or iGeneration (Teens & younger)

Income level? (Poverty, Working Class, Lower Middle Class/Blue Collar, Upper Middle Class/Professional, 5%, etc.)

Does he/she require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological in nature?

Single, engaged, married, widowed, divorced, or in a complicated relationship?

Retired? Active senior? Grandparent  raising grandchildren?

Single parent? Parent of a newborn? school age children? teenagers?

Where does he/she live? (i.e. RV, boat, a condo, duplex, mobile home, townhouse, apartment, single family home, etc.)

Does he/she drive an electric car, motorcycle, mini-van, sports car, SUV, truck or luxury sedan?

Work habits.

Work habits are those designed to help you become productive, efficient, and effective. The ultimate goal is creative self-expression fueled by a compelling mission, vision and purpose.

What is his/her Education level? (Less than high school? High school graduate, no college? Some college? Trade School/Certification? Two Year Degree/Associates? 4-year degree/BA/BS? Master’s Degree? Doctoral Degree/PhD? Professional Degree/MD/JD?) 

Employee for a small business, corporation, non for profit, tech-firm, manufacturer or government agency?

Owner of a retail store? Online store? Franchisee?

Service based entrepreneur? Salesperson? Coach? Consultant? Speaker? Trainer? 

Working full-time job, part-time job, a retiree, or even about to reach retirement age?

Low-tech? High-tech? Clean-tech? 

Which magazines does he/she like to read for professional development?

Is he/she a member of an association? Which one(s)? What is her primary need/concern in life?

List the TOP 3 reasons she will “follow you” or read your content regularly?

Why would he/she share your business with his/her boss, colleague, employees, and strategic partners?

List 3 business problems he/she is looking to solve by working with you.

Does she have the support of his/her boss, colleagues or employees?

Social Habits.

How does your ideal client define “community”?

Communities are fascinating, whether online or offline. Some communities encourage and celebrate diversity and creativity. Others do their best to keep their people feeling small and insecure. As an entrepreneur, you have the ability to create a safe space for your people to become fully self-expressed. Your community succeeds when the members unite around a cause, goal, burning desire, or an unfulfilled need that connects them. Ideally, they have other reasons to resonate and bond with each other. All this helps you create a fabulous community culture that keeps them coming back for more.

Is he/she a member of an association? Which one(s)? What is her primary need/concern in life?

List 3 personal problems he/she is looking to solve by working with you.

List the TOP 3 reasons she will “follow you” or read your content regularly?

Why would he/she share your business with others?

Does he/she have the support of spouse, family and friends when it comes to hobbies and social interactions?

Does he/she like to volunteer? If yes, where?

Does he/she have a passport?

When on vacation, does  he/she prefer to travel primarily by car, bus, train, cruise ship or airplane?

Introvert or Extrovert?

What TV shows does he/she like to watch?

What types of movies does he/she prefer to watch?

What blogs does he/she like to read?

Does he/she participate in a book club? 

Which magazines does he/she read when feeling stressed?

What publications does he/she read on a Sunday/Monday morning?

Does he/she prefer to draw, paint, dance, sing, scrapbook, make jewelry, sew or garden

Where does he/she spend the majority of his/her time online? Pinterest/ Facebook/Google+ / Twitter / Instagram/ YouTube / Linkedin/ Social Soiree’s /Snapchat/ Other social platforms? (No offense, but some us prefer face to face engagement. Not everyone wants to be tied to their computer.)

What type of outdoor activities does he/she participate in?

Does he/she play a sport and/or attend sporting events? If so, which ones? 

Are they a bully offline and/or keyboard ninja online? (Observe how people behave differently online than they do in person. Online they will say the nastiest, meanest things you’ve ever heard in you life. Offline they are cowards who try to bully others because of their insecurities.)

Financial Habits.

Financial habits reflect your ability to acquire, save, invest and re-circulate money. Ladies, it is important to keep in mind that we all have different desires, therefore the way that we handle money will vary.

When buying a product, service or program, does he/she  looks for which of the following features: (a) Overall quality, (b) Economic value, (c ) Personal satisfaction, (d) Innovation, (e) Practicality, (f) Popularity, or (g) Familiarity? 

Does he/she prefer to shop at Amazon, Whole Foods, Wal-Mart or K-Mart?

Is he/she a Starbucks drinker?

How does he/she allocate discretionary income?

What is his/her frivolous expense each month?

Does he/she have at least $10,000 in his/her savings account?

Does he/she avoid handling money, leaving it a lover, friends and family?

Does he/she receive money from alimony or a trust fund?

Does he/she invest in coaching and consulting services? Is he/she in the middle of any other coaching program? 

What major investments has he/she made in the last 3 years?

Our daily routines reflect our habituated ways of thinking and behaving.

I am NOT a psychologist, however I have lived long enough to observe that habits are rooted in the way we think and feel. You can see with your own two eyes that people will do almost anything to avoid pain.

At some point in your life, you’ve been guilty of tolerating pain. Pain can be emotional, mental, spiritual, financial or physical.

You are reading this blog because you desire sales, marketing and revenue strategies to grow your business. You are ready to up level, which requires a change in thought and action.

The changes will result in new habits. You will no longer tolerate ______. And, as a result, you will stop doing ______, and start doing _______ instead. (You will in the blanks!)

Why will you do this? Because you want to shift from fear based thoughts and behaviors into actions that are fueled by love, joy, peace and pleasure!

Fun fact: People Buy Feelings.

Like yourself, your ideal clients have experienced the pain and disappointment of heartbreak and heartache. They are willing to invest in experiences that make them FEEL seen, heard, and cherished.

Studying the emotions of an ideal client provides an understanding of who she is and where she comes from, but also reveals how she might be dissatisfied with the status quo. This is because her emotions are drivers towards pleasure or pain. At face value, positive emotions seem to be much more fun, but relief from a negative emotion can be incredibly pleasurable as well.

Her past experiences and current level of knowledge may or may not directly impact why she chooses to take the action step of working with you. However, this will give you an idea of what’s going on in her life before she decides to make an investment.

Tell your ideal clients “When you bridge the gap between who you are and who you yearn to be, you leave behind old ways of being and of doing things. You leave behind the stories and limiting beliefs that stunt your growth and shrink your imaginative capacities. You leave behind the habits that suck your energy and weigh you down.”

SUMMARY

A buyer persona is a representation of who you want to work with. If you take the time to do some of the things that I've suggested today, you're going to be able to create social media posts, blog posts, articles, videos, audios, speech topics that resonate with your ideal client. Because you are keenly are of the habituated ways of being and doing that are keeping them stuck, you can give voice to a solution that invites them to make an investment in themselves through you to initiate powerful change in their lives.

EXERCISE

For my visual friends, please feel free to create a buyer persona mood board where you pull together visual elements, words, and images catered to your target audience. The most popular way to create your mood board is using poster board, scissors, glue, and magazine cut outs. Or if you are design savvy, consider using Pinterest, Canva, or Adobe Photoshop.

To make your Buyer Persona Mood Board, gather images like: The hobbies that he/she enjoys; The places he/she likes to frequent both online and offline; What he/she likes to wear; Time spent at work or play; The products he/she cannot live without; Books and magazines that he/she loves to read; Entrees, appetizers, beverages and desserts that make his/her mouth water; Vacation destinations that allow him/her to relax, rewind, refresh and renew; Yoga and/or exercise poses that help him/her to achieve vitality and wellness.

Basically your intention is to find things that represent your beloved buyer’s interests. I promise you that once you have clarified your target audience – you WILL be in a prime position to attract  those you are meant to serve.

ACTIONS

Your next steps? Get started by crafting deluxe experiences that soothe and pamper them so they happily become loyal clients. Think about luxury brands with raving fans that pay top dollar for their creations and services. Chanel. Cartier. Rolex. Hermès. Louis Vuitton. Are there cheaper options? Yes. Are there other brands with similar offerings? Yes. Do their raving fans care about the cheaper and similar options? No.  Why? Because they’re loyal to the luxury brand that delights them and makes them feel like superstars.

Fill out the Buyer Persona Canvas.

Next up - Craft a Buyer Empathy Map

INQUIRY

How will knowing your buyer persona’s work, social and financial habits affect your marketing campaigns and launches?

This blog post was updated 3 March 2019.