How to create buyer personas is a question you’ll ask when you find the need to take your marketing communications to the next level.

The folks at WSI developed an infographic that outlines these steps.

Here’s a transcript:

How to Create Buyer Personas

Content is king! And since it doesn’t look like its reign over the digital kingdom is going to end anytime soon, it’s important to jump on board and learn how to develop a supreme content marketing strategy. The first – and very critical step – to any content plan, is to build BUYER PERSONAS! How else are you going to figure out who to tailor all that content for?

Let’s take a look at the formula for gathering the right data and then using it to develop accurate buyer personas.

Investigate, Research, and Collect Data!

1. Web Analytics

Examine metrics like:

• Bounce Rates
• Organic Traffic
• Page Traffic
• Leads via Social Media
• Mobile Traffic
• Conversion Rates
• Referring Sites

2. Your Own Business Intelligence

Collect background data for possible personas from…

• Existing User Profiles
• Sales Sats and Transactions
• Calls and Outcomes
• Overall Sales Revenue

3. Execute Surveys

Whether conducted via phone, in person, or by web, surveys can collect valuable data like gender, age, geolocations, income, and ethnicity. Some great online survey tools we like include SurveyMonkey and SurveyMoz.

• * Phone + In Person + Web = Gender, Age, Geo-location, Income, Ethnicity

Construct a Persona

1. Name Him… or Her!

• Naming your personas helps create a real picture of an individual
• Let’s name him ‘Mike”

2. Analyze: Define Mike’s Pains and Needs

Use the data you collected to outline each persona’s pains and needs. Ask yourself questions
like:

• What problem is Mike trying to solve?
• What does he need to solve his problem?
• What kind of information is he searching for?

3. Segment

• Watch out for trends and patterns in demographic or behavioural data. This will distinguish the different parts of the audience, which will help in tailoring your content later.

4. Construct the Profile

• Now your buyer persona is ready to be built! You have all the necessary parts for creating a hypothetical customer profile including demographics, behaviour, lifestyle, and product use.

Content marketing is incredibly powerful at demonstrating your company’s expertise. But taking that extra step to research and build, buyer persona profiles will help your team engage with the right people at exactly the right time in the buying cycle.

Infographic