Do you get confused by all of your marketing options? Do you feel your website needs a refresh, you should be spending more time on Linkedin, and don’t even get started on your email newsletter and blog?
You’re not alone – the most common theme we see with new clients is confusion caused by all the options, the ‘SHOULDs’ and ‘COULDs’ and watching what their competitors are doing.
And it’s completely understandable. There are so many choices which are only increasing with digital marketing. Many feel that they can do most of it themselves for free, except its completely overwhelming, and is anything really free when it’s taking you away from running your business?
I believe the most powerful tool for cutting through the confusion and building an intuitive marketing strategy, is understanding your customers by building good customer personas (sometimes known as ‘avatars’). It may even permit you to stop some of the things you’re spending time on now!
Anyone who’s met me knows it doesn’t take long for this subject to come up. This may be a surprise because my background is in digital marketing so you may expect machine learning, algorithms, data, reporting etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of that stuff. However, I got into marketing because of a fascination with the human mind, what drives us as people and consumers to do what we do.
Personas done well give you the targeting information to run campaigns that reach your target market and write messaging that engages and converts. That’s because you step back to categorise, prioritise and understand what drives your customers in order to identify what concerns them and how you can help. Then you can pinpoint the highest priority persona to focus on for your business – those who are either easiest or most lucrative to engage with – and which ones to avoid.
It gives me such a buzz to see the ‘light bulb moments’ resulting from our persona development sessions – deciding what to do feels effortless and briefing anyone from a copywriter to a designer is already half done.
But why restrict this activity to your marketing material? Your personas should be understood at every level of your organisation. Afterall, these are the people you are driven to serve.
So how well do you know your customer personas? Do you have a document that needs dusting off or updating? Do you base your marketing on what it says?
If you want some support, we run regular workshops on Persona Development from our office. Alternatively, you can benefit from a bespoke session going through every step of the process with your company. The result is a full set of personas written up and a marketing strategy at the end. Get in touch for more details.
MD & Head of Digital Marketing
Jessica has worked in digital marketing for over 10 years and has watched it evolve from an experimental marketing option to an essential tool for most businesses. She is driven to help businesses achieve their objectives using the best digital marketing resources available and recognises that each business is different. Jessica devours the latest news about digital marketing and is constantly learning in order to stay ahead of the trends for clients.
