Persona research is responsible for identifying the most accurate portrait of a brand’s ideal customer so that Marketing approaches are personalized and create an emotional connection.
But, to get to this picture, you need to understand a series of issues, such as your pains, desires and needs.
So let’s understand the main steps for good persona research and how important it is for your business’s Marketing strategies?
Come with me!
Why do persona research?
Persona research allows you to not only get to know your ideal customers more deeply, but also connect with them on a deeper level.
Imagine trying to sell a winter coat to someone who lives in a tropical climate. It would be like throwing darts in the dark, with no hope of hitting the target, right?
Therefore, understanding your persona in depth illuminates the path, facilitates the creation of Marketing campaigns and directs the offer of solutions that will, in fact, solve these people’s pain points.
So remember what I say: don’t underestimate this step. It ensures that your messages reach the right person, at the right time, and in the most authentic way possible!
How to create a persona
To build personas that actually improve your Marketing strategy, it is important to follow a well-defined process.
Let’s now understand the main steps to creating a persona, in a complete and applicable way:
Identifying data sources
To begin with, it is interesting to identify which data sources are available .
In other words: where is the information about your current customers, such as purchase history, demographic information (income, location, etc.) and behavioral information.
Furthermore, understanding market data, conducting opinion polls and analyzing the competition are important steps at this stage.
To make things easier, tools like SimilarWeb, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, and Ubersuggest can be helpful in collecting and organizing this data efficiently.
Conducting interviews
Nothing replaces the power of face-to-face conversations!
Therefore, interviewing existing customers, former customers and other potential customers is an important step in obtaining realistic information about their needs, preferences and challenges.
For this stage, the more you know about your product, the greater the chances of asking the most strategic and appropriate questions for your research.
But be careful not to bias the conversation, okay?
Data analysis
With the data collected and the information from the interviews in hand, it’s time to analyze!
Try to identify patterns, trends and commonalities in the responses to better understand your target audience and make the necessary segmentation.
Some data analysis tools like Google Analytics, Looker Studio, and Facebook Audience Insights can help you extract actionable insights from this information.
Creation and validation of profiles
Based on the data collected and analyzed, you will be able to create more detailed personas that represent each of the different audience segments of your business .
In the assessments, you may even come to the conclusion that there is more than one persona. This is normal!
Just remember that the persona needs to be as real as possible, in addition to being easily and quickly understood by your Marketing and Sales teams.
Therefore, it is important to always validate with real data, ensuring that it is in line with reality. If necessary, you can conduct additional research or obtain feedback directly from customers.
Constant update
Just like the market, your company and personas also change. Therefore, you need to update them with new data to ensure they remain relevant over time.
Stay alert to changes in your target audience’s behavior to ensure that all your Marketing strategies remain aligned with expectations!
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and Persona: free template
That’s right, knowing who you’re trying to reach completely transforms the way you communicate and sell!
That’s why I have a tool that can be a game-changer for your business: our free Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and Persona template.
We use it here at Enjoy Minder and I can assure you that it helps a lot! Get your copy now and start transforming data into actions that bring results!
The importance of real data
As we have seen, it is important that your persona reflects reality, which is why the authenticity of the data is so important.
By basing them on true information, you can be confident that your Marketing strategies will be aimed at meeting the expectations and pain points of your audience.
On the other hand, using data without reliable sources leads to serious problems.
Firstly, unverified information often does not represent your target audience, leading to misguided marketing decisions.
As a result, you create campaigns that don’t connect with your audience , waste time and resources, and cause your ROI to plummet!
Technology, then, can also be your ally when carrying out good persona research.
Technology in favor of persona research
See below the main ways to use tools in this process:
- Online survey platforms: such as SurveyMonkey, Typeform or Google Forms, to create questionnaires and collect data quickly. They allow you to customize the questions according to your needs and reach a large number of people;
- Data analysis tools: such as Google Analytics , which provide information about user behavior on your website through time spent, most visited pages and traffic sources;
- Monitoring tools: such as Hootsuite, Mention and social networks to monitor comments about your brand. This helps you understand more about your audience’s interests and concerns, helping you create personas;
- Online interview platforms: such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet can be used to conduct interviews with customers. Additionally, online groups, such as FocusGroupIt, allow you to quickly collect qualitative data;
- Marketing automation tools: such as RD Station, HubSpot or Mailchimp, help you segment your audience based on demographic and behavioral data.
Your personas must be real!
The most important tip I gave you here is definitely: don’t make up data. Basing yourself in reality is essential for success!
So, in this process of understanding who your target audience is, invest time and effort in creating a persona with true information and reap the rewards of smarter Marketing strategies!
And, if you want specialized help with this, be sure to take advantage of our free Digital Marketing diagnosis to get personalized guidance for your business!
