Finding Your Audience
Target Markets and Buyer Personas: Understanding Your Audience for Effective Content Marketing
One of the most critical tasks for marketers is understanding who their customers are and how they behave. To create impactful content, you need to know your audience on a deeper level. This begins with developing Buyer Personas—detailed, semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers. These personas are based on factors such as demographics, desires, pain points, buying behaviors, and the platforms they use. Review my introduction to Buyer Personas for Social Media Marketing here.
Buyer personas provide a vivid picture of the individuals you're trying to reach, sell to, or serve. Each persona typically includes information like:
Why Are Buyer Personas Crucial in Content Marketing?
Creating content with a persona in mind enables you to craft messages that resonate on a personal level. Rather than addressing an abstract audience, you’re speaking to a clearly defined individual with a name, a face, and specific challenges. This approach fosters authenticity and makes your content more engaging and helpful.
Here’s why personas matter:
Consider IKEA's Instagram post showcasing small, affordable furniture designed for compact spaces. While the features of the furniture include its size, cost, and functionality, the benefit is the ability to create a cozy, efficient workspace in a small home—meeting the customer’s need for getting things done, comfort, and practicality.
Building Buyer Personas: Key Considerations
Before crafting content for a persona, answer these foundational questions about your product or service:
One of the most critical tasks for marketers is understanding who their customers are and how they behave. To create impactful content, you need to know your audience on a deeper level. This begins with developing Buyer Personas—detailed, semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers. These personas are based on factors such as demographics, desires, pain points, buying behaviors, and the platforms they use. Review my introduction to Buyer Personas for Social Media Marketing here.
Buyer personas provide a vivid picture of the individuals you're trying to reach, sell to, or serve. Each persona typically includes information like:
- Demographics: Age, gender, income, education, and location.
- Career: Their profession, industry, and daily responsibilities.
- Buying Behaviors: How they make purchasing decisions, their typical price sensitivity, and preferred shopping methods.
- Pain Points: The challenges or problems they face that your product or service can solve.
- Interests and Goals: What motivates them, their hobbies, and the outcomes they hope to achieve.
- Resources They Use: Social media platforms, news sources, or tools they rely on.
Why Are Buyer Personas Crucial in Content Marketing?
Creating content with a persona in mind enables you to craft messages that resonate on a personal level. Rather than addressing an abstract audience, you’re speaking to a clearly defined individual with a name, a face, and specific challenges. This approach fosters authenticity and makes your content more engaging and helpful.
Here’s why personas matter:
- Tone and Style: Different audiences respond to different tones. A professional tone might work for a B2B audience, while a casual, friendly tone might resonate with younger, B2C customers.
- Platform Preference: Personas help identify where your audience spends their time online, ensuring your content appears where it’s most likely to be seen.
- Content Alignment: Personas guide what content you create, whether it’s educational articles, how-to videos, or social proof like testimonials.
Consider IKEA's Instagram post showcasing small, affordable furniture designed for compact spaces. While the features of the furniture include its size, cost, and functionality, the benefit is the ability to create a cozy, efficient workspace in a small home—meeting the customer’s need for getting things done, comfort, and practicality.
Building Buyer Personas: Key Considerations
Before crafting content for a persona, answer these foundational questions about your product or service:
- How does it make your audience’s life better, easier, or more interesting?
- Does it solve their challenges or address specific pain points?
- Does it help them achieve personal or professional goals?
|
The Buyer’s Journey and Content Strategy
Understanding where your audience is in their buying journey is crucial:
|
|
Awareness Stage
At the first stage of the sales process, your content should focus on the top concerns of your audience. Writing about their pain points, challenges, and questions gives you the best chance of engaging with them. Content at the awareness stage should be educational, how-to advice. Save your selling for the consideration and closing phases.
The best content for this stage includes articles, blog posts, e-books, videos, and newsletters.
Examples:
A restaurant writes a blog post about how to plan a menu for a graduation party in the spring.
A bike touring company creates a short video on the topic “3 Ways to Choose the Right Bike Trip.”
An architecture firm creates an e-book called “Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Architect.”
Consideration Stage
In the consideration stage, content should offer a hybrid of helpful information and marketing. It should educate the reader about what features or functions to look for and how various features address their needs. Of course, your content should lean toward what your business offers.
The best content for this stage includes case studies, how-to articles, how-to videos, and checklists or worksheets.
Examples:
A cloud-based phone system company creates a checklist entitled “8 Ways to Improve Your Phone Customer Service” that details the features and functions that make great customer service possible.
A landscaping company creates case studies about “The Biggest Mistakes Most People Make When They Hire a Landscaper.”
A catering company features case studies of successful events with a focus on the benefits they offer, such as “How to Accommodate Food Allergies at Your Next Event,” or “How to Ensure Your Caterer Uses Sustainable Practices.”
Decision Stage
Content marketing plays an important role when a prospect is close to buying. At this stage, you can focus on sales, as long as you continue to drive home why you’re the best choice rather than just how great your services or products are.
Your central message here should be your expertise, knowledge, and the differentiating benefits of what you sell.
Best content for this stage: case studies, user-generated content, buyer’s guide, product video, research report
Examples:
A consulting firm creates a research report proving that businesses that engage in strategic planning, assessments by outsiders, and other services—shaped by what services it offers—experience higher growth.
A design agency creates short videos showcasing the variety in its work across different industries to demonstrate its diverse expertise.
An orthodontist practice encourages patients to contribute testimonials about its state-of-the-art equipment and top-notch service.
At the first stage of the sales process, your content should focus on the top concerns of your audience. Writing about their pain points, challenges, and questions gives you the best chance of engaging with them. Content at the awareness stage should be educational, how-to advice. Save your selling for the consideration and closing phases.
The best content for this stage includes articles, blog posts, e-books, videos, and newsletters.
Examples:
A restaurant writes a blog post about how to plan a menu for a graduation party in the spring.
A bike touring company creates a short video on the topic “3 Ways to Choose the Right Bike Trip.”
An architecture firm creates an e-book called “Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Architect.”
Consideration Stage
In the consideration stage, content should offer a hybrid of helpful information and marketing. It should educate the reader about what features or functions to look for and how various features address their needs. Of course, your content should lean toward what your business offers.
The best content for this stage includes case studies, how-to articles, how-to videos, and checklists or worksheets.
Examples:
A cloud-based phone system company creates a checklist entitled “8 Ways to Improve Your Phone Customer Service” that details the features and functions that make great customer service possible.
A landscaping company creates case studies about “The Biggest Mistakes Most People Make When They Hire a Landscaper.”
A catering company features case studies of successful events with a focus on the benefits they offer, such as “How to Accommodate Food Allergies at Your Next Event,” or “How to Ensure Your Caterer Uses Sustainable Practices.”
Decision Stage
Content marketing plays an important role when a prospect is close to buying. At this stage, you can focus on sales, as long as you continue to drive home why you’re the best choice rather than just how great your services or products are.
Your central message here should be your expertise, knowledge, and the differentiating benefits of what you sell.
Best content for this stage: case studies, user-generated content, buyer’s guide, product video, research report
Examples:
A consulting firm creates a research report proving that businesses that engage in strategic planning, assessments by outsiders, and other services—shaped by what services it offers—experience higher growth.
A design agency creates short videos showcasing the variety in its work across different industries to demonstrate its diverse expertise.
An orthodontist practice encourages patients to contribute testimonials about its state-of-the-art equipment and top-notch service.
Tips for Quality Content Creation
When sourcing and sharing content, prioritize quality, relevance, and timing:
Before posting, ask yourself:
When sourcing and sharing content, prioritize quality, relevance, and timing:
- Evaluate Credibility: Share only from reliable sources. Avoid links cluttered with ads or irrelevant information.
- Be Persistent: Research thoroughly to find high-value content.
- Ensure Timeliness: Share content that is current and seasonal. A holiday post in summer or outdated industry news can diminish engagement.
Before posting, ask yourself:
- Does this content align with your audience’s interests?
- Is it relevant to current trends or timely events?
- Is it appropriate for the time of year or context?
I found this template from www.jonespr.net. The template helps to map your content to each of your personas and target markets.
