Hello there! Now that you know what customer personas are and why they're important, let's discuss how to create one. When crafting a customer persona, you'll need information about your ideal customers. You shouldn't just guess. You need actual data. The thing is you'll likely need to do research to collect this information. Here are a few ways to do the research. The first is to review customer data. It's possible the business already has existing data about its customers. Review this for information for details such as demographics, location, sales history, and customer service notes. A second way is to conduct customer interviews. Like, consider interviewing customers directly about their experience with the product or service. Ask questions such as what brought them to the product, how did it solve their problem, and if appropriate, consider collecting information on their other interests as well to form a more detailed persona. Now, another way is to analyze web data. If the business is active on social media, review any demographic data about people who follow your business account. Additionally, website analytics, such as Google Analytics, provide data about elements like the age and gender of website visitors. Now, if you're wondering what Google Analytics is, we'll be covering that in a later course. If available, research online reviews and comments, as well. They can be a great opportunity for persona data. A fourth way is to send out surveys. A simple method to collect information is to email a survey out to current customers. You may find that participation is low on this particular type of strategy. So instead encourage survey participation by giving away something for free to one of the customers who fills out the survey. Now, once you've done your research, the first part of creating a persona is defining who your customer is. This includes defining your persona's interests, traits, and demographics. Demographics are information specific to the customer, such as age, gender identity, income, family size, occupation, education, and location. For example, a persona for a pet business could be: A man in his 30s with two children who loves the outdoors and lives in the suburbs. They may even get more specific with their personas and detail-out a 32-year- old man with two children who owns a large dog and likes to go hiking. Now, the more detailed your personas, typically the more personas you will create. This aligns your advertising language to many members of your audience. Now, once you determine the persona's interests, traits, and demographics, it's time to get specific about their goals and barriers. To create the goals and barriers, you should primarily rely on the data you collect about customers, such as surveys and interviews. For the customer persona goal, get specific about the customer and what they want to achieve. This goal needs to be related to the product or service. For example, if it's a landscaping business, the customer wants great looking greenery. Reviewing the data, you also identify additional goals they may want to achieve. Some of the customers just want peace of mind that their plants and property will be taken care of. For other customers, it's pride in the look of their landscaping. While you're relying on your data to form the goal and barrier, it's okay to include additional details. For instance, maybe customers consistently said they want their landscaping to look good. You can infer they want to feel pride in their home. Now, after identifying goals, consider the barrier, or what's preventing the customer from achieving their goal. You can also consider what's keeping the customer from hiring the company. Again, review the customer data, including the surveys and interviews. Can you identify any barriers? Continuing with the landscaping example, when reviewing the customer survey, you noticed a few recurring barriers. Some customers say they don't have time to take care of their lawn. Others state they've tried but don't believe the lawn looks any good. Another group stated they simply just don't have the equipment. Consider a barrier related to hiring the company. One could be that they don't trust landscaping companies because they received poor service in the past. Now that you have the demographic information, the goals, and the barriers, combine that information to create your personas. Following the landscaping example again, one persona could be A 55-year-old woman in the city with a small yard and a garden. She has been taking care of her own yard for five years but currently doesn't have the time to do it. A second persona could be a 30-year-old new homeowner. They've never worked with landscaping before and just moved to the suburbs. And a third persona could be a 27-year-old, budget-conscious renter in a rural area. They're trying to get basic landscaping to keep up with their homeowners' association demands. Now, let's imagine you've completed a few personas. Now what do you do with them? A best practice is to keep them readily available. Whenever you work on any marketing material, consider all of your personas. Who are you trying to reach? What visuals appeal to them? What messages appeal to them? What online platforms do they spend their time on? That's the power of a persona. Instead of just guessing or combining all personas together, you have specific data about who your customers are. You know what they want to achieve and the barriers that keep them from achieving those goals. Customer personas may seem like a lot of work, but they are well worth it. Successful marketing starts with knowing your customers well. And now you know what steps to take to gain that knowledge and really make that connection.
