It is no secret that when talking SEO, content is king. However, writing and getting your content out there is not the only things that writers should be worry about.

The way content works in a website’s effort to become more optimised for search engines is no secret: it attracts new readers, establish a brands relevance to specific keywords, and help your site rank better on the SERP. However, all this does not matter if your content does not appeal to your audience.

Creating content that resonates with your audience is more than creating images and swapping out traditional modes of presentation for more novel ones. It includes writing specifically for your audience. This may seem really basic, but many businesses fall into the trap of being too engrossed with the creation of quality content and the way it is presented that they forget to create content for their audiences. This can be easily solved through the creation of a buyer persona.

Today’s businesses have to be even more creative with marketing than ever before. With consumers bombarded with thousands of marketing messages how can you make sure that your business is the one that stands out over all the rest? The answer; Buyer Personas.

A buyer persona is simply a detailed description of your ideal customer. A well thought out buyer persona will include everything about the individual from their hobbies through to career history and family information. All of this data should be written as though the persona was a real person. Typical elements that make up a buyer persona will include; demographics, hobbies and interests, common objectives, background, goals, challenges and fears.

The distinct advantage to creating these personas is that you can clearly define your target customer which enables a more tailored marketing approach. Your marketing efforts will be more successful and will allow you to target the right people who want to purchase your product or service.

After you have formulated your buyer persona(s) you can implement changes across all areas of your business from marketing calls through to the content that you provide on your website. This will ensure that customers will receive a persuasive sales pitch when they make an enquiry to your business and content or communications which are tailored to their specific requirements.

Creating the perfect persona

Before you can start to put together your target customer so you can develop your buyer personas you will need to identify your specific customer segments. When segmenting your audience you will find that there are distinct groups of customers. As an example, one group of customers may be relatively new to your niche whereas others may be experts in the industry. As a result the approach that you adopt for sales and marketing will vary for each group and will therefore require different personas. A business may have more than two target customers or there may be just one. It is not necessary however to create a buyer persona for every type of customer that you think may purchase a product or service from your business. A file sharing website such as We Share can have literally thousands of user groups but everyone can benefit from its file sharing and storage facilities. The best way to approach persona development is to create the groups who perform most effectively.

Information gathering

Now that you have identified the different buyer personas for your business you will need to start a process of information gathering. This will include defining a set of questions so you can collect valuable customer based information. Questions could include;

• The age, gender and interests of the buyer
• The income of the buyer
• Where the buyer lives; a city, coastal or rural location?
• Which social networks would the buyer use
• What challenges does the buyer face?
• What objections may the buyer have
• How can your product/service solve the buyers challenges
• How would the buyer prefer to communicate

The information gathering process will help you gather the information you need to develop your unique personas for your target market. A good buyer persona can help you with marketing campaigns and target your products and services more effectively.