Are those stereotypes or personas? Does Mike need a blog post on six tips to improve productivity at work? In my experience with B2B clients, applying three mathematical and common-sense principles makes the stereotypical buyer persona a great starting point. I talked about understanding the target audience, learning about their media consumption habits, interests, values, etc., and creating promotional materials to appeal specifically to that audience. The data from our website helped me to create a brand persona that was based on fact. In a way buyer or customer personas are stereotypes. These kinds of profiles created by marketers are creating an idea for an “average” customer, but who considers themselves average? All older people get lonely, right? The bigger question to ask is how well can you and your team describe your target audience(s) and deliver that audience to meet your company’s goals? Want to know who fits the content marketer persona for CMI?
We have soccer moms – married women who live in the suburbs and are best known for transporting their children to and from sports practices and other activities.
We have NASCAR dads – blue-collar, middle-aged Caucasian men who graduated from high school and like watching stock car racing.
And don’t forget the millennials – young adults who are entitled and lazy, live on their phones, and were raised by helicopter parents.
Are those stereotypes or personas?
The soccer mom designation, which came of age in the 1996 U.S. presidential election, and NASCAR dads, which became a target audience in the 2004 elections, are closer to personas, though too thinly described. And millennials? Well, those are more likely stereotypes that have been around for most of this century.
“A poorly constructed persona can seem a lot like a stereotype, such as all millennials want information delivered via mobile devices,” says Kevin Smith of Kevin W. Smith Consulting, which advises financial services firms. “The key to powerful buyer persona development comes down to three important factors: grounded in fact, functional, and more than demographic data.”
We posed the stereotype-or-persona question to marketers and got their input on preferred ways to develop useful audience profiles. And, in some cases, they share why – stereotype or not – personas aren’t a good fit for their marketing.
Go deeper than a stock photo
Elliott Brown, marketing consultant and publisher, Back Office Basics, says:
A small business owner is not some guy in a striped apron who smiles with pride as he turns around the “open” sign and picks up a broom to sweep up his shop. That’s the stock photo of a small business owner.
A small business owner persona needs to have a name. Let’s say it’s Mike. And Mike needs to wake up super early every weekday because it’s the only time he can respond to emails without being constantly interrupted. He wears an ugly pair of khakis on Fridays because he hasn’t had a chance to do laundry. He’s down one team member, which means he needs to spend a lot more of the day working directly with customers. He likes doing it, but it keeps him from getting all kinds of other stuff done during the workday. Tonight, Mike has big plans to watch Friends reruns on the couch while running the payroll he wasn’t able to complete this afternoon.
Does Mike need a blog post on six tips to improve productivity at work? No way. He needs a post about six lifesavers to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
When your audience goes from being a cardboard cutout to a real persona, you and your team can empathize with them – and do a much better job of creating content, messaging, and calls to action that really resonate.
Think of a stereotype as a step
Erica Pierson, CEO, Acument LLC, says:
The term “stereotype” can be negative when the interpretation is so oversimplified as to overlook nuances. But we have to start somewhere, right?
In my experience with B2B clients, applying three mathematical and common-sense principles makes the stereotypical buyer persona a great starting point.
Acknowledge outliers and still tell a relevant story: A former client sold services to B2B companies, primarily targeting marketing directors. Research and anecdotal experience showed the target buyer was a woman, ages 35-45, with the ability to sign off on purchases up to $25,000.
One salesperson concluded the persona was a waste of time because he had one male client and his female client was 47. Since the other 98% of prospects did fit the persona, my advice was to use messaging that addresses the business needs and decision-making authority of the persona.
The risk of stereotyping was not in the targeting, but in the messaging. If we assumed that all women have children and drink wine, we might miss the mark. But if we assume all marketing directors want to deliver messaging and pipeline, relevant messaging should still connect with demographic outliers.
Use current data, not outdated anecdotes: Beware of anecdotes delivered in a loud voice with no supporting data. A federal contracting client selling software needed to reach senior-level HR decision makers. After conducting a competitive assessment and focus groups, our team determined the buyer persona was an African-American woman with a master’s degree, promoted into a senior role within the last five years.
The client vociferously rejected that persona. After much arguing, we figured out the client’s buyer vision was a white male over 50 with a bachelor’s degree. While true in the past, that information was five to 10 years out of date. The problem was not the stereotype, but the timing.
Test and learn the persona hypothesis: The notion of marketing to a static buyer persona is dead. Think of your buyer persona as a starting point and use marketing automation to continuously test and learn. Yes, you may have research that shows an 18-month buying cycle for contracts over $100,000. But if your campaign activity reveals a pool of prospects willing to move more quickly, use those data points to refine and target so you can keep improving your segmentation and content delivery.
Don’t be lazy
Mike Schultz, president, RAIN Group, says:
The problem with personas is not that they are stereotypes but that some people are lazy and default to them. Paraphrasing marketing legend David Ogilvy, use personas for…
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