A common thread we hear when working with a new client is that they want to market to everyone. The assumption is that by narrowing in tone, branding, and marketing efforts you will exclude people from relating to your brand. We say differently! In fact, being more clear and concise with who you work with and why you work with them helps you achieve better results and higher conversions. You don’t need to exclude anyone. But you can find your people easier and really enjoy the customer relationships you have.
Buyer Personas and the Marketing Net
A buyer persona is your ideal client. You can get very detailed about this individual down to demographics and even naming them something like “Ideal Buyer Betty”. The point of a buyer persona is to really get to the root of Who you want to work with and Why you’re the best choice for them.
Defining your buyer persona helps you find where they are online, how they search for your service, and speak to their specific problems. When you can speak to a buyer’s specific problem in a way that they relate to it helps them feel heard.
Here’s the difference between marketing language targeting a buyer persona vs. casting a wide marketing net:
We’re the most experienced plumbers in Missoula with certified plumbing technicians happy to help.
Not bad, of course you want your plumber to be experienced but which ones aren’t? How can you prove you’re the most experienced? Which plumbers aren’t certified? Are there plumbers out there that DON’T want to help?
It doesn’t speak to the specific problem a buyer persona might have. Think of it this way:
- Is this a property management group? Or a home owner? Commercial building owner?
- Are the problems large scale or a simple issue?
- How can you build Trust in a way that’s realistic and tangible?
- What kind of problems have they had with previous plumbers? i.e. didn’t clean up after themselves, were late to the job, charged more than the quoted amount, didn’t communicate well, condescending, etc.
Let’s say you’re a plumber wanting to work with commercial property owners. There’s a good market there as they have a network of homes that will likely need routine work. They want someone dependable and can provide consistent results without chasing you down, having to follow-up on work orders, or be surprised by the charges.
How would you structure the language around your site to target this person? Think of it from their perspective. What is their biggest pain? They don’t want to do all the work! They want someone that knows how to reduce time, money, and stress in their lives.
We take the stress out of your plumbing problems with results that work with your schedule, no surprise charges, and unbeatable communication.
When it comes to Proof and Trust, you can represent that throughout the page by showing your certifications, reviews, awards, etc. Telling them is one thing but showing them an image of that accomplishment goes further.
As you can see in the above language, we aren’t excluding home owners. These issues can apply to their problems as well. But we took into consideration our primary target, the commercial property owner and identified their key issues first.
For SEO purposes, you can sprinkle in keywords that align with this target. We also recommend creating a dedicated conversion page specifically dedicated to them.
The purpose of this exercise is to change the way you think about Marketing to Everyone. When you chose a Buyer Persona and really get to the heart of who they are and why they should work with you specifically, you’ll find that coming up with Ad Campaigns, Social Posts, Newsletters, Eguides, Blog Content, and more becomes significantly easier. Why? Because you are the expert that can answer their pain points – because you know them!
