Identifying your target audience is key to successfully marketing your business. Consider who you want to reach and what they need, if you are trying to sell a service, the demographics of the area in which you live will help determine the best way to market that service.
Identifying your audience will help you determine how to best speak with your readers. Your blog, website, or social media page information should be geared towards selling to this group of people in a way that is easily understood.
Make sure your audience knows what they get from buying from you and why they should choose you over a competitor. When writing for each specific audience segment, keep them in mind while trying not to fall into a rut of always saying the same thing every time.
Instead have content that is general enough so several audiences can be reached with each piece of written content, but also unique enough that it is not the same as every other blog you have posted.
It's not enough to just have a few different categories of potential customers. You need to break them down even further with a deeper analysis of the information you have available about these groups. It starts with understanding what they want, how their needs change over time, who is in charge of making the purchasing decisions. This will help you create more relevant posts and product descriptions.
Personas are a collection of information about the members of an audience segment. A persona is a flesh-and-blood representation of this group, so you'll want to include as much detail as possible. What motivates a persona? What makes him sad? Happy? How does he talk and what light-hearted topics do they enjoy discussing with their friends? You can select different personas for sales such as
Let us discuss each of the personas in detail one by one.
Prospecting reps
Prospecting reps need a lot of detailed information about the prospect. They want to know as much as possible about who they are talking to, including where he works, his title, how long he's been there, what his deal with technology is. What else could they learn about him? Is he married? Does he have kids? Can I find out what team she supports at the company if I spy on social media?
How can I get an email address so that I can fall into the same inbox as someone similar to this person and start building that relationship up over time without them even knowing it's me? Tell these people everything you can - even the stuff your competitors wouldn't reveal. This will all let you in identifying your audience will help you determine a lot more about them.
Sales-oriented Content
The sales-oriented content that will be most effective for prospecting reps will have details about the buying process. For example, what are some of the common objections prospects have to salespeople? What kind of information do they want before making a decision? The best blog posts in this category should focus on helping you tailor your talking points to fit with different customers’ needs.
Salesperson-oriented content
This type of person would really benefit from everything already mentioned above, but there is one more thing they'd love to know... when can I expect my commission check to hit my mailbox? If I'm doing all the work then when do I get paid? No joke - people care about their paycheck. So much so that many salespeople only work on commission. Prospecting reps can generally afford to be a lot more generous with their pay, but they do want the info that they deserve to get paid for their hard work, and when you'll make that happen.
Some of the best posts written in this category should speak directly about how much money your sales team can make if they use your products or services. Let prospects know why it's worth the extra effort (hint - it's because they will be getting more money). Plus, talk about what incentives are available for people who sell specific products within set limits.
Closing reps
Closing reps need to know whether or not someone is really interested in buying. They are looking for early warning signs of the deal falling through, slow responses to contacts, and lack of follow-up. These reps can help decide which deals are worth following up on and which ones should be passed along to another rep due to a lack of interest by the prospecting party.
Customer success manager
Customer success managers are your best friend. They want to make sure you're using their products like they should be used (gasp... this might even mean something different to every single product, depending on how it's made or what it is). Content that helps someone become knowledgeable about the features of each product and shows them how to use those features successfully will speak directly to CS managers.
Sales management and leadership
This category can get a little confusing because there are two different types of these people- the one who is making decisions for her team and then the one who isn't. Although both ultimately want the same thing- more sales - leadership has slightly different goals in mind than management does when it comes to content marketing.
Management-oriented Content
Your sales manager will want to know how you're going to help her team be successful. They want to see evidence that your product or service is already making waves in the industry and prepare for more of that wave coming their way.
Leadership-oriented Content
The leadership team at your company needs to have a clear vision of what they are trying to promote for the future of the company, but they also need real, tangible information about how using your products can help them reach those goals. In order for them to keep identifying your audience will help you determine and them to decide whether or not investing money into your products makes sense, they need solid reasoning behind why it's going to benefit them as an organization.
Example Post Idea 1: To Sales Rep: Make sure you're following up with contacts who seem to be interested in your product. Here are three questions to ask them during a follow-up call to gauge their interest level:
Example Post Idea 2: To Management Team: We want our team to be successful and we know traditionally, companies have had a problem achieving this goal due to using the wrong metrics. However, repositioning how we measure success has been a major factor in why our sales team is outselling the competition by 300%. In this post, we will introduce you to 3 ways of rethinking success that can help any company do better than before. We'll also talk about how each one meets specific organizational benchmarks.
Title Example 1: How to Put Your Sales Team in the Driver's Seat
Title Example 2: 3 Ways to Re-Evaluate Success Metrics for Improved Results
Sales operation persona
If you're like most companies, sales operations are the team that keeps everything moving smoothly. Their role starts after deals are closed and it's time to implement strategies, materials, or other assets needed for success. For example- if your product deals with CRM integration (and this isn't obvious right out of the box), then you might want to highlight things like how to hook up Xero CRM to Salesforce CRM so reps can pull up all their clients' information in one place.
This type of content is important because it ensures that customers integrate your product correctly and completely so there are no hiccups when you roll out new features for them later on down the line. They don't need help making decisions, rather, they need help implementing the decision that's been made.
Example Post Idea: To Sales Ops: One of our top clients uses Xero and we're working on getting them to switch over as well- as more companies are using cloud services like these for bookkeeping, it's important to understand what you can do with both systems your company is already using. Here are some ways reps can use Xero and Salesforce together to make their lives easier.
Title Example 1: How to Integrate CRM Systems with Cloud Services
Title Example 2: Using a Cloud Accounting System in Your Company with an Onsite CRM
Marketing Persona
Your company marketing department is probably the most well-known for its content marketing presence. With that being said, it's also one of the hardest to have a successful relationship with in terms of your product.
This is because oftentimes, they are working on their own content- so when you pitch an idea to collaborate with them, there's nothing time-sensitive about it and unless you can convince them otherwise or show clear evidence that using your product will be beneficial in some way (or there is something new and exciting you want to roll out), then it may not get done.
Although these types of people like having more voices involved in how their department runs, they still maintain the level of control over what gets released and promoted.
This is why it's important to make sure that when you're interacting with them, focus on "value-adds". This means instead of just trying to get something out there, show how your product can be used in conjunction with what they are already doing.
If you have an idea for content that will expand their reach or encourage more purchases or gain interest from new groups then by all means- share the idea. But if this doesn't apply, ask yourself if using another avenue (like Youtube) might be a better place for your content than having it live under your company's name.
Example Post Idea: To Marketing: We've also noticed that although people don't use QR codes as often anymore, we still see significant results when we use them with our email campaigns. Here are some ways you can use QR codes to increase your social media presence:
Title Example 1: 3 Ways to Use QR Codes with Your Social Media Promotions
Title Example 2: How to Add QR Codes to Emails for Maximum Reach and Conversion
This type of person has a specific set of problems they are dealing with. Even though the majority may have the same problem, each one is different in some way- e.g. A groups' pain points are more intense or make them spend more money on your product to eliminate it, or maybe there are some competitors that put out better products for these types of people which is why you see lower conversions from this group.
The best thing you can do to help this group? Address their concerns head-on and don't be afraid to show how your product does what others couldn't do.
If they fit into this description then chances are they often know about new features AND potential issues before even testing them out (even if it's just the negative reviews others have left). The problem with this type of person is they are extremely skeptical- so you're only chance to prove to them that your product works and can help them is by doing thorough research before even pitching them an idea.
If you know ahead of time what these potential issues could be then you'll be better equipped to present your solutions. They want to solve their problems fast, not wait around for something new or different. But don't forget about giving them something new and exciting as well! If you've created a feature that's never been seen before, show it off (just make sure there isn't anything potentially risky like privacy concerns)!
Before customer success gets involved, the rep needs to know exactly who their customer is and what they want. Otherwise, the rep struggles to personalize the conversation without any knowledge of how the product works or has worked for this group before. This rep isn't afraid to send specific examples or highlight specific features; he knows that his target audience cares about "actionable content".
The last thing you should keep in mind when interacting with your personas is the topic of the content itself (and making sure it's readable.) When it comes to creating content that scales well, try not to get too caught up on whether certain pieces are written by you or other people in your company- if fact, hiding behind an alias can be a great way to utilize different writing styles and techniques to create content that will appeal to a broader audience.
The one thing you should keep in mind? Don't be afraid to show your voice as the writer- just keep it professional. Content from your company's blog, for example, needs an "echo" to have it related back to your brand (don't make it sound like a listicle posted on BuzzFeed). So even if you're using a pseudonym (like Business Casual Copywriting) and/or collaborating with other companies or brands, make sure there is still an essence of who you are as a company included in each piece!
Personas are a great tool for creating content that is more focused and better resonates with your target audience. Rightly identifying your audience will help you determine how to boost your sales. By reading this article, hopefully, you can use what you have learned to create better content that benefits everyone who comes in contact with your brand!
