B2B Myth of the Week: My Brand Doesn’t Need Personas
by MGB2B
The Myth: My Company Doesn’t Need to Develop Buyer Personas
The Truth: Buyer Personas Help You Produce Content That Works
“Why do we need personas when we know our target audience like the backs of our hands?”
This is a question that many Marketing Directors and CEOs are quick to ask. After all, no one knows your customers better than you, right? But buyer personas bring a lot more to the table than a general target audience can. And with the constant evolution of ways to target buyers, personas are essential for developing a strong content marketing plan.
As B2B buyer behavior continues to change and marketing tactics change along with it, it’s important to know more about your audience than ever before. Personas are fictional characters who represent your brand’s potential buyers or customers. Make them highly detailed with information based on solid research. Details can include everything from name and age to pain points at work to how they spend their spare time. Since personas contain so much detail, they enable your brand to segment your content. Which ensures that the content you create resonates with the persona it was created for.
Here Are the Benefits of Developing Buyer Personas:
- Personas provide a deeper understanding of buyer wants and needs. Although personas are fictional, they are based on the behaviors and preferences of real buyers. Therefore, they are able to provide important insights into what buyers are looking for from your brand. Personas include detailed information about both demographics and behavior patterns. Thus, they enable you to focus on forming connections with your audience. It’s important to include information about responsibilities at work, family dynamics, and media consumption. This will ensure your persona receives messages from your brand that will resonate.
- Personas allow you to segment your audience with more ease. CEO Richard and Millennial Kevin face very different challenges while on the job. Their home lives are different. And the way they consume information is different as well. So why would you deliver a piece of content to Millennial Kevin that was written for CEO Richard? You wouldn’t. But he is an important part of the decision-making process. So you need content for him as well. And that content won’t likely resonate with CEO Richard. By creating personas that define age, buyer behavior, media consumption, and pain points, you’ll be able to segment with more ease. And hit more home runs with your content program.
- Personas help you create the right content. Once you have an idea of your ideal customers, you will be able to create content that is appealing to them. You need to get your audience interested in the content you create. Otherwise, you’ll get more unsubscribes and fewer converted leads. Get insight into the types of content that pique their interest by including details like your persona’s role at work or what they do in their spare time. A well-done persona will help you create specifically targeted content that appeals to the individual that it represents.
- Personas show you where your audience is spending time online. When you’re trying to reach potential buyers, it’s important to know what types of media appeal to them and where they find information. If your persona is a CEO who doesn’t understand how Twitter works, then you should put your time and money in a different direction when targeting him/her. Creating detailed personas will show you where you should be spending marketing dollars to generate the most leads. Your company will save time, money, and resources if you are aware of the specific places your personas visit – both online and off.
- Personas create consistency throughout your whole company. Share your personas with your marketing team. But also include other departments. Your sales and product development teams, for example, should fully understand your brand’s personas and how to appeal to them. Some brands – like MailChimp – even have portraits of their personas on the walls to remind employees on a regular basis about their importance. It’s essential to familiarize your employees with the personas so they know how to interact with potential buyers. Personas ensure that everyone in your company is on the same page about who your audience is and how your brand can help them overcome challenges and seize opportunities.
These are some of the benefits to keep in the back of your mind while developing your brand personas. With accurate and realistic personas, you won’t just be shooting in the dark with your marketing program. You’ll motivate your leads to buy and increase the likelihood that they’ll come back to buy more.
Continue Reading4 Ways to Feed Your B2B Sales Funnel in 2018
by Emily Swet
Few things are worse for B2B business growth than a stalled out sales funnel. Even though your company may be using the same funnel-feeding tactics as before, what once worked may not be as successful now. To keep it going strong, we’ve compiled four ways to feed your B2B sales funnel in 2018.
1. Align Sales and Marketing Teams
Sometimes sales and marketing teams clash, despite having the same end goal. And this misalignment can lead to staggering losses. To get everyone on the same page, start facilitating communication between the two groups. Ask marketing to sit in on sales calls. Encourage sales to share their customer details with marketing. And encourage uniformity with constant updates between both departments. (Get more tips on sales and marketing collaboration here).
2. Consider Predictive Lead Scoring
Predictive lead scoring is a scoring methodology that leverages historical data and predictive analytics. It takes the data from successful leads (ones that you have won) and adds digital footprints from third-party sources to pool as much data as possible. By crunching the numbers, predictive lead scoring can identify patterns or relationships you’ve never seen before. It also aids in aligning your sales and marketing teams (see above) by providing data-backed reasoning behind lead qualifications. And last but not least, it reduces the margin of error in traditional lead scoring.
3. Don’t Forget the Mid-Funnel
Most marketing and sales teams focus on the top (lead quantity) and the bottom (the percentage of leads closed) of the sales funnel. However, when the middle is unattended to, the information and goals get murky. You could be losing leads without knowing why. To clear this up, ask: how many touches does the average lead need before they move to the next stage? Where do your leads seem to leak out? What is the difference between the ones that leave and the ones that move on? Diagnosing and addressing the issues mid-funnel will have a big impact on your results.
4. Use Video
We’ve made it clear in past blogs how important video has become. You can use it throughout your funnel to keep moving prospects to the bottom. To attract leads at the top, consider how-to’s, thought leadership videos, and any content that showcases your brand’s personality or authenticity. As your leads move to decision mode, product demos, client testimonials, and video case studies can be very compelling. Close the deal with nurture videos, FAQ’s, and instructional videos – and be sure each has a strong CTA (like signing up for a demo or webinar).
No matter what, it’s essential to keep the customer at the center of each stage. Every small fix you can make will help produce better results, and help grow your leads as well as your revenue.
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B2B Myth of the Week: Facebook Advertising Isn’t Worth the Money
by MGB2B
The Myth: B2B Facebook Advertising Does Not Pay Off
The Reality: Facebook Advertising Is Highly Effective for B2B Brands
Facebook is one of today’s top advertising platforms – not just for B2C, but for B2B brands, too. It is cost-efficient and easy to operate. While you may only think of Facebook as something you experience on a personal level, B2B marketers have found Facebook to be one of the top social media platforms for ROI.
Utilizing B2B Facebook advertising is much different than simply waiting for your Facebook page to grow organically. A company’s Facebook presence is important for keeping your core users informed and up-to-date. But ads can help you generate new leads and bring them into the sales funnel.
Here Are the Key Benefits of B2B Facebook Advertising:
- Advanced Targeting Options. Facebook is one of the only platforms that offers in-depth, advanced target marketing. Aside from basic distinguishes like age, gender, and geography, allows you to focus on things like interest, education level, job title, and even current workplace. This allows B2B marketers to target those who are less likely to be tire kickers and more likely to be high-quality prospects.
- Lead Generation. While having a Facebook presence on its own is important, running ads actually attracts new leads. And with the level of targeting mentioned above, they are more likely to be qualified leads. A CEO or decision-maker might be on their personal Facebook page and notice your ad, targeted specifically at their job title in their industry. If you catch them at the right moment with the right message or content offer, you’ll have a new lead in your sales funnel.
- Facebook Keeps Improving for B2B. As Facebook gets older, it gets more sophisticated. Their offering of Lead Ads gives B2B marketers even more tools to follow up with prospects who show interest. It will be interesting to see what else they roll out in 2018.
When done right, B2B Facebook advertising can be just the shot in the arm your social media strategy needs. Make it a focal point in your next social campaign, and let the opportunities speak for themselves.
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