Since this is the fundamental building block of (content) marketing, it’s critical to get it right. Yet it often falls short.
You must recognise the gulf between theoretical world and real world.
Personas are often assembled from assumptions, CRM data fields and sales anecdotes. They describe who the buyer is but reveal surprisingly little about how and why buying happens. They are not rigorous. They are not consistently gathered. Not enough is invested in gaining customer motivations & desires. It is assumed that sales can give all the answers… but without subjecting that input to any sort of scrutiny, challenge or method.
Senior management don’t want to admit this problem because they think it’s going to cause them extra expenditure. But in reality, not investing in this activity could actually be losing the company prospect bids, existing customers, competitive positioning, current and future revenues… many, many times the relatively modest investment needed to get it right.
Why is it happening? Proper buyer research requires interviewing customers, lost prospects, salespeople, partners and domain experts. Desk research and analytics are cheaper and politically easier.
How can we adjust? Establish a continuous insight programme covering win/loss interviews, buyer interviews, sales-call analysis, search behaviour, customer questions, competitor narratives and partner intelligence. Investigate triggers, anxieties, internal politics, decision criteria, objections and the language buyers actually use.
And – for goodness sake – don’t get your own people to interview the customer. Third party, experienced interviewers who really know your sector and your products, will be the ones who the customer feels open with and who tease out those invaluable nuggets for better business.
