B2B Buyer Personas are a crucial component of a successful Inbound Marketing Strategy.
After all, the Marketing team needs to know who it needs to target, who it needs to attract. And the same goes for the sales team, which must know the ideal potential customer in order to achieve the sales goal.
However, our clients often confide in us that they experience difficulties in creating their B2B Buyer Personas.
And the “blank sheet syndrome” generates more and more crises, in this activity so important for the development of one’s Business.
Therefore, we thought we would write this article.
Below are useful tips that can help you create the B2B Marketing Persona for your Company.
This list of Questions for B2B Personas, will help you understand how to structure your target audience, and thus set up proper marketing activities, tailored to you and your ideal prospects.
Of course, we remember that in order to reach one’s target B2B Buyer Persona, it is necessary to study, and implement, an ad hoc Content Marketing Strategy.
Practical Example of B2B Buyer Persona
When we talk about B2B Personas, we need to consider the identity of our ideal customer, in a Business to Business relationship.
And this means that the person who decides to buy (the Buyer), belongs to a company, which needs our products and/or services.
So let’s drop into the business world, into a real business relationship, and ask ourselves:
What role does the person who wants to buy from us play?
In this way, we will begin to have a base from which to build our B2B Persona, and thus a winning marketing strategy.
The Buyer’s Journey in B2B. Elements to consider
While remaining in a Business to Business context, relationships always occur between people.
The Company is simply a legal entity made up of people.
Let’s analyze the case of “Rossi & Rossi,” a company that manufactures vacuum cleaner components.
His ideal client is identified as the production manager of “Bianchi & Bianchi,” a vacuum cleaner manufacturing company.
Let’s try to analyze the Buyer Journey of Mario Bianchi, Production Manager of “Bianchi & Bianchi.”
Buyer’s Journey: from manifestation of need, to satisfaction
Mario Bianchi, our Buyer, realizes that he needs components for a new vacuum cleaner model that the company wants to launch on the market.
Mario Bianchi performs several Google searches and chooses Rossi & Rossi among several companies, contacting the sales manager. Mr. Luca Rossi.
Obviously, given his expertise, his inquiry dwells mainly on product data sheets.
So functioning, autonomy, capacity, etc., will be key elements in his decision-making process, and in his final choice.
However, we always talk about Buyer Persona in B2B. So Mario Bianchi, our potential customer, is not acting for himself, but on behalf of the Company.
Consequently, once a possible solution to his needs has been identified, he will have to consult with colleagues in other departments.
For example, the chief financial officer and the head of the purchasing department.
Internal communication between Buyers
As we said, the Production Manager has well in mind what his needs are.
So he will focus on certain product features, which precisely might adequately meet his needs.
However, the needs of one are not the needs of another.
And this also applies to two employees of the same Company.
The Production Manager, in this case, in order to finalize the purchase, will have to expose his needs to the purchasing department, or the finance manager.
Who, however, have as their goal to get the best product, at the best price.
Often even at the expense of quality…
So before us we will have two different needs, from two different people. But part of one reality.
That is, the Company we want to acquire as a customer.
So what? How do you make everyone happy?
Meet the needs of the Buyer
It is important to consider that when talking about B2B Buyer Persona, we will almost never be dealing with just one person.
And at the same time, the Production Manager knows early on that he will have to deal with other colleagues. Who have different needs than his own.
So what is the best way to attract attention to us without having our B2B personas turn to our competitors?
Providing information in transparency.
If we set up our marketing activities, describing our products and services in every detail, with transparency, and without hiding anything, the Production Manager, will be able to find all the information he needs. Both for him, and for his colleagues.
And this is true even in the case where the finance director, or the purchasing department, does the research.
For example, in addition to data sheets, Luca Rossi can send a price list with progressive discounting based on quantities, special payment terms, service center information etc….
Whatever role our Buyer holds, he or she can be satisfied with the information obtained.
B2B Buyer Persona: 20 Questions for a Perfect Sketch
1. Describe your personal demographics
Gathering demographic information is a great way to start drafting your B2B marketing personas because it is easy data to obtain and is the perfect starting point to begin painting a clearer, more personal picture of your ideal potential customer.
- Are they married?
- What is their annual household income?
- Where do they live?
- Are they male or female?
- How old are they?
- Do they have children?
2. Describe your educational background
- What level of education have they completed?
- What schools did they attend and what did they study?
- Try to get specific information. “Milan State University” is better than “University.”
3. Describe your career path
- How did they arrive at their current position?
- Did they specialize in an area very similar or very different from their current role?
- Has their career been quite traditional, or have they gone from another industry?
4. In what industry does your company operate?
The answer to this question is not the department in which your B2B Buyer Persona works, or the service he or she personally provides to his or her company.
Your ideal prospect’s industry is the type of service they offer their clients.
And knowing this can help you measure the impact of your business in the markets you target.
Depending on the challenges your B2B Buyer Persona faces, it might also be worthwhile to get information about the industries he or she is targeting. Not just about the actual service he provides.
For example, if your client provides environmental services, his industry is just that: environmental services. But if its main clients are schools and hospitals, a good answer to this question might ultimately be:
They are in the environmental services sector for ‘education and the hospital sector.
5. What is the size of your company (revenue, employees)?
You need to know details about your B2B Buyer Persona’s company, such as industry, size, number of employees, and other details.
It will especially help you when creating fields for landing page forms.
6. What is your job role? Your title?
- How long have they had this role and title?
- Are they individual contributors, or do they manage other people?
7. To whom do you report? Who do you report to?
The importance with which you should consider the work and seniority level of your buyer certainly depends on the product or service you are selling.
If you are a B2C business, you might simply consider this information as another way to better understand the nuances of your person’s life.
If you are a B2B company, this information becomes more crucial.
Is your person a Manager, or a Director, and is he or she familiar with the complexities of your industry?
They will need less education than someone at the introductory level, who may need to call on other managers before making purchasing decisions.
8. How is your work measured?
- What metrics are they responsible for?
- What numbers or graphs do they look at every day?
This will help you determine what makes them successful, and what they might be worried about when it comes to “achieving their goals.”
9. What does a typical day look like?
- What time do they go to work, and what time do they leave?
- What do they do when they are most productive?
- This should include both the activities they do for their work and what happens during the day outside of work.
- Do they spend more time at work or at home?
- Where would they prefer to be?
- What they like to do for fun
- Who are the people who matter most in their lives?
- What kind of car do they drive?
- What TV programs do they watch?
- What is their taste in fashion?
Don’t be afraid to get personal in these cases.
10. What skills are needed to do your job?
- If they hired someone to replace them and they had to write a job description of what was actually required, what would you say?
- What are the ideal skills for this job? And how good is your interviewer at each of them?
- Where did they learn these skills? On the job, in a previous job, or by taking a course?
11. What knowledge and tools do you use in your work?
- What applications and tools do they use every day?
- Every week?
Understanding which products they love (and hate), can help you identify commonalities in your product. And study a Positioning Strategy accordingly.
12. What are your biggest challenges?
Let us remember that our business is driven by the intention to help our potential customers solve a problem, or meet a need of theirs.
How does this problem affect their daily lives?
Get into the details, and focus on the nuances that illustrate how that problem makes them feel.
For example, suppose your company sells tax management software, directly to consumers.
One of your Buyer Personas might be someone approaching this world for the first time.
What are the weaknesses of an initial approach to tax management?
They are probably intimidated by the prospect of paying taxes themselves for the first time, overwhelmed by tax regulations they do not understand, and confused about where to start.
Of course, these weaknesses differ from those of an expert in the field, which might be:
- Not knowing how to maximize the amount of their return
- Finding creative loopholes for deductions
Etc.
13. Persona B2B Marketing Questions: What are you responsible for?
What is their main goal at work?
What about their secondary goal?
Knowing this information will help you learn what you can do to help your ideal potential client achieve his or her goals, and overcome his or her challenges.
14. What does it mean to be successful in your role?
Companies that take the time to understand what can make their customer a successful character will enjoy more effective communications from sales and marketing teams.
15. How do you learn new information for your work?
If you intend to market and sell to these people, you need to understand how they consume the information.
- Do they go online, prefer to learn in person or pick up newspapers and magazines?
- If they are online students, do they visit social networks? Google?
- Which sources do they trust most: friends, family, colleagues, or experts in the field?
16. What publications or blogs do you read?
In an effort to reconstruct how a typical day in their lives goes, try to figure out where they regularly go to stay informed.
If you know how they prefer to gather information, you can make yourself present in those places, and work to build credibility in those communities.
17. What associations and social networks do you participate in?
You should invest time and resources on a Social Media Marketing Strategy, but the question is, which social networks should you invest more time and resources on than others?
Identify the associations and social networks where your buyers spend their time.
This information gives you the ability to prioritize certain channels. So what strategy to adopt, and what accounts to create for your Marketing Strategy.
18. How do you prefer to interact with suppliers?
- The buying experience of your product should be in line with the expectations of your Buyer Persona.
- What should their sales experience be like?
- How much time do they expect to spend with a salesperson?
- Do they plan to meet in person, prefer to conduct the sales process online, or by phone?
19. Do you use the Internet to search for suppliers or products? If yes, how do you search for information?
- Again, what avenues are they using to find new information?
- Do they perform online research, look at review websites, ask friends and family, or what?
20. Describe a recent purchase
- Why did you consider a purchase?
- What was the evaluation process, and how did you decide to purchase that product or service?
- If you can anticipate the objections your prospective client will have, you can play ahead in the sales process and be better prepared to dispel his or her fears immediately.
- What might make them reticent to buy from you, or any other supplier in your industry?
- Is this the first time they have purchased such a product or service?
- If not, what prompted them to change their product or service?
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