I’ve blogged before about the importance of crafting detailed and accurate buyer personas. The truth is, you can’t market effectively to your target audience if you don’t really know who that audience is. I’ve also commented on the importance of reviewing and updating buyer personas on a regular basis. People change, your market changes… you need to ensure that your personas stay current. But even if you faithfully complete both of those tasks, your efforts will be wasted if you don’t do one other thing—work to keep them at the forefront of your mind.
Putting the Customer’s Perspective First
If you believe in the power of customer-centric content marketing (and you should!) and have shown your commitment to that approach by creating buyer personas, it only makes sense that you will do all you can to ensure your business decisions and strategy are guided by your target market.
Here are some ways you can remind yourself to always see your business from the customer’s perspective. They may sound a little goofy at first, but some very successful companies (think HubSpot, Amazon) are chuckling about these tactics all the way to the bank.
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Post pictures and descriptions
If you want your company to remember who it is you serve, post photos and descriptions of your buyer personas in high-traffic areas like the break room or a conference room. Be sure it’s a place that everyone in your organization visits regularly, as these representations of typical customers aren’t just about sales and marketing. -
Leave an open chair at meetings
It is reported that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos drives home the need for a customer-centric approach by requiring that there is a chair intentionally left open in every meeting. That seat represents the customer, and attendees are asked to think of how everything discussed in the session will affect them. HubSpot is said to do something similar by having Molly, a stuffed teddy bear, attend key meetings. -
Give an update from their perspective at company presentations
If your company does “all hands” meetings periodically (quarterly, annually), make part of that presentation a status report from the perspective of some or all of your target customers. Framing issues as “We believe that Anna would report improved satisfaction with our…” can really help the employee audience to put themselves in the customer’s place. -
Form an advisory board
If you really want to bring your fictionalized customers to life, bring real people to your office! Creating a customer advisory board made up of individuals who represent your spectrum of typical types of target customers is a great way to get insightful feedback on your offerings.
Helping You Stay Focused on Your Customers
At 30dps, we help our clients achieve tremendous success with content marketing strategies powered by thoughtfully crafted buyer personas. Is your organization practicing a customer-centric approach? If not, we can guide you as you readjust your focus. Give us a shout if you want to find out how buyer personas can benefit your business.
