With the rise in digital marketing, it can be hard for brands to stand out and appeal to new customers. Even loyal customers are met with advertising messages at every turn, giving them a plethora of choices for each purchasing decision.

That’s why it’s so important to differentiate your business, and create a customer persona for your brand. Customer personas offer companies a way to connect with their customers, while learning more about the demographics, buying habits and personal preferences of their ideal audience. This approach gives companies a way to develop key strategies for reaching people who will buy into and champion their brand.

Build a customer persona

One particular business that has used this strategy to great effect is the  Kimpton Hotel  Brand. Their customer persona is “Kate,” a swanky business women who travels to large cities for meetings and enjoys the finer, eclectic things in life. All of the decisions they make about their décor and hotel offerings are based on her preferences; when creating the restaurants and hotel bars they consider “Would Kate hang out here? Would she eat this? Does the bedding fit Kate’s style?” By working with a specific type of individual in mind, they are able to create an experience and spruce up the hotel with an eye on the needs and desires of their ideal guests.

To build a  customer persona , start by identifying some of the broad groups of consumers that are interested in your company. Then work to identify their demographics and key information that speaks to who these consumers are as individuals. Details like their interests, job titles, income level and buying motivations will help you develop a better idea of who these people are.

Drawing upon information from sales or surveys you have conducted in the past, you can start to identify trends for these customers. As a customer persona begins to take shape, you can also start to identify some effective marketing channels and preferred social media channels for individuals who mirror the customer persona.

Put your customer persona on the map

Once you have developed a basic profile, there are countless ways to continue to develop the customer persona.

Spend time thinking about the needs and goals of such a customer, as well as the influences that inform their buying decisions, whether they be online reviews, blogs or influencers. The more you can meet these customer needs, the better you will be able to position your brand.

Go beyond demographic information to glean better insights about such a customer, taking into account the way they make decisions, what may resonate with them psychologically, and what specific attitudes or concerns they hold. You can even start to build a  purchase journey map , which will give you an idea of the steps a consumer may take before they make a purchase.

If your business encounters a variety of customers and purchasing styles, you can take this work even further by creating several different customer personas. Each persona will have different attitudes and preferences, and they may also have different methods of finding and engaging with your brand. Using this tactic, you can develop marketing campaigns that appeal to several distinctive customer personalities, growing your customer base.

Make it about personalization

No matter how you approach the customer persona, remember that it’s all about personalization. The more you can customize and personalize your marketing strategies and your business offerings, the more your messages will resonate with consumers.

Monitor the customer persona and adapt it over time, tracking data that reflect how an individual might actually engage with your business in the market. Soon, you’ll find that you have an effective new tool you can use to build your brand and locate new customers.

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