the science of building actionable buyer personas

The Science of Building Actionable Buyer

Personas

LeadGenius.com@LeadGenius

Scripted.com@GetScripted

SPEAKERS

Ryan Buckley Ryan WilliamsEric MacColl

Co-Founder & Head of Sales

VP of Sales Director of Marketing

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Ryan Williams, VP of Sales

LeadGenius

https://remoteproductions.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/darts-copy.jpg

Ideal Customer Profile:

Core parts of an ideal customer:• Business industry• Business size• Business location• Business users/customers/clients

ICP example: "I sell advertising services to eCommerce companies that have between 1-20M in sales, are located in the US, and value social networking enough to have a director of social marketing/advertising.”

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Lessons from LeadGenius:

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Our sales consultants help establish ICPs for over 100 companies per month. Here’s what we find:

• Too broad or too specific

• Only chasing one title

• Taking the same action for every role in the company

Persona vs. ICP:

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◦ Ideal customer profiles help you define your business objectives.

Often your sales objectives can help anchor projections:

(e.g: if you know Directors of Finance test HR software for 2 months, then you can expect a check 90 days after you close the trial)◦ Buyer persona take your ICP work to the next level.

Example Persona

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Director of Finance at a startup with 100 people or $10M raised:

• Analytical: degree in business or accounting

• Experienced: 7 years+ in business or accounting

• Forward-thinking: wants to be ready for when the business scales.

• Skeptical: will listen to your pitch, but wonder about ROI and if the tech is “real"

Importance of Personas

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◦ Harder to focus your team

◦ Marketers need personas to “get in the head” of their DM

◦ Sales people need to train so they are offering the right value

◦ Product designers need to build for this user, understand their “triggers"

Using data from your CRM

◦ Most sales leaders will tell you how great a CRM is… but actually your CRM probably has a ton of distracting data.

◦ At LeadGenius, our CRM has a ton of data that we track, but at the simplest level are job titles.

Using data from your CRM to build in-depth buyer personas:

Marketing 33%

Sales 33%

CEO33%

LeadGenius Customer Breakdown

Using Data from your CRM (continued)

High level might not be that interesting yet…

• But, here’s how to focus on tracking to build a persona:

◦ Rather than look for the title of the main decision maker, look for the titles associated with accounts above the average contract value (ACV).

◦ Look for the accounts that are closing slower than most or have a higher sales cycle than typical.

◦ Ask your salespeople to get started.

Lasting Effects…

◦ There are other good bi-products too:

▪ Personas can be a guide post to see if your market has changed.

▪ Personas can help you determine client alignment too.

The greatest benefit of building out Buyer Personas is sales and marketing alignment.

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Ryan Buckley

Co-Founder & Head of

Sales

Eric MacColl

Director of Marketing

Scripted

Buyer Personas

Content

• Fuels inbound marketing programs

• Guides your messaging• Focuses your marketing efforts• Helps close deals

Understand Your Buyer Personas Before Creating Content


Don’t create content here


Nurture

Create content here.

“I have my buyer persona, but I need content!”

But there is so much content to create.One sheetsSales decksCase studiesBlog postseBooksWhite PapersSocial Media postsArticlesWebinarsDemosNewslettersEmailsInfographics

So much.

So where to start?

“Get content for each of your buyer stages before you focus on creating content that is vertical or

title specific.”

LATE STAGEMID STAGEEARLY STAGE

Late Stage Content:- Create company specific content to help buyers evaluate your solution

- Pricing comparison- Demos- Case studies- Reviews

Mid Stage Content:- Focus around buyers who are looking for your solution

- Buying guides- Definitive guides- Analyst reports- White Papers

Early Stage Content:- Build brand awareness, become a thought leader in the industry

- Blog posts- eBooks- Lists- Infographics- Webinars


How to create content to boost your marketing.

How the smartest

marketers are outsourcing

content creation.

How Scripted’s content increased 42Floors’ traffic by

148%

“content marketing” “outsource content”

“Scripted’s content”

LATE STAGE

MID STAGE

EARLY STAGE Persona 1 Persona 2 Persona 3 Persona 4

Persona 1 Persona 2 Persona 3 Persona 4

Persona 1 Persona 2 Persona 3 Persona 4

Your Content Matrix

LATE STAGE

MID STAGE

EARLY STAGE Persona 1 Persona 2 Persona 3 Persona 4

Persona 1 & 2 Persona 3 & 4

Persona 1 & 2 & 3 & 4

Your Content Matrix

Buyer Personas Guide Our Content

Title: Account Manager/Executive, Client Manager, Project Manager, Tech SpecialistAgency Size: 5 - 100Scene:Owner of client/project. Needs to deliver content to client as part of larger project. Making his client happy is job #1. May have writing resources available but needs to supplement.

Persona: Account Manager Andy

Key Problems:1. I need to provide my client with niche content that I don’t have

a writing resource for2. I’ve struggled with freelancing to find the right level of quality3. I don’t have time to find and manage writers

Buyer Personas Guide Our Content


How Do You Create This Content?

Writing Content Is More Than Just Writing

Planning

Writing

EditingPublishing

Promoting

Content Marketing Roles

Writing Is The Most Commonly Outsourced Function By Marketers

Ryan’s Sales Team

Sales Rep

Sales Rep

Sales Rep

Sales Rep

Sales Rep

Sales Rep

Sales Rep

88% of opportunities from inbound marketing programs

Buyer personas drive messaging

Pursue Inbound MQLs

How Does Scripted’s Sales Team Leverage Content?

How Have Things Changed Since You Started Scripted?

Summary

1. Understanding buyer personas will guide your content strategy

2. Start with creating the fundamental content for your three stages (early, middle, late)

3. Create late stage content internally, but leverage one of the many content solutions to help you create content more efficiently.

4. Train your sales team to speak to leads drive by content

Questions?



The Science of Building Actionable Buyer

Personas

