A handy guide to creating your buyer personas in a digitally-driven company. About Incisive Edge: It’s a digital jungle out there - agencies clamouring for your attention, new technologies, multi- channel, big data, content marketing, the list just goes on and on. It requires a Herculean effort just to stay abreast of what’s going on, never mind get anything done. We do one thing. We identify the digital activities you actually need (and get rid of those you don’t) to meet your commercial objectives and integrate into one strategic plan. We then execute that plan to drive brand awareness, interest, engagement and ultimately, conversions. Because we provide an integrated digital approach, we are channel-agnostic. That means, we use the channels that will work best for you, not those that we want to sell. We’re even prepared to share the risk with you. We act as your commercial and strategic partner and take the journey with you. Digital animals - commercial experts, helping you to achieve your commercial objectives in today’s marketing-led world. When you’re lost in a jungle, follow the big gorilla.

1. Digital animals – commercial experts
Create your Buyer
Personas

2. Buyer personas
A persona is a research-based representation of your client

3. Buyer personas: why do you need them?
In a 2013 study by IBM:
• 33% of CEO’s are out of touch with customers
• 76% of executives want to know their customers better
• 60% of buyers complete the purchasing journey on their own
The internet has forever changed how organisations engage with customers. You have to
ask yourself the question. How well does your team know the customer?
The buyer persona answers that question

4. Buyer personas: why do you need them?
Buyer personas are critical for the following reasons:
1. To introduce a more customer-centric way of thinking across the company
2. To improve your customer acquisition effectiveness through an understanding of the buyer’s pain
3. To allow sales & marketing teams to focus on the decision-makers within a target company –
together with the key influencers
4. To help your sales & marketing teams understand the subtle distinctions between different roles
in the buying process
5. To build your pipeline through more targeted and more effective messaging
6. To allow you to create compelling product packages & pricing schemes for prospects in your
target market segments
7. To enhance product & services delivery to improve customer retention

5. Buyer personas
The very first question to ask:
What problems are your clients trying to solve – the pain points?
Product/Service Area 1
Top 3 problems:
1.
2.
3.
Product/Service Area 2
Top 3 problems:
1.
2.
3.
Product/Service Area 3
Top 3 problems:
1.
2.
3.
Product/Service Area 4
Top 3 problems:
1.
2.
3.

6. Buyer personas
What solutions do you offer to meet those pain points?
Product/Service Area 1
Top 3 problems:
1.
2.
3.
Solutions
1.
2.
3.
4.

7. Buyer personas: summary persona
• Effectively the CEO of a law firm
• Reports to the partnership
• Spends about half her time as a practicing lawyer
• Administration is a part time job at sub 20 person
firm
• Core technology decisions are made by the
partnership, but the MP sets the agenda & has a
strong voice
• Needs a product that balances economics &
functionality
Example company: Law firm looking for a billing platform
Managing Partner

8. Buyer personas: summary persona
• Reports to Head of Operations, or at smaller firms
the MP
• Oversees IT team of approximately 3% of headcount
• May use outside IT services for after-hours help
• Responsible for discovery & evaluation of new
technologies. Presents recommendations to
partnership
• Few in-house resources. Wants something that
works out of the box and can be customised to user
level
Example company: Law firm looking for a billing platform
Head of IT

9. Buyer personas: broader persona
Business Role:
• Acts as the CEO of the law firm. In IT Assist’s under 30 people
law firm segment this is often a part-time job. They spend
about half their time as a practicing lawyer & half on firm
administration
• She has diverse responsibilities including client facing
activities, PR, supplier management & financial administration
• This involves overseeing & approving the firm’s billable hours
Example company: Law firm looking for a billing platform
Managing Partner
Buying Role:
• If the firm has a Head of IT, the MP & the Head of IT make up
the core buying committee & have relatively equal power
• Otherwise decisions are made by a vote of the partners, in
which the MP has the final vote
• As they have limited administrative staff, the MP is the key
person in the buying process
Use of the Software:
• The MP is the only person in the law firm who uses
both the legal & Administrator portals if the billing
software
Key Criteria:
• Must be web-accessible to allow lawyers to bill from
the road or from home
• Needs to integrate with the financial system, which
the MP uses frequently
• The MP does not have a technical background so the
system needs to be intuitive, out of the box
dashboards & analytics, but also customisable
Existing Solution:
• Most small law firms currently use Microsoft Excel to
keep track of their hours

10. Buyer personas: buyer insight map
Buyer Persona
& Mindset
Buyer Goals Buyer Drivers
Buyer
Behaviours
Buyer Choice
Buyer
Governance
The Mind of the
Buyer Persona
Collection of insights,
perceptions,
attitudes & beliefs
Personal Goals
for Segment
Business goals for
segment
Top of Mind
Drivers
Influencing
behaviours &
decisions
Perceptions
Influencing
Behaviours &
Decisions
Choices
Influencing
Decisions
Why they buy
patterns
Consequences &
payoffs
Budget, Process
& Policies
Challenges
influencing
behaviours

11. Buyer personas: buyer persona canvas
Who are our buyers?
Target audience?
Which markets are they
found in?
What is their background
& experience?
What is the balance of
their professional &
personal lives
What are their areas of
focus & responsibilities
What are their roles in
the organisation?
BUYER PERSONA &
MINDSET
BUYER GOALS BUYING DRIVERS BUYER PROCESS
BUYING
BEHAVIOURS
What are our buyer’s
goals?
What are our buyer’s
personal goals?
What organisational goals
affect their buying
behaviours?
What events within the
target company will
trigger interest in your
solution?
What are the drivers for
their decisions?
What is their end to end
buying cycle?
What buying process do
our buyer’s follow?
What is their buyer’s
journey – AIDA?
How does procurement
govern the buying
process?
Which factors hurt/help
us on the part of buyers?
What perceptions &
beliefs do our buyers
have?
How does buyer thinking
affect buying behaviour?

12. Buyer personas: buyer persona canvas
How do our buyers make
choices?
What risks affect buying
choices?
How does buyer thinking
affect ‘why’ choices?
What are the ‘why’
reasons for decisions?
BUYER CHOICE
BUYER
GOVERNANCE
BUYER CHANNELS
INFLUENCERS &
STAKEHOLDERS
CONTENT &
INFORMATION
What are the initiatives of
our buyers?
What are the strategies
of our buyers & industry?
Which programmes &
projects are important?
What are their policies?
What are their budgets?
How does their formal
planning process affect
timings?
Which channels do our
buyers use?
Where are our buyers to
be found socially?
What external sources do
they frequent?
What are the seasonal
patterns of our buyers?
Who are the key
stakeholders?
Who are the internal
influencers?
Who participates on the
buying team?
What role does buyer
persona have on the
buying team?
Who participates in the
approval process?
What information & data
references do buyers rely
on?
How do buyers utilise &
share content?
What types of content
affects purchase
decisions?
What do content buyers
seek & when?
How do buyers obtain &
seek information?

13. Buyer persona: group
Exercise: Divide your subjects into buyer personas
1. Their role in the buying
process
How much decision
making authority do they
have?
When do they become
involved?
Who do they influence &
who are they influenced
by?
Are they an economic or
technical buyer?
2. Their job function &
responsibilities
What is their core
function?
Who do they report to &
who reports to them?
Are they a user of the
product?
What is their level of
technical knowledge or
sophistication?
3. Their most important
buying criteria
What features do they
need?
What characteristics e.g.
performance, matter to
them
4. Their use of the
product
How much or how often
do they use your product?
What features do they
use?
What specific problems
do they use it to address?

14. Buyer persona: buyer personas
Ultimately the key goal in deciding on personas is for each persona to require different treatment
in marketing & sales

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e: growth@incisive-edge.com
w: www.incisive-edge.com
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