A Lazy Copywriter’s Guide to Creating The Perfect Audience Persona/Buyer Persona
Think of a project you’re working on — a website, a landing page, an ad, or a video. Imagine being so confident about your copy that before it’s shared with the public, you know exactly how it’s going to be well-received.
Feels fantastic, doesn’t it?
The main driver for this confidence? Audience research.
What are your target audience’s desires, aspirations, dreams, and fears?
How do they spend their time?
What are their expectations from your company or product?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you might write for the wrong people.
This may work out in the short run. But finding out who your target audiences are is a critical step in writing good copies.
Unfortunately, it’s also something many beginner Copywriters skip over.
Companies and marketing teams often insist on handing over a ready-made audience persona to the copywriters. Yes, that reduces the workload of the writer. But it also reduces the chances of your audience getting persuaded by the copy.
Creating a well-defined persona is a crucial step towards understanding what people want. It brings content to life and helps you give your audience something relatable to look forward to.
Let’s discuss how to create the perfect audience persona and how to use it in your copywriting strategy.
How to create an audience persona
Your audience persona should have the answers to:
- What are your customers are looking for
- When they are most likely to buy
- What compels them to make a decision
Here are the key considerations for anyone thinking of doing audience research.
1. The first thing to plan is your target audience.
Do thorough research of your customer database. Gather basic details and demographic information like the age group, gender (if applicable), residence, job title, etc. These details need to be based on real-world data, not gut instinct.
You can get this information from tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Audience Insights, etc.
2. Get to know your target audience.
Figure out where your target audience is hanging out online. Learn which social channels they are using. Make a list of industry trade journals, websites, newsletters, Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups — anything you can think of. Social listening is the key.
From here, it’s simply a matter of staying current on what’s happening in the world of your market niches.
3. Check out the competition.
Take some cues from your competition. Search for their top-performing content across social networks. Keep a note of the hashtags used, type of posts, content strategy, etc.
I personally use Buzzsumo to conduct my competitor research.
4. Nail the details.
The best way to do audience research is to talk with the people reading your copy. Take the help of customer surveys. Your salespeople speak to your customers and prospects every day. Ask them to collect reasons, buyer objections, customer experience, etc.
Doing face-to-face interviews is another excellent way to know who your target audience is.
Audience mapping
Audience mapping is a way of looking at general market trends to find out where opportunities may exist. But when it comes to copywriting, it helps work out how much information to include when writing about particular things. What do you think others want to know about the product.
What to include in an audience persona?
- Key Demographics: Age, Gender, Channels, Job Title, etc.
- Pain Points: Identify the pain points. What problems or hassles are your potential customers trying to solve? What’s holding them back?
- Goals: Goals are the flipside of pain points. These are your audience’s aspirations and positive things they want to achieve. What motivates them? What is their end goal?
- Needs and Desires: What does your audience need right now? How time-sensitive is this need?
- How you can help solve their products: Here’s where your product/service comes from. List out the features that solve your audience’s pain points. List out the benefits that align with their needs. Consider your product/service from the audience’s point of view and write down everything you like.
These details might be personal or professional, depending on the product/service you are selling. Need help? Refer to these buyer persona examples to get started.
Look at the audience persona example below. It is detailed, nails down all the requirements, and easy to understand.
Stick to the needs and desires mentioned in the audience persona. Identify the story you want to tell, then take those needs and translate them into telling the story so that the audience will find it compelling and relatable.
If you want to try selling a new benefit or product line, create a brand new audience persona.
Remember:
Be committed to the research from the beginning. The process can take a significant amount of time and resources. Be ready to invest.
Refresh your audience persona every week. The more you know about your audience, the more likely your content will connect with them. By understanding your audience’s wants and needs, you’ll be more likely to touch on those feels and drive sales.
