The best way to understand what people want is to get to know them. Businesses are beginning to re-embrace this truth, and to realize that Big Data reveals only part of the customer's story. Marketing surveys have indicated that, within the next couple of years, at least 80 percent of all marketers will be using buyer personas to define their audiences and guide business strategies. Those who have already tried the technique have been amazed by its ease and value, yet, for many, buyer personas are still not translating to increased business. Buyer Personas is a long-awaited how-to guide for marketers who want to implement buyer-expert marketingeffectively.

Creating buyer personas is the process of conducting one-on-one interviews with customers to get a handle on their mind-sets, understand their purchasing decisions, and build three-dimensional profiles of real buyers. But how are these interviews conducted? And then what? Buyer Personas addresses these questions in a concise and refreshingly relatable way. Adele Revella hopscotches over fads and hysteria to prove that asking customers about their decisionsand then systematically analyzing their answersis one of the most powerful strategies around.

"Know your customer" is an adage as old as marketing itself, but, in the digital era, many are forgetting this timeless truth. Although it's possible to gather mountains of information on just about anything, no amount of data will help marketers understand customers as wellor as quicklyas simply listening. Interview a customer tomorrow morning, and by tomorrow afternoon you will have robust new knowledge of how your buyers think, without any of the pitfalls that accompany less people-centered approaches.

Buyer Personas provides immediately actionable, step-by-step procedures and answers to the questions that marketers ask as they begin to build and use buyer personas. Beginning with the principles of buyer persona marketing, then proceeding to a practical method for contract or in-house buyer persona development, the book concludes with the most crucial elementmaking use of buyer personas once they have been generated. Countless examples show that this last step is where too many marketing executives fall short. They focus on the goal of creating buyer personas without a clear plan that guarantees a useful outcome. The third section ofBuyer Personas assures that the buyer persona initiative leads to sales and marketing activities that measurably impact business goals.

The best way to understand what people want is to get to know them. Businesses are beginning to re-embrace this truth, and to realize that Big Data reveals only part of the customer’s story. Marketing surveys have indicated that, within the next couple of years, at least 80 percent of all marketers will be using buyer personas to define their audiences and guide business strategies. Those who have already tried the technique have been amazed by its ease and value, yet, for many, buyer personas are still not translating to increased business. Buyer Personas is a long-awaited how-to guide for marketers who want to implement buyer-expert marketing effectively.

Creating buyer personas is the process of conducting one-on-one interviews with customers to get a handle on their mind-sets, understand their purchasing decisions, and build three-dimensional profiles of real buyers. But how are these interviews conducted? And then what? Buyer Personas addresses these questions in a concise and refreshingly relatable way. Adele Revella hopscotches over fads and hysteria to prove that asking customers about their decisions―and then systematically analyzing their answers―is one of the most powerful strategies around.

“Know your customer” is an adage as old as marketing itself, but, in the digital era, many are forgetting this timeless truth. Although it’s possible to gather mountains of information on just about anything, no amount of data will help marketers understand customers as well―or as quickly―as simply listening. Interview a customer tomorrow morning, and by tomorrow afternoon you will have robust new knowledge of how your buyers think, without any of the pitfalls that accompany less people-centered approaches.

Buyer Personas provides immediately actionable, step-by-step procedures and answers to the questions that marketers ask as they begin to build and use buyer personas. Beginning with the principles of buyer persona marketing, then proceeding to a practical method for contract or in-house buyer persona development, the book concludes with the most crucial element―making use of buyer personas once they have been generated. Countless examples show that this last step is where too many marketing executives fall short. They focus on the goal of creating buyer personas without a clear plan that guarantees a useful outcome. The third section of Buyer Personas assures that the buyer persona initiative leads to sales and marketing activities that measurably impact business goals.