We often hear about the importance of building buying personas and Tony Zambito gives us a good run down on how to do this effectively in the article below.  I have read lots or articles about the importance of buying personas and yet so few companies do it very effectively.

I was always told that to do this well you just have to tell a potential customer why someone else, just like them bought your goods or services.  Then, stumbling around Sainsburys a few weeks ago I was walking down the toilet paper aisle and took the picture below.  It turns out that this toilet paper manufacturer is trying to get the jump on their competitors by building into their packaging a buyer persona: Linda, 62 from Kent.  She says that it is "The best toilet roll I have used".  How simple is that?  I'm not a 62 year old, nor do I live in Kent, but I thought that was pretty compelling.  Imagine how interested I would be if it had been by Colin, a 39 year old Irishman living in Oxford.

If you have not created any buying personas for your company, maybe it is time to start understanding who buys from your business and creating some buying personas.  Then when people come to your website you can start guiding them into certain areas of your sites that they read about why people "just like them" bought your product.   You can start to tailor the message for your potential clients.  You can also do this with the content you create and distribute and filter who receives what content.

If I am honest, I think Cushelle were probably a bit specific on their buying persona and putting that up front and centre on their packaging - but what is good enough for Linda 62 from Kent is good enough for me and my family.  So I picked up a 12 pack.