Using Buyer Personas to Connect with Different Types of Pet Owners Dhanashree Kankanwade June 30, 2020 Pets, Relationship 3384 When it comes to attracting pet owners to your business, it’s worthwhile to invest in the right marketing strategies. However, you can’t just cast a wide net and expect every single pet owner on the planet to patronize your business. That’s because there are several different kinds of pet parents out in the world, each with their own likes, dislikes, interests, wants, and needs. Hence, the key to successfully promoting your business is to appeal to specific audience subsets. This means that you need to get a better idea of each type of customer that you’d like to cater to. But to begin understanding one’s customers, you must become intimately familiar with them first. A great way to do this is to create comprehensive profiles to describe your ideal customers in detail. These are more commonly known as buyer personas. Done properly, they can help you laser-focus your messaging so that you can connect and engage with your target market. If you want to learn how to craft your own buyer personas, read on for more information. The Importance of Buyer Personas As previously mentioned, creating clear buyer personas can help sharpen your content marketing strategy and add more depth to your ads. By knowing what kind of pet owners are most likely to buy your products, you can purposely structure your content to appeal to them. For example, you could try promoting personalized dog blankets to pet owners who prioritize their canine friend’s comfort above all else. Meanwhile, if you plan to target pet owners with busy lifestyles, you can create another version of the ad that emphasizes how easy the customization process can be. In addition, buyer personas can help you identify potential pet-related products you can develop to meet the needs of your ideal buyers. You can also use this information to curate your existing product range or at least refocus your current marketing tactics. Crafting your Buyer Personas If you want to correctly identify your ideal customers, it’s best not to make assumptions and allow your findings speak for themselves. Thus, you’ll want to collect as much information as you can so that you can develop your buyer personas more objectively. So start compiling every piece of data you have, such as your sales reports and existing customer database. Don’t forget to include analytics from your business website and social media accounts as well as results from surveys and interviews. Based on the data that you’ve gathered, you can begin creating unique avatars based on common patterns that you’ve observed. Indeed, you may be surprised to find a common thread between certain types of customers, particularly when it comes to their desires, location, income, interests, and more. Once you’re done, assign a specific name and photo to each avatar you’ve developed. These details can further humanize your buyer personas, making it easier for you and your team to craft messaging that will connect with them. And the more you can flesh out your buyer personas, the better. Involving your Team Once you’ve completed your initial buyer persona drafts, make sure to get the opinions of your sales and customer service teams. Since they typically interact firsthand with your existing customers, they’ll be able to tell you whether your avatars are accurate or not. After getting their feedback, make any necessary edits, fact-check everything, and ask your sales and customer service teams for their input once more. Repeat the process until you’re confident that you’ve developed well-rounded buyer personas. Don’t Forget the Pets For businesses in the pet care industry, you’ll likely end up creating more than one buyer persona. This is because the segmentation of different pet owners can vary depending on all sorts of factors. For instance, you’ll need to know the kind of animal they own as well as how much experience they have as pet owners. In some cases, though, you may want to go as far as profiling their pets as well. After all, no two pets are exactly alike. Pet parents, in particular, are privy to their pets’ unique personalities and habits, which can influence their purchasing decisions. At times, pet owners may even go out of their way to prioritize their pet’s needs over their own. So make sure to take all this into account by describing specific types of pets in your marketing and communication strategies. If properly executed, buyer personas can give you a better understanding of what makes your buyers tick. Truly, creating these avatars can be a worthwhile investment, as they can inform you whether your marketing campaigns are on the right track or not. So keep all these tips and tricks in mind as you start crafting your own customer avatars. Most importantly, be open to the possibility that your ideal buyers may evolve over time. By doing so, you’re sure to attract pet parents who are likely to support your brand for years to come. SHARE THIS POST