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17.11.2022

Buyer Personas

TARGET GROUPS & BUYER PERSONA

 

EXCURSUS: BUYING A CAR

Your family needs a car with a large trunk for the stroller & Co.
You want to get advice for the new family station wagon at your new car dealer. 
On the spot, you describe your needs to the salesman.
But suddenly, during the conversation, he imaginatively takes you on a fantastic convertible drive in high summer with the wind blowing around your nose...
You love the story, but the advertised vehicle model does not meet your requirements. Dissatisfied and misunderstood, you walk away from the consultation. 
The consultant stays behind and wonders why he is not selling the car....

The sales consultant has lost sight of the target group.
That's why it's so important to know, understand and properly address your target group.

 
 

Target group analysis

With the target group analysis, you get to know your own target group, their needs, lifestyles, buying motives, in order to use precisely fitting content and marketing measures. Since the target group changes due to environmental changes (inflation, ...), this analysis should be repeated regularly.
 
 
1. Demographic and socio-economic characteristics can be analyzed for people (B2C)
- Age
- Marital status
- Gender
- Education
- Occupation
- Income level
- Place of residence or catchment area
- Language
 
From this you can deduce a target group: 
Married men aged 30 to 40 with a medium income, working in administration. 
 
 
In the B2B sector, the following characteristics lend themselves to investigation:
- Company size
- Branch of business
- Finance
 
2. With this knowledge you can answer further questions about possible buying behavior (behavioral characteristics)
The delineation of the target group is the basis for the next step, in which the individual characteristics and consumer behavior are examined. Answering the following possible questions will help:
- Why does this target group buy?
- What exactly does it already buy?
- Which sales channels does the target group use?
- Who or what influences the target group in its purchasing decision?
- Does the target group have brand preferences?
- How often does the target group buy?
- On what occasion or at what time does the target group buy?
- What price does the target group pay (price)?
- What income is available to the target group (price)? 
 
 
3. How do you reach the target group (psychographic characteristics)?
Knowing psychographic characteristics is the best way to reach your target group, because you know their attitudes, preferences, values, character traits.
Examples of these characteristics are hobbies, lifestyle, attitude towards health or environment, curiosity or more conservative attitude. 
 

4. Create the buying persona
The results of this target group analysis are summarized in the next step - in so-called buying personas. This can result in several personas, which can then be addressed differently, effectively and precisely.

- Name
- Background
- Demographics
- Attitudes
- Goals and Objectives
- Challenges

 

(Grafik: AKI-Kommunikation e.K.)

 

Methods of information gathering

If you do not want to settle for a fictitious target group, but really want to know your future customers, different methods are available. In the best case, these methods are combined and complement each other.
 
Online research
As a first, general start, online research can be used, which is regularly updated and focuses on specific topics. Reliable sources include the German Federal Statistical Office and Statista. These searches can be carried out quickly and are inexpensive. The disadvantage: they are rather general. 
However, you can also investigate the visitors of your website via Google Analytics regarding age, gender, regional origin.
 
Surveys
With digital surveys (e.g. SurveyMonkey, Onlineumfragen.com) you can quickly get specific answers with relatively little effort. When asking questions, you should think carefully about what statements you want to be able to make. The clearer the questions, the better the results can be used afterwards. To do this, write to your existing customers or those who have migrated - important information can be obtained from both.
 
Interviews
Interviews give the results a special depth that other shorter surveys cannot provide. As a result, they are of very high quality and meaningful. However, the effort required depends to a large extent on the size of the group of people included. The more people interviewed, the more meaningful the results. However, the effort required increases considerably with each interview.
If you would like to do your own research, you can consult Google Analytics: Among other things, the tracking tool provides you with information on the age and gender of visitors to your website or even information on their origin.

 

 

 

Article written by: BH - 17.11.22

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