The idea of this presentation is to create a current snapshot of the ongoing development of the discipline of buyer persona modelling. 

As a consultant for customer centered marketing I do buyer persona interviews for clients and I personally believe, that persona modeling is an indispensible fundament of every kind of customer centered marketing no matter if it is outbound marketing oriented or inbound marketing focused. 

This presentation gives an expert view on "best practices" for buyer persona development, the insights are coming from an interview with the leading subject-matter experts for buyer persona modeling.

1. KONTEXTB2B
Key Facts About Buyer Persona
Development
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Need Buyer Persona Development for the German market? Contact: www.KONTEXTB2B.de

2. KONTEXTB2B The idea of the presentation
The idea of this presentation is to create a current snapshot of the ongoing development of the
discipline of buyer persona development.
!
As a consultant for customer centered marketing I work with the concept of personas and I
personally believe, that persona modeling is an indispensible fundament of every kind of customer
centered marketing no matter if it is outbound marketing oriented or inbound marketing focused.
!
But that´s just my personal opinion.To create a more objective understanding and hopefully a
comprehensive view of "best practices" for buyer persona development, I asked the leading subject-
matter experts to find out what they have to say about persona modeling.
Presentation based on an interview with Adele Revella, Ardath Albee and Tony Zambito.

3. KONTEXTB2B User Personas according to Wikipedia
„In marketing and user-centered design, personas are fictional characters created to represent the
different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude and/or behavior set that might use a site,
brand or product in a similar way.
!
Marketers may use personas together with market segmentation, where the qualitative personas are
constructed to be representative of specific segments. ...
!
A user persona is a representation of the goals and behavior of a hypothesized group of users. In
most cases, personas are synthesized from data collected from interviews with users.They are
captured in 1–2 page descriptions that include behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and
environment, with a few fictional personal details to make the persona a realistic character.
!
For each product, more than one persona is usually created, but one persona should always be the
primary focus for the design.“

4. KONTEXTB2B whats important about Personas
Adele Revella: The Wikipedia entry is about user personas, a tool for product designers and engineers to
guide decisions about how to design and build a product.While this entry mentions that marketers use
personas, it fails to clarify that marketers need buyer personas, or that the content for this type of persona is
quite different. Because user personas guide usability decisions, information about „behavior patterns, goals,
skills, and environment“ is relevant. For buyer personas, we want to know how our marketing can persuade
people, so we need these five insights:
!
• Priority Initiatives:Three-to-five problems or initiatives where this buyer persona is dedicating time,
budget and political capital.
• Success Factors:Tangible or intangible rewards that your buyer persona wants to achieve as a result of
buying your solution.
• Perceived Barriers: Reasons your buyer persona believes that your solution would not be the best way to
achieve the Success Factors.
• Buying Process: Resources and steps your buyer persona relies upon to assess available options and make
a final decision.
• Decision Criteria: The aspects of the product, service, solution or company that this buyer persona
evaluates during the Buying Process

5. KONTEXTB2B whats important about Personas
Ardath Albee: Since I work in a strictly B2B environment, I think it’s important to point out that personas
are also representative of the company, and even the industry they work within. For example, a CEO for a
small business will have different objectives than a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.AVP of sales in financial
services will have different goals than one that works for a manufacturing company.Their are many variables
that can be addressed in buyer persona modeling that are dependent on the objectives of each company
developing them.Additionally, there are differences between how you’d create a buyer persona for acquiring a
new customer than you would when developing a persona for an existing customer. Each one has a different
status quo that will serve as a starting point.
!
As for the statement that, „one persona should always be the primary focus for the design.“ I agree. In B2B
marketing, the primary persona is the decision maker and the others play influential roles in how that decision
gets made. But I would emphasize that personas cannot be created in a vacuum. Each persona will impact the
others and their development should be pursued in regards to the interactivity that could take place.

6. KONTEXTB2B whats important about Personas
Tony Zambito: The most important statement people need to gleam from these definitions is that personas
are or rather represent synthesized data collections from interviews with users or buyers. I believe both
definitions fail to mention one of the founding principles of persona development.That to gain the deepest
insights on buyers and users, it requires third party qualitative research.Why? Studies have shown that users
and buyers will have some conscious and unconscious defense mechanisms in play if the direct organization,
meaning the marketer or the producer, is conducting the interviews.This is more true for buyer personas
than ever.
!
Both definitions also fail to mention that original intent of persona modeling was that it was a goal-centered
methodology.With the foundation of goal-based theory behind it. Many of the persona modeling artifacts of
work and writings today do not have this foundational methodology present.
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7. KONTEXTB2B How to extract marketing value
Adele Revella:Accurate modeling of buyer personas requires direct interviews with real buyers.The goal is
insight, or hard-to-find information that gives your company a competitive advantage. If you simply recycle
your company’s current knowledge about your buyers, you will only have a new version of the information
that is already known.
!
To gain access to new, deep insights, Marketers need to conduct a specialized kind of unscripted, agenda-
driven interview with recent buyers.They need to ask their buyer to tell them a story about how and why
they made the decision to choose them, their competitor, or to do nothing at all. Surveys or scripted
questions won’t work because their buyer’s first answer to any question is the answer they already know.
Marketers will need to learn how to listen to an answer and ask engaging follow-up questions, probing for
insights the buyers have not yet shared with their sales people, their competitors, or anyone else.

8. KONTEXTB2B
Ardath Albee: From a minimalistic perspective, the modeling process begins with interviews from the widest
variety of subjects available.This is followed by internal and external research into the industry, the problem
to be resolved, and the competitive solution landscape.The personas to be developed are identified. For each
persona, a „real-life“ scenario is created, objectives, orientation and obstacles for purchase are identified and
questions that the persona would ask in relation to those are mapped across the buying process.Then, web
experiences are modeled to help inform the design of initiatives for the marketing channels that will be used.
How to extract marketing value

9. KONTEXTB2B
Tony: The ideal persona modeling process can vary between user and buyer persona modeling. In general
there are several key steps:
!
1. Selection of the right interview pool
2. Conducting of qualitative interviews which should be more ethnographic in nature
3. Synthesis of the data and key insights
4. Modeling of representative personas reflective of the synthesized data
5. Mapping of personas to meeting user goals or buyer goals
How to extract marketing valueKONTEXTB2B

10. KONTEXTB2B How to Use Buyer Persona insights
Adele Revella: Buyer personas are used to guide every aspect of marketing, including segmentation, targeting,
messaging, marketing mix (placement), launch strategy, and sales enablement.
!
We see the best results when companies start with a specific goal and then build the buyer personas that will
help them achieve that outcome. Buyer personas are a tool, and there is no reason to invest in a tool that you
can’t use right away.Typical starting points are an upcoming launch, campaign or initiative.You should choose
something that the company believes will be difficult to achieve if they do nothing new, as concerns about
success will build support for the work that is needed to gain the needed persona insights.

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Ardath Albee: The usual next step is to undertake a comprehensive content audit and map existing content
across the buying process according to fit, relevance, and timing. Gaps are identified and opportunities for
new content and content refresh needs are determined. Based on channels and storyline, a content strategy is
developed, guided by the persona.An editorial calendar is created and plans for content development and
execution are put into play and tied closely to key performance indicators (KPIs) that prove the impact of
marketing initiatives on business objectives. It should also not be forgotten that personas in a B2B complex
sales environment have overlays and those will need to be determined and addressed to create a compelling
buying experience for the buying commmittee, as a whole.
How to Use Buyer Persona insights

12. KONTEXTB2B
Tony Zambito: The process of modeling buyers has an important goal in mind: to inform strategic planning in
three areas:
!
1. Customer (Buyer) Strategy
2. Marketing Strategy
3. Sales Strategy
!
It should help an organization understand who are their ideal buyers, how to map to their goals, how to
develop information and processes that help buyers accomplish their goals within the buying process, and
address the strategic plans and compelling issues that buyers are faced with.
How to Use Buyer Persona insightsKONTEXTB2B

13. KONTEXTB2B How should be in charge for Buyer Persona
insights
Adele Revella: Beginning to interview buyers and rely on the buyer personas for decisions requires cultural
change and new skills.We see the greatest success when senior management at theVP or C-level supports
the investments that are needed. But the marketers will need to learn how to interview buyers, consolidate
their findings in buyer personas, and apply the buyer persona insights to their daily decisions.This is not
difficult, any marketer can learn to do this work, but new skills are required.

14. KONTEXTB2B
Ardath Albee: Marketing should actually control the process of persona development, but C-Suite support
and sales team involvement is mandatory.Additionally, involving customers, product managers, customer
service and support, and research and development, as well as channel partners is important for gaining the
most comprehensive view to inform the development of personas.
How should be in charge for Buyer Persona
insights

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Tony Zambito: The overriding principle when I first started buyer persona modeling in 2002 was that it
should be designed to help organizations be informed on how to develop an overall customer strategy.To
achieve this, it requires sponsorship from the C-Suite.What we see today, unfortunately, is that buyer
personas have become prevalent in the domain of content marketing. Meaning they are defined and contained
in only a small sub-section of overall customer strategy.The C-Suite is developing a tool mentality about
buyer personas – seeing them as just a tool for content marketing only.This is detrimental to the true
principles of buyer persona modeling which is reliant on 3rd party qualitative buyer research and
understanding buyer behaviors.
How should be in charge for Buyer Persona
insights
KONTEXTB2B

16. KONTEXTB2B How Can persona modeling Support revenue
growth
Adele Revella: Buyer personas are simply a tool that allows marketers to achieve the results that the CEO
rightfully expects from the team.We expect sales people to spend the time to learn about the needs of their
accounts and build a strategy to win that business. In the same way, marketing needs to understand the needs
of a target segment of buyers and build a competitive strategy before they execute on the programs that
generate revenue and customer demand.The time and money wasted on ineffective programs far exceeds the
investment that is needed to interview buyers and learn about what will work.

17. KONTEXTB2B
Ardath Albee: Personas should be used to inform communications and content strategies across the entire
buying experience and customer lifecycle.The true value of personas is found by using them as a tool to
increase the relevance of your messaging to the people who can become – or are – your customers. Higher
engagement and targeted value delivery lead to purchase decisions in your favor. By addressing the problems
and priorities your personas are responsible for resolving, marketers can achieve swifter pipeline momentum
to shorten sales cycles by helping to get salespeople into the right conversations with the right people at the
right time. Personas can also play a role in helping to improve marketing efficiencies as channels that will not
produce results can be identified and eliminated, thereby avoiding costs.
How Can persona modeling Support revenue
growth

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Tony Zambito: Buyer persona modeling helps in the area of providing more accuracy in terms of engaging
the ideal buyers.This should translate into improved ROI in the areas of demand creation, lead nurturing, lead
conversions to sales qualified leads, improved opportuntity management, and improved win rates. Marketers
must be able to track the flow of their efforts to customer acquisitions. It starts with understanding who your
customers are at a deep level. It means making a commitment to 3rd party qualitative buyer research and the
willingness to accept that you may not know everything about the buyer.The insights you gain may very well
mean you will need to change the status quo and develop new approaches and strategies to engage the buyer.
How Can persona modeling Support revenue
growth
KONTEXTB2B

19. KONTEXTB2B Examples of Surpising results of persona
modeling
Adele Revella: There are so many stories, I will choose the most recent one. Just this week, a client learned
that the target buyer persona for one of their products was exactly the opposite of what they thought was
true.The company has three products in this category, one is premium-priced (expensive), one is moderately
priced, and the third is value-priced (very low-cost).The company believed that the low-cost solution was
attractive to relatively uninformed customers who were new in their roles or otherwise unaware of the
benefits of their high-end offering.
Interviews with recent buyers proved that my client was absolutely wrong. In fact, the buyer persona for their
low-cost product is the most educated of all their buyers.The buyer‘s complete understanding of the
technology gives them the confidence to purchase the lower priced solution and save the cost of the
premium product.
This was shocking news for my client.The insight will prevent my client from making mistakes in the branding,
messaging, pricing and feature decisions for all three products in this category.
For anyone involved in buyer personas, this story shows why it is absolutely critical to base buyer personas
on conversations with real buyers, asking lots of follow-up questions about how and why they make decisions.

20. KONTEXTB2B
Ardath Albee: In this example, a marketing team thought they really knew who to focus on with their
marketing initiatives.Their assumption made sense on the surface. Salespeople emphasized their need to gain
access to these individuals. However, when all the research and interviews were completed, it was obvious
that the persona they were targeting was not actively involved in the buying process, but merely needed to be
convinced to sign-off on budget from a direct report.The lesson is to be careful about making assumptions
based on who actually signs the contract. I see this situation occur more often than you may think.
!
Another example is to make sure that your sales team is equipped to have relevant conversations with the
buyer personas that are developed and pursued. During one project, it was discovered that a persona at a
higher level played a key role in the purchase decision. But many of the sales team were not comfortable
speaking with this person based on addressing his/her priorities.We had to put an enablement strategy in
place to bring the sales reps up to speed, quickly.
Examples of Surpising results of persona
modeling

21. KONTEXTB2B
Tony Zambito: I have been involved in both user and buyer persona modeling now for nearly 14 years.And
there have been many surprising game changers as well as more mundane findings that still resulted in game
changing events for organizations. Here is one such example:
!
I worked with a Fortune 100 high-tech organization whose mandate was to develop a C-Suite marketing and
sales strategy for the C-Suite in the healthcare industry.You see this quite often – the mandate to sell to the
C-Suite. After conducting 3rd party qualitative research throughout the country in hospitals, clinics, and
medical centers, we uncovered several key new types of buyer personas that were not seen by the Fortune
100 organization.These new buyer personas were very influential in the emerging areas of healthcare
information technology. Our research and insights, modeled and represented through buyer personas, showed
key executives that a new approach was needed to address these emerging buyer personas.A new strategy
was put into place that resulted in partnering with different organizations to deliver new solutions to
hospitals, clinics, and medical centers.They enjoyed a robust 15% growth in revenues after the first year of
implementing this new strategy.
Examples of Surprising results of persona
modeling
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22. KONTEXTB2B
in alphabetical order
!
• Adele Revella, President of the Buyer Persona Institute and author of the The Buyer Persona
Manifesto. Adele is a leading technology marketer with deep experience in public relations and
product marketing. She has consolidated more than two decades of relevant experiences into a
process that shows marketers how to think like their target audiences, including buyers, customers
and sales people. http://www.buyerpersona.com
!
• Ardath Albee, CEO and B2B marketing strategist for her consulting firm Marketing Interactions.
Author of the book „eMarketing Strategies For The Complex Sale“ and voted as one of the 50
most influential people in Sales Lead Management 2011 http://www.marketinginteractions.com
!
• Tony Zambito, who originated the development of buyer personas in 2002, and further
developed the concept and than founded together with Goal Centric „Buyerology™, the
next evolution of services to help understand buyers at a deeper level, in the form of descriptive as
well as predictive buyer modeling called Business Buyergraphics™. http://tonyzambito.com
Many thanks to the Contributors:

23. KONTEXTB2B
Need Buyer Persona Development for the
German market? ContacT:!
Volker Schnaars
Buyer Persona Consultant
Certified Inbound Marketing Professional
Email: redaktion@kontextb2b.de
Tel.: +4921126161440
Mob.: +491711748793
Fax: +49 3222 3351556
KONTEXTB2B - How To Attract The Modern Customer
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24. KONTEXTB2B
Content Marketing Performance