Interviews are critical to developing a good buyer persona. Actually speaking with the buyers can uncover insights that would never come to light otherwise. Simply creating a persona via research, using demographics, is a waste of time. You need to understand how they think, not just who they are. Many marketers never take this step. Contacting real buyers is a difficult and challenging task. And what do you ask them? Here are 13 questions to get you started, followed by a format for compiling … [Read more...]
SaaS and the Buyer Persona Imperative
I came across something recently that really struck me. In reading Peter Levine's "SaaS Manifesto," I was surprised to learn that half of all SaaS purchasing decisions are now made or influenced by operating departments, like Sales, HR and Marketing. Now, I know Sales VPs have always had a say in which CRM to buy, and I read IBM's study from a few years back on CMOs on track to spend more than CIOs on technology. I am also well aware of (and complicit in) the "consumerization of IT" trend. But … [Read more...]
Want to learn even more about marketing?