Really effective marketers have mastered two modes of thinking – forwards and backwards. Following in the footsteps of your buyer is thinking forwards. Deriving your overall marketing goals from your revenue targets is thinking backwards. I’ve found that most marketers are not especially good at either because they spend their days spinning their wheels slogging through piles of marketing tasks. Decent marketers may have a forwards or backwards mindset. Great marketers do both. As I sat … [Read more...]
13 Questions to Jump-start Your Buyer Persona Research
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...]
Be the Buyer Day: An Easy New Year’s Resolution
Every marketer knows they should know their customer, but few truly make the effort. It’s hard and takes commitment. Customers are busy and can be maddeningly difficult to get on the phone. A sales rep may not want someone from Marketing talking to their customer. Marketing teams can be so busy with internal meetings their existing workload that finding the time can be a chore. Like many New Year’s resolutions, putting the customer first is obvious, we know it’s good for us, and yet…Just like … [Read more...]
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