In our previous newsletter, we talked about defining your “who”.
If you’ve missed it, you can read about it here.
Now the next step is to read the minds of your “who”
You want to find out:
- What they desire
- What do they fear
- What satisfies them
- What gets them jumping out of their seats
Knowing their thoughts and feelings will allow you to write marketing messages that will connect directly with your “who”.
It allows you to:
- Stand out amongst the sea of marketing messages out there
- To quickly build trust with people who have never heard about your brand, service or product before
This will lead to a lot more sales and growth in your business.
So once you already know who you want to speak to, you want to create user personas.
A one-page user persona of each of your target audiences.
Here’s what it may look like:
Think of it as a Facebook profile, a LinkedIn profile or a dating profile!
In a dating profile, people talk about their likes, dislikes, and who they are looking for.
Similarly, we need to create “dating profiles” for our target audience.
How You Can Structure The Dating Profile
What should your user profile contain?
What should your one-page document contain?
Here are questions and blanks you can consider having on your persona profile…
Name of Person:
Gender:
Age:
Role of Person in Life or Work:
What social platforms do they regularly use:
What do they watch or read:
What are some keywords this person might type to search for your product or service:
What are some problems they experience that make them want your product or service:
What do they want or get from your product or service that will make them rate it a 10/10 experience:
What questions or objections might they have that stop them from buying your product or service:
Why is your product or service important to them:
Here’s what one user profile may look like for a company that sells coffee machines and coffee beans to offices:
Name of Person: Benjamin
Gender: Male
Age: Early 30s
Role of Person in Life or Work: HR Executive
What social platforms do they regularly use: Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube, Google
What do they watch or read: Netflix, People Management Books
What are some keywords this person might type to search for your product or service: Coffee Machine for Offices, Types of Coffee for Offices, Types of Coffee Beans for Offices
What are some problems they experience that make them want your product or service: Currently use a ‘manual’ coffee grinder which can be time-consuming, want to provide some welfare for our team, too many options to choose from
What do they want or get from your product or service that will make them rate it a 10/10 experience: Want a machine that can be low on maintenance, milk-based beverages such as lattes, integrated grinder, easy to use
What questions or objections might they have that stop them from buying your product or service: Is it complicated to use the machine? How do we maintain the machine or clean it? What happens if it breaks down?
Why is your product or service important to them: Important for our company to provide some perks for our team, so we can serve coffee to our visiting clients
How Do You Fill Up The Dating Profile
When it comes to dating, you can understand more about someone from their online profiles.
You may:
- Look for their social media accounts
- Search their name on Google
- Find photos or videos they’ve posted on their social media to get clues
- Or just ask questions during your dinner date!
Similarly, when it comes to your user profile, just ask questions!
This is where surveys can be helpful. Otherwise, you can just call or email your ideal users to ask questions.
As you directly talk to people, you’ll be able to quickly fill out your one-page user profile document.
If you’re not able to speak directly to your users yet, leverage online research.
Here’s a List of 6 Tools/Methods You Can Use to Fill Out Your User Profile Document:
1. Reddit.com
- You can run a quick search on Reddit using some keywords that your user may type to search for your product or service
- For example: If my product is a coffee machine for offices then I’ll search for “coffee machine for offices”
- You can also search using keywords that are related to “Why is your product or service important to them”
- For example: Searching for “How to boost productivity in the office”
- Quick Tip: Be sure to use the filter function when you search. You can filter and sort by “comment count” or “filter by time”.
2. Search on Facebook, Facebook Groups, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other related platforms
- Once you search using your keyword, observe different posts or comments and write them down in your user profile
3. Searching on Google but adding the word “forum” after your main keyword
- Example: Instead of just entering “coffee machine for offices” it’ll be “coffee machine for offices forum”
4. Searching on related Shopping Platforms but observing user reviews
- You’ll want to use the same keyword but observe both the lowest and highest reviews. You’ll quickly get a good sense of what people want and what people don’t want.
- Example: Searching on Amazon.com or any other platform that’s related to your product or service
5. Quora.com
- This platform allows you to see what questions people are asking but this platform can be a little tricky
- It can be tricky because it used to be a platform where questions and answers were authentic
- Now it feels like a platform where people deliberately answer questions so that they can provide answers which link to their product or service (so use it and take it with a pinch of salt!)
6. Prompt Chatgpt to fill out your user persona profile for you
- This be another option but you’ll want to do the groundwork so that you can get a true sense and understanding of what your audience wants
Do note that these tools/methods can change as time goes by. Stay flexible and adjust. There will always be new ways to find out about our “date”. Be open to leveraging them as long as they meet our objective of uncovering their wants and needs.
So how about you? What other tools or methods do you use yourself? What are some ways you do your research? Let me know. I’ll gather and share your responses in a future newsletter.
See you next Tuesday.
Keep moving forward,
Glen Tiew
The Marketing Notebook
