Smart marketers know that the foundation of a successful marketing campaign is, first and foremost, identifying your target market. Not knowing who you are marketing to can leave you high and dry. You’ll waste money and time and your ROI will remain low. Having a buyer persona that is too broad, lax or non-existent is the first nail in your business’ coffin. You need to know who your customers are, what they care about and what motivates them. Most of all, you need to be authentic.

“It’s not business to consumer, it’s not business to business, it’s people to people.” – Brian Solis, Principal Analyst, Altimeter Group

Below is an in-depth analysis of two proven and prosperous ways to help you establish your target market and keep your audience interested in your brand.

1. Create a Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is a fictional person who represents a business’s ideal customer. The purpose of having a buyer persona to refer to is so that you have a clear idea of the individual you want to attract. Businesses may have one, two or even four or five buyer personas.

The purpose of a buyer persona is so your teams can focus on your ideal customer when writing content, sending out emails and creating a new product. You will know which customers to target. A detailed buyer persona will produce higher conversion rates than a less focused customer description.

Reach Out to Your Customers

Get on the phone, pound the sidewalk and speak to your customers. Talk to them one-on-one so that you get a thorough understanding of who they are and what they want. Additionally, create a survey and email it, upload it to your website, or post it on social media. You need to collect as much information as possible.

If you are a startup and have no existing customers, speak with your competitor’s customers. You can talk with them directly, or simply read online reviews.

Speaking with your customers helps you determine persona characteristics. These typically include:

• Demographics: Age, gender, job role, education
• Identifiers: Personality traits
• Interests: Likes and dislikes, hobbies outside of work
• Goals: Both personal and professional
• Objections: Common values that your customer perceives as an obstruction to purchasing

Build a Customer Avatar

You have the information, but now what? It’s time to create your customer avatar. Write down everything you know relating to your ideal customer.No long-winded paragraphs; keep it short and sweet. Have an image of your typical customer and include this person’s job title. You can even provide a name.

There is no set template for you to use. However, bullet points, a quick bio and the inclusion of bar graphs can be easy to digest and visualize. Xtensio’s User Persona Creator is simple to use with many modules available.

2. Don’t Forget About Your Existing Customers

You have an existing customer base and established target marketing, but your research does not end there. Only two percent of first-time web traffic converts to a sale. Even with a buyer persona in place, sales are not a guarantee.

If your customers are arriving at your website but are failing to make a purchase, what should you do? Retargeting your customers through well-placed and relevant ads can entice them to return to your website and make a purchase.

Retargeting a consumer who has already shown interest in your product and/or service can help you enhance your buyer persona so that you know the journey your customers take on your website. This can help you better understand your existing target market better. The specialists at Digital Mark Group offers retargeting services so that you can encourage the user (a potential customer) to return to your website through ads.

According to e-marketer, 89% of consumers feel positive or neutral about retargeted ads, so your ads need to be relevant to your target audience. For the ads to work properly, don’t forget to refer back to your buyer persona. Retargeting needs a strategy; you should not use it independently.