Buyer Personas research work has existed for decades, but unfortunately, B2C and B2B companies are still not conducting this research on a mass scale, which is unfortunate, since it's important for implementation into a company's website structure for success in driving leads, thus sales.
Why does Buyer Personas research work matter to a site structure? Because Buyer Personas research helps Digital Marketers to understand what is important and what is not important to buyers when conducting to distinguish a company's products from another.
Don't Assume
Most marketers and sales people assume that they know who their buyers are of their company's products and services, but many times, they don't really know why potential buyers select their competitors over them or understand what are the triggers that help buyer's during their journey in the selection of new products.
It has been rare that I have worked with a company that truly understood why their company was not ultimately chosen by a buyer or what that buyer needed to help as criteria to select a product. Many times, marketers and sales people will make assumptions that buyers need specific types of content during the buying journey, but may not realize that a buyer can be further down the process and may need more marketing collateral, during the middle of the sales funnel, rather than at the beginning of the funnel.
Beginning of the Leads Funnel vs. Middle of the Sales Funnel
Infographics and white papers are great for buyers that are at the beginning of their buyer's journey, but buyers that are further along in their 'research mode' of new products, want more data, so a webinar may be more appropriate for this type of buyer that's in the middle of the journey. Buyer Personas research can offer marketers better understanding of where buyer's are in their research process, when they reach a website, which then allows the marketer to create better online user paths on the site with the appropriate collateral triggers. Without the research, marketers are just guessing what they should provide and how they should provide the materials to the potential buyers.
Digital Marketers, invest into Buyer Personas research work, it could make the difference of scaling the company's business, converting more leads, and maybe saving your jobs.