Kicking off the new year with 2 cents of something to add to your ideal customer profile and personas.
Firstly, Happy New Year, thanks for reading!
As you know, building an ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer personas is foundational work we need to do to inform our marketing strategy.
As I’ve talked about variously here and on the Rockstar CMO podcast, I approach personas based on needs and their values (for example, if they are risk averse), and consider where these personas sit on the buying journey, then cluster them based on those things rather than on job titles. All the while trying to keep the number of personas to a tight few that are recognisable and addressable.
This then gives us a good set of needs that we can start to address with our content, in their context and in the right brand tone, and create stuff that is helpful to them, so they may look at us favorably when it comes time to buy.
Summarising wildly here; you know the drill.
But, that’s not the point of this week’s post – I’ve been thinking about the moment of need as something to add to this ICP/persona mix.
We B2B marketers tend to assume that people need our product, probably because it’s industry-leading, innovative, data-driven and, as it’s 2024, probably powered by AI. I’m kidding, but at what moment did someone decide they needed to change?
For example, I have double glazing at home as we got burgled. My wife and I had been umming and ahhing about replacing our old wooden windows, and a few years ago, we went on holiday, and some little bugger made the decision for us by jemmying open a small back window. That was our moment of need for more secure windows.
As we review our ICP and all the personas that make up a modern B2B buying committee – what is that moment for them with your product?
Fancy more of this?
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I’m a 3xCMO, now a marketing strategy advisor and podcast host at Rockstar CMO. Although, I’m not a rock star, but a marketing leader, strategist, content marketer, columnist, speaker, industry watcher, and creator of ART (Awareness, Revenue, and Trust) for the companies I work with. But most of all, I am an enthusiastic tea drinker.
You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, or now Threads! – or listen to my weekly podcast at Rockstarcmo.com
The half-baked thoughts shared on this blog may not reflect those of my employer or clients, and if the topic of this article is interesting or you just want to say hello please get in touch.