Personas & Buyer’s Journeys for Content Marketing
If you’ve spent any amount of time researching content marketing, there’s a better than good chance you’ve encountered terms like these before. So what’s the deal? Are these just buzz words or are they worth a darn? Let’s take a closer look.
What is a Persona in Content Marketing?
A simple way to think of a persona in content marketing is as a composite “sketch” of the various types of people who MAY be interested in purchasing your products or services. You can have one persona. Several personas. You can also have too many personas.
In the example shown here, you’re looking at a persona I developed for a person who is taking care of her elderly mother. My goal in creating this buyer persona is to better understand what really motivates her to act – from advancing to the next stage of the buyer’s journey to, ultimately, converting her aging parent to a new customer.
What is a Buyer’s Journey in Content Marketing?
A buyer’s journey, as it pertains to content marketing, is simply this: It is the path a consumer takes, often starting with complete unawareness of a problem or pain-point, before progressing to a stage in which various solutions are identified, considered and decided upon. 
How Do Personas and Journeys Improve Results?
The more I know with certainty who your ideal customer is and what’s going to get him or her excited enough to part with their hard-earned cash, the better able I’ll be able to build a relationship, earn trust and add real value to a prospect’s life – whether we make the sale or not.
Artie Petro 