Hi there, it's Randy Smith again with Synchronicity. Today let's talk about user personas, also known as buyer personas. In this video we'll cover what personas are, why they are important, and how to create them. Let's start with answering what are personas. A user or buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of one segment of your audience or customer base. Most businesses have a few that they use regularly and less their customer base is extremely niche or specific. Many agencies and writers will use easy to remember nicknames for their personas like purchasing fill, accountant, and any or CEO Cheryl to help differentiate each persona. Next let's talk about why they are important. Once they have been identified, the uses are endless. You'll want to use these in every aspect of your marketing from blogs and email campaigns to mission statements. It's important to remember that these personas are your target audience, so all messaging you create and distribute needs to be created with these users in mind. The more relevant your messaging becomes to your target audience, the more new leads and prospects you'll see. Finally, let's talk about how to create them. At Synchronicity, we have an internal five-step process that we followed that we want to share with you to help you understand how to create these so you can be more successful in your marketing efforts. First, do the research. You need to have a full understanding of your audience or customer base, so it's important to capture and collect as much data as you can. Here's where you'll want to identify their goals and challenges to learn how your company can address these. Second, identify any patterns. Are there similarities between your personas in terms of company, industry, job level, demographics, etc. Third, create the demographic data for each persona. Some key areas for demographic segmentation include age, location, job title, company size, education, marital status, and more. Fourth, craft messaging based on these personas. This is an important step as different demographics will receive information differently. For example, millennials who are now in some decision-making roles will prefer different communication channels versus those in the baby boomer generation. Fifth and final, revisit them often. This is one of the most important steps in the process. As businesses evolve, it's important to remember that target audiences may change. In such cases, it's critical that you revisit your personas to ensure your marketing efforts are reaching the right audience. In short, this is a tried and true process you can follow to build your user personas. So make sure you take the time to create the personas first, as it will only enhance your marketing efforts in the long run. Thanks so much for watching, and until next time, think, sink. .