We’re joined by Matthew Naffah, VP of Strategy at International Data Group, who has has been involved in developing buyer personas for many B2B clients. Personas have been around almost as long as the web itself, but lately they are taking on a more important role, particularly as buyers become more empowered in the buying decision.

Matt tell us about how to get started with building the right personas and understanding the level of details that are ideal, and you can err on the side of including too much or too little detail. He also talks about some of the more common mistakes marketers make in creating them.

Personas are most useful when used in conjunction with buyer journeys and content mapping. You need to nurture, adapt and grow all three elements interactively to optimize the experience for your potential customer base. You’ll also want to heed his advice when it comes time to get your management involved to renew and refund your marketing project too.

Here are some resources to check out:

• A webcast with Rob O’Regan and Matt which discusses content marketing.
• A second webcast with Rob and Matt about opportunity mapping.
• My podcast co-hots Paul Gillin wrote posts for the IDG marketing blog based on these webcasts, leveraging Matt’s expertise in content mapping strategies and how to craft personas properly.

You can listen to our podcast here: