A common question after a company has analyzed consumer data and produced marketing insights is, what’s next? At this point, a marketing team already has a detailed map of its audience demographics, needs and preferences. So, how are these insights put to practical use?
Building customer personas (or buyer personas, as they’re also called) is a big part of the move toward personalized marketing across all industries. By now, consumers are fairly apathetic to marketing that pushes something at them without offering an apparent solution that makes their lives easier. Consumers want to feel engaged and courted by their financial institutions. As a result, banks and credit unions are looking into ways to create a more tailored experience for their customers.
Customer personas are important tools in creating personalized, targeted online marketing campaigns. These personas are profiles of the typical customer/member that financial institutions can use to speak more specifically and accurately to their audience. For credit unions, these profiles identify key audiences, what banking services they are currently using, what services they will need in the near future, their preferences for content and how best to market to them.
Utilizing customer personas enables a company to tweak core branding and messages to resonate more powerfully with their varied audiences. Thankfully, this process isn’t a shot in the dark — there are mountains of data to inform this marketing strategy with information pulled directly from the source. Be sure you aren’t wasting these valuable tools.