Video 10 - Online B2B
Buyer Personas
George Szanto
IBMS Semester 6b Fall 2013
Topics Discussed
• Introduction to online B2B and B2C personas
• Using personas to generate a Buyer
Synopsis
• Example of using an online tool to generate
an online persona
Learning Objectives
• Understand online personas, especially B2B
prospects
• Ability to create an online persona for a typical
business customer for a given online service or
online product offering, or online value proposition
Persona Definition
• Def: is a representation of the goals and
behavior of a set of hypothesized users
and/or buyers of a product
• Archtype – thus not a real person; not a
customer profile.
• Describes observed behavior patterns
Start With B2C Personas – “easy”
5
For each persona define preferences for:
 Platforms
(web, email, mobile)
 Platform usage (hours)
 Content consumption:
General site types &
category-specific
 Social media - content
creation & participation
 Search behaviour
 Trusted brands
6
www.dulux.co.uk
Typical B2B Personal Factors
• Ambition - high,
medium, low
• Personality – humorous;
aggressive, moody
• Experience - new to job;
veteran; technophile
• Attitudes - toward own
company and you: like,
dislike; indifferent
• Self-image – confident; at
ease; insecure; need to
impress
• Risk Tolerance - high,
medium, low
• Decision-making style consistent; conservative;
slow; quick
• Cognitive style - quick
thinker; slow; interactive
• Job Responsibility high, medium, low decision
making responsibility
Now Let’s Practice
Creating a B2B Persona
• Here is useful online tool for exploring and
creating a typical buyer persona from the
company:
MLT Creative in Georgia USA
MLT Persona Tool
• For this “demonstration”, I assumed that I worked
for Atlas Copco selling air compressors for the
food production industries.
Personas in a Typical
Sale/Marketing Funnel
• The buying team
(personas)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Grader / Operator
Field Engineer
Maintenance Mechanic
Field Operations Manager
Excavator Fleet Manager
Construction/Civil Engineer
Purchasing Manager
Financial Director
We will look at this construction team in more
detail in video lecture # 14 of this series
Create Buyer Synopsis
• Step 1: Determine what that persona
needs to know to buy
• Step 2: Define what content (online media)
different personas need for each step in
the buying cycle
• Step 3: Select a Problem-to-solution
scenario for specific personas
• Step 4: Assign what prospective personas
need to know during various buying steps.
Thank You
• After this video, please take the online
quiz to see if you master the concept of a
B2B persona
• Next, please use the MLT Persona tool to
generate a persona for your assigned
case